This.
@4junior, I was just trying to point out a positive in this very negative thread. My DD has an ED1 deferral, so we’re just trying to stay positive at our house. There’s more than 1 school at which a student can be happy and successful.
@OldbatesieDoc Agreed. Keeping our options open, although D strongly prefers Hamilton.
And best of luck to your daughter for ED2 and RD.
We noticed the Jan thing on the Common App for RD, checked the box, and said we’d discuss it later if needed. If finances or other considerations would make it undesirable, then Hamilton would be out. No big deal…Hamilton is merely 1 of many good schools available. We visited and came away with a favorable impression of the college and staff, but were also laughing on the drive home how tough it is for qualified applicants to get admitted to any of the schools we visited. Take it or leave it, imo
@4junior, agree with @merc81 that it’s a wonderful choice. And agree with @OldbatesieDoc on having a seat at the table!
With the exception of having to understand how to fund the Fall Senester in London, the yearly Pell Grant of $5800 and Federal Student Loan of $5500 is the same so the net cost of the Spring Semester is the same.
Seems like the next step is the FA office for more clarity on options for the Fall Semester, given that forgoing an ED acceptance would mean that your D would need to rely on other RD acceptances.
@Chembiodad I agree, its a great choice for D to have!
The finances are a bit more complex than what you cite, but we will leave the details to discuss with the FA office.
She does not need to forgo her ED acceptance until she has offers from other schools to evaluate against. We have plenty of time to plan as decisions only need to be rendered by May 1.
All around, great options. She already ordered Hamilton swag this afternoon.
@Chembiodad I want to clarify something you said in post #124.
The cost of the Spring semester is not the same for Jan admits.
By way of example (done by a non math oriented person so its super simplistic) lets say the cost of the year of college is $65k and the EFC for a family is $20k.
For a traditional two semester year the EFC is split over two semesters, and the cost of attendance overall for the year of $65k is also split. This allows the family to pay $10k each semester and the school/gov’t/loans provide the $22.5k each semester to meet the balance of need through grants, loans and work study.
In the case of a Jan admit the EFC remains the same and that entire EFC is applied to one semester. The family pays $20k for 1 semester, and the school/gov’t/loans provide $12.5k. The family pays about twice as much out of pocket for a spring semester as fall admits.
The family has two choices.
They can forgo any London or local classes and travel or work without college credit. In order to complete the credits needed at Hamilton in a usual fashion they would need to do that over 5 calendar years. In the example above that would be 5 years at a $20k EFC, a $20k increase in total costs over fall admits doing a regular 4 year schedule. In addition, the FA would be 5 years of loans (vs 4) for a higher debt load after graduation.
If they don’t go that route and prefer to get credits to graduate on time elsewhere, the family needs to pay for those credits somewhere. Whether it is a local university or the London program or any of the other programs listed on the Hamilton site there is a cost to getting these credits, and that cost is borne by the family above and beyond the EFC.
I really don’t wish for this to be a negative post, and I do not wish to bash Hamilton. But I can’t see a way around the fact that Jan admits on FA can pay substantially more and graduate with more debt than Fall admits.
Even a solution like adjusting the amount of the EFC for the spring semester only attendance to reflect that it is half a year of college (or taking into account the cost of obtaining the credits needed to graduate elsewhere in the overall cost of attendance) would be a step towards equity. While the London program is not mandatory, it is what I would call reasonable and customary to the average Jans path through Hamilton. Adjusting the EFC or overall college cost in FA calculations to reflect for second semester while the student is matriculated at Hamilton to reflect the first semester expenditure for Jans would equalize the outlay for FA Jan families.
While our family is THRILLED for D to have been offered a spot I do feel that the system could use some fine tuning to make it fairer for FA families. Hamilton does admit that they are need aware for Jans, but somehow our family seems to have landed in a twilight zone of the super happy positive of being offered a spot, but the negative in the way it affects our college costs overall. I don’t mean to sound overly sour but it’s a less than perfect situation.
@4junior, the ED acceptance policy for a January acceptance must be unique as a Fall acceptance is required to fund deposit during the ED acceptance notification period or lose the opportunity to be considered at RD, the later date.
Sounds like you will need to reach out to FA to confirm what options there are when comparing the Jan EFC with Fall EFC. I know you don’t mean it this way, but no one can ensue a perfect situation. Case in point, there are tons of ORM’s that are denied acceptance at schools where they clearly profile in the top-25% - it’s not perfect for them either as I don’t mean one or two schools, but rather every single one.
Great news on ordering swag as Jans are as much a part of the scene as any students! Jan parties are held by the students right away to ensure integration into the Hamily - I know this for a fact from our DD’s.
Another reality is that many upper middle class families that don’t qualify for institutional aid need to supplement any college savings with Parent Plus loans - definitely not a perfect situation either.
@Moaejjb, definitely agree that it’s a tough process at all of the highly selective schools. As someone said to us last year, “you don’t pick them, they pick you”.
As an example, Middlebury offered our DD a spot on the 2nd “Sunmer Melt” waitlist late last June, but she needed to begin scheduling classses at Hamilton starting in early July; the feedback at the time from Middlebury was that something may open up in August - totally realistic feedback, but this wasn’t an option that worked for our DD.
@KnowThyself and @Dynamite22, you both have wonderful stories of perserverance and a true half-full perspective - which is great https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/blog/headshrinkers-guide-the-galaxy/201203/is-your-glass-half-empty-or-half-full%3Famp
Welcome to the Hamily!
@OldbatesieDoc, fingers crossed for a great outcome in the end!
@Chembiodad Thank you! Your posts have been extremely helpful throughout the process. Keep up the good work.
@Dynamite22, you are very welcome, congratulations again, and our DD’s will see you at Hamilton in August!
Get ready for a really fun Freshman Orientation - here’s a video of last year’s, and yes there will be crazy Hamilton students welcoming you to the Hill as well! https://youtu.be/FduCkiOxD3o
Though the point has generally been made in several (excellent) ways on this thread, it might still be important to note that Hamilton does meet the full demonstrated financial need of January admit students who begin their collegiate studies in January. Suggestions of spin to the contrary, this policy does not require further reconciliation with Hamilton’s public statements that they meet full demonstrated need for all admitted students – Hamilton’s January admit financial aid policy is, by common language, already a compatible policy.
@knwthyslf Are you in the Facebook group with me?
@jdoh8552 yes! find me: I have an “ó” in my name 
Does anyone know when accepted students day is?
I wanted to update for those kind folks that left words of encouragement for my son who had been deferred ED1. He sent further test scores from the fall that had not come in in time for ED1, he also made sure to keep his grades as strong as they could be. In Feb he wrote a one page letter updating the school of what he has been up to, explaining a blip in his high school record and showing how he has learned from the experience, and also why he would be a great fit for the school. Friday night he was admitted and we could not be more thrilled!
Baygirl64, you were right on, and until it’s a no, there is a chance. Good luck to all, and hope you find a school that is a great fit. And see some of you in August!
Congratulations to your son, @hikermom! My son was admitted ED1 as a Jan admit. Hamilton releases Jan admits from the binding ED commitment because they realize that a Jan start date is not for everyone. He has applied to a few other schools because he’s not too sure about the whole January start date. We will be attending accepted student day on April 16th. I feel Hamilton is the place for him, so I’m hoping he’ll feel the same after visiting again.