<p>I am surprised they even acknowledged any knowledge about their calcs of the EFC. Many adcoms have nothing to do with that aspect of admissions. They admit'em and send'em to FA to do the dirty work of deciding how much the family should pay.</p>
<p>well, what they would "admit" ranged from "you have to talk to FA about that", to "We do not use home equity as an asset."</p>
<p>i'll bet your students loved you on that tour!! LOL</p>
<p>My daughters are expert eye-rollers. I think they have a sign that says: "Forgive him, he means well." LOL</p>
<p>For college tours, they should have a sign saying "He is the hardship we had to overcome", As you make the adcoms squirm, they can appreciate that. LOL</p>
<p>I will suggest that to them</p>
<p>c-dad:</p>
<p>this is starting to sound like a 'hook' your girls could use! :rolleyes:</p>
<p>My son applied binding ED to a "full need / need blind" school. Our fin aid package was very generous. My EFC for his first year of college is going to be $6k less than what I pay for his HS tuition this year (and I applied for Fin Aid at his HS, and was denied). </p>
<p>I'm not sure what to say - except that I'm sure you'll find opinions and anecdotes to either side of the argument.</p>
<p>Momsdream, I believe a poster, Nan, had the same experience as you did. And it is wonderful when that happens. All is well, and sweet. But, if it did not work out; if you had not gotten what you could swing, it would have been a royal pain to get out of the ED, may have compromised other apps. The upside is great---it is the downside of the risk that is the problem. I know people who have applied to a number of comparable full need/need blind schools and have received a range of financial aid packages. I believe Mini has posted his daughter's spread of offers. If your ED choice happens to be the bottom offer of such a spread, you may be very unhappy. Or you may think you are getting the shaft, but the only way to confirm is to request release from the EA and then wait until spring for the other offers taking the risk that the release may not have been properly communicated in the heat of admissions frenzy. Then you might find out that you turned down your best offer. Most families do not want to go through this turmoil. If you need the money, do not apply binding ED, so that you can compare packages, just in case your first choice is not being generous this year. Also because you might be further off on what you can afford, and have to go with a merit award at a less selective school or with the state school. You can read the anguished posts of the kids accepted ED who did not get the packages they needed. Though there are ways to reduce this risk by running through your numbers carefully, you just never know what you are getting until the offer letter arrives.</p>
<p>Momsdream:</p>
<p>My reading of your anecdote is that if your S had received $6K less than he did, you would have found ways of sending him to his ED school, just as you did to his prep school. For some families, however, $6k per year ($24k) makes all the difference. I was told by someone that the difference of $7k per year was what tipped the balance for one school over another (now, why should two need-blind, full-need schools come up with different finaid figures based on the same financial data is another story).</p>
<p>I was prepared to pay what I pay for HS - no more. I'm strapped!! Really, paying for HS has been rough. The aid package from the college seems more <em>fair</em> and realistic. I've had subsequent discussions with other parents who assure me that our HS has a unique way of granting aid and measuring need, and most of those who need aid find it a struggle to obtain it. One single mom said she literally broke down crying in the parking lot (re: her financial aid decision at our HS) and a passing, concerned parent told her than she should have appealed, which she did, and got what she needed. </p>
<p>That's not what you asked, though. I would have come up with the other $6k - via a struggle, borrowing from family, maybe switching schools for my younger D, maybe cutting off cable, etc. </p>
<p>Now, if our EFC would have been MORE than that, I guess we would have tried to pull out. I never felt as if we might not get what we need. I admit that I'm the eternal optimist. </p>
<p>Bottom line: I know what I can afford - and I don't have a huge mortgage or even a car payment. We live a simple life. I had an idea in my head of what I can afford - and that's what I wound up being asked to pay. If things had turned out differentkly, I would have gathered up ALL of my financial paperwork and gone down to meet the Dir of Finacial Aid at the ED school. Somehow, someway, he and I would have come to an agreement - even if that agreement was to let us out.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>I admit that I'm the eternal optimist.</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>Bottom line: I know what I can afford - and I don't have a huge mortgage or even a car payment. We live a simple life. I had an idea in my head of what I can afford - and that's what I wound up being asked to pay. If things had turned out differentkly, I would have gathered up ALL of my financial paperwork and gone down to meet the Dir of Finacial Aid at the ED school. Somehow, somway, he and I would have com to an agreement - even if that agreement was to let us out.>></p>
<p>It's great that your gamble paid off. I confess I am far more cautious than you. In your situation, I would not have banked on being able to persuade finaid staff to revise the aid package, nor of getting off ED without penalty (less confidence in my own powers of persuasion? :)). So, I would have not allowed my S to apply ED.</p>
<p>I look at applying binding ED when you need a certain amount of money as tatamount to betting on horses, or playing options depending upon a bonus payable later that week. If you win, you may not even need the bonus. If you lose, you have some scurrying, borrowing, explaining to do. I see kids doing this in all aspects of admissions when they apply EA/Ed. Many just do the one app. Why do the others when you have to pitch them if you hit the jackpot. Well, it is no fun finishing up those apps during Christmas break under the pall of an early deferral or rejection, I assure you, and it could have been avoided had you just done those apps early and held them. You could be polishing them instead of frantically doing a first draft. But kids who do get that early in are very happy they did not do the extra work. It is the downside of a risk that hurts.</p>
<p>I see this with "safety schools" as well. Kids often do well without a true "safety". I worked with a number of kids whose families just could not bear to stick a school in there where the kid was sure to get in. The odds were good enough that he would get into one of the 8 schools he picked. And they are probably right. But as you can see from some of the boards, schools like BU are not such a safety even for high scoring kids. Things are changing and it is entirely possible to get waitlisted to a number of school and have to frantically find a safety with room late in the year. Again, it is not the upside of the risk that is the problem, it is that downside as it is for every risk you take. </p>
<p>The saga of Evil Robot and Yale is one most of us CC parents know. The saving grace of the story is that ER did NOT apply binding ED and had other options without having to go through requesting a release from Yale, and then worrying whether any of his other schools would miss that release. He was able to negotiate with Yale and take his time discussing the situation with them for several months, to no avail, but not under the gun, and still apply to other schools, getting a full ride plus from another school. Had this been an ED situation, it would have been a rush, rush negotiation coupled with concern about the other apps and the ED list. And at least Yale comes up with an estimate of the FA pretty early. Some schools do drag their feet a bit. </p>
<p>Now I do run into families who take the risk fully recognizing the consequences, and some of them are bound and determined to take the financial hit one way or the other should the aid be inadequate. Financial issues are not going to change the decision. If the kid gets in, the family will do everything to pay the cost if the money does not pan out. In a case like that, the award is not crucial to the decision, so, yes, ED is not a bad option. Also if the parent and child understand the downside consequences and take a chance on it, that is their business. A big problem with binding ED for financial aid applicants is that they may not fully understand what can happen if accepted and the monetary part does not work out.</p>