For those who applied ED I or ED II, at what point did you know it was the right thing to do?

[nextstepcollege]

@calmom

Our income and his Father’s income will be looked at to determine aid eligibility, which has somewhat made it difficult for us to predict what he would receive in financial aid.

Then ED II is not an option for you at any school that determines financial aid based on non-custodial parent income. (U of Chicago may be one school that is an exception).

You will need to compare financial aid awards.

I think what many people don’t understand about need-based financial aid, is that in the end there may be no easily affordable options, and you will be making a decision based on which is the least unaffordable. That is, that you will have to borrow more money than you would like to make it work, or make other lifestyle changes. And you will decide that you are willing to make that sacrifice for the sake of your kid — but you arent going to be able to make that determination when you have one financial aid package in hand but can’t see others.

My suggestion as that your son apply to more safeties and rolling admission colleges. If there are any problems with cooperation from the father or if income of either parent fluctuates, you may be a lot happier down the line with a merit award tied to your kid’s GPA vs. a need-based award that can go up and down every year depending on how well the other parent is doing financially.

Thank you! We are honestly still sorting everything out. I do know that Dad is on board with helping his son through college. It’s his only child and he’s as proud of him as we are. DH and I are very careful with our money. We have not overextended ourselves and have been not spending a considerable amount every month for the past couple years so that we would be in the habit when it came time to pay for college. We do not have a large amount of debt, and do not expect to need to take too much out to help our son. That said, he has applied to several affordable safeties. I’m not talking about pushing him to apply Early Decision 2. What I’m saying really is if he 100% knows where he wants to go—enough so that he is willing to withdraw all other applications as though they never existed—we would be willing to consider it. Right now, he’s not decided yet and there’s no guarantee he will be in time to bother with ED 2.