From what I understand they do give you an estimated FA package with or soon after acceptance, but it would be based on data from 2014, not 2015 because you would probably apply before November and not know yet what 2015 income will be and not have tax returns done.
I would run the NPC with the highest possible income you can expect based on previous years, so you can factor in fluctuations. Also assume that the costs will rise several percent a year, and figure in travel costs.
I don’t know how the other colleges would see where else you apply, except on the FAFSA, but that won’t be done until after January. I don’t know about schools who use common app or CSS profile, so not sure if they see this info.
Here’s a link to a sample schedule of FA documents for ED applicants. http://www.pomona.edu/administration/financial-aid/forms/15-16%20Early%20Decision%20Application%20Procedures.pdf This one is for Pomona, a CSS profile school. This was for Class of 2019 so references to tax returns should be updated to start with the 2014 return by 12/1. The way it worked for us was we submitted the CSS profile and tax returns for 2013 by 12/1/14, and the ED decisions were on the portal on 12/12/14. The portal didn’t have the FA info, however. That came a few days later in the mail. And as others have pointed out, the FA offer will come with the caveat that it is subject to change if the rest of the documentation which is due 3/1 (e.g., FAFSA, current tax return) changes their calculation.
Almost every year some poor soul posts here in the Financial Aid Forum that the ED offer has turned out to be unaffordable after the financial aid is finalized in the spring, and asks what to do. Usually these students have families with property other than the family home, a small business, a divorce, etc. - in other words, financials that aren’t super simple. Some of these students go through multiple aid re-evaluation cycles with their ED schools and never get the costs into an affordable range.
So, if your family’s finances aren’t super simple, then have a back-up plan. Either have a nice rolling-admissions school that doesn’t care about other places’ ED programs that has already accepted you and is affordable, or be ready to take a gap year and try again later.
No, other schools can not see that you’ve applied ED elsewhere.
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The Common App ED agreement does contain language that you can turn down the ED offer of admission if the FA offer does not make the school affordable. You, the family, get to decide what is affordable.
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Right. YOU get to decide at the moment you get your ED FA offer whether you think it’s affordable. It doesn’t matter if you ran the NPC at some earlier time and it gave you numbers that you like. What does that matter? Not only is THAT not binding, but at the time your ED offer comes in, your situation may have changed.
ED has become a joke. Unless someone is offered a total free ride, anyone can deny ED and claim unaffordable. There’s no repercussion.
If the process were really being abused we’d be seeing fewer schools offering (let alone heavily relying on) ED. Because after all the emotional energy that’s invested in submitting an ED application–something I’ve seen two times with both my D’s–who would turn it down or walk away from it unless the aid offer was really unaffordable?
Perhaps there are some full-pay or high EFC students who get an ED acceptance but also see that they could get a full ride or generous offer from their state school or a rolling app elsewhere, so they use the “get out of ED free” card. That’s got to be the exception, not the rule. Clearly, ED is working for the colleges, otherwise they wouldn’t be choosing a large chunk of their incoming class via ED and allowing the opt-out for FA reasons.
BTW OP, be sure that your kid has completed the essays for their other non-ED schools before submitting the ED app. Being turned down for ED and having to pull together essays in a few weeks is just rubbing salt in a wound.
Glad to hear there is a financial out with ED-that’s a relief. My son is aware that even with ED he has only an off chance of getting into his first choice school and he is pretty even-keeled so that should not pose a problem.
Corinthian- Our income will be lower this year. It sounds like in that case they would adjust the FA higher after our 2015 tax return comes in because they were offering initial ED FA based on 2014 returns?
I don’t know how other people treat it, and as SlithyTove concluded, if it were abused that much schools wouldn’t offer it. But for us, we took the commitment very seriously. It would have had to be way out of line with the NPC to make us use the excuse of lack of affordability. Besides, it was ED for a reason–we all loved the school, why would we back out that easily?
@artie1 that sounds right but I’d ask the FA office of your ED school to be sure.
SlitheyTove gave great advice about having all the essays ready to go in case you don’t get into the ED school.
Regarding the issue of ED abuse, remember these schools don’t offer ED out of the goodness of their hearts. They do it because it benefits them, both by luring in candidates and enabling them to better control their yield. It would be interesting to see statistics on how many ED applicants back out of offers of admission. But my guess is that it’s a number that is acceptable to the schools.