<p>Since ED is supposed to binding, I was just wondering about the financial position of those who applied ED.
Are you walking in knowing you can pay the entire tuition yourselves, you have some kind of plan (loans etc.), or hoping for a miracle?</p>
<p>emory meets 100% of financial aid need. you are going to get the same aid whether you apply for ED1 or RD. the thing is, if your family makes more than 100k a year, it’s a little risky because you don’t know how much you might pay, but if your family makes less than 100k, the maximum loans you will get in 4 years will be 15k so the rest of the aid is work study or grants. if you do apply ED1, you can get out of it if the aid is not enough. I did ED1 and I got a decent financial aid. my family makes between 50k-100k.</p>
<p>Emory uses the Common Application; here is the ED rule for financial aid:
<a href=“https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf[/url]”>https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/docs/downloadforms/ED_Agreement.pdf</a></p>
<p>So if the family decides that the aid offered is not enough to support attendance (the formulas don’t accurately reflect all situations for all families), you say thanks but no thanks, and apply RD elsewhere.</p>
<p>I realize that financial hardship is really supposed the ony way to get released from ED. I have been reading from many different sources lately that admissions officers in general really expect you not to even apply ED unless you are absolutely sure that money won’t be an issue.
Just wondering how many of those who applied are “certain” about their finances, and how many are just waiting to see how the financial aid siruation shakes out and plan to back out if it doesn’t.</p>
<p>Have you seen any school say this? Can you point us to these sources? No one needing financial aid can be certain, and we get lots of reports here of successful ED FA outcomes. :)</p>
<p>helpfulmommy
I’m guessing you have a younger student. Or your student applied ED and the financial package isn’t what you expected.</p>
<p>I think we need to define “financial burden.” The college defines it as the EFC - expected family contribution. This is the amount derived from the FAFSA. Families with a middle high income are often in for a surprise. Lower income families may have a pleasant surprise with a low EFC. </p>
<p>You can find out your estimated EFC by filling out a practice FAFSA at collegeboard.com.
By doing this when a student does apply ED they will have a close idea of what kind of financial package they will be offered at schools that guarantee to meet their financial need.</p>
<p>When our older son applied and was accepted to an expensive, private school we were able to do it with the knowledge of what it was going to cost us. We knew we would be expected to take out the maximum federal back loan and he would have to do some work-study. He got a SMALL merit award.</p>