<p>I have a very close friend whose S applied ED to his first choice school. My friend (the dad) is completely unsure if he plans to let his S attend this school, if admitted. This weekend a group of us went to dinner. We had a friendly argument over how "binding" the ED contract is. </p>
<p>Parent of the ED applicant is completely not concerned about breaking this ED contract, if his S is admitted. He basically said, "What's the college going to do about it... sue me? They have more important things to worry about... like filling my S's spot." By the way, he may allow his S to attend, he wants to wait until next summer to decide, based upon other things going on his life.</p>
<p>The parent of a hs Junior within this dinner group was happy to hear this sentiment, following up with, "This is great. I'll have my D apply ED next year to get the benefit of ED, without worrying about if we are really ready for the commitment."</p>
<p>The rest of us were arguing that the contract is binding, and that they are obligated.</p>
<p>Note that inability to pay is not the parents' concerns... more like lack of desire to pay.</p>
<p>Has anyone ever heard about a student getting out an ED contract?</p>
<p>I’ve heard the main factor (other than ethical considerations) is not that the univ is going to sue the student to pay/attend; rather, it’s possible the university where he’s accepted and decides to go may withdraw their acceptance on discovering the ED elsewhere.</p>
<p>Dadof3 - Would a college know about a broken ED acceptance? Do they spend time to research this, and then additional effort to actually withdraw an acceptance?</p>
<p>Makes me wonder if a student is actually “held” to the ED commitment, and then… if not, it can change the whole dynamic of applying ED, knowing it is not a “firm” commitment?</p>
<p>There are some really good threads on this so I’m not going to add much… but really, by the time the ED acceptance is in and the parent and student go through the process of being released from the agreement the student can be SOL for some of the EA school scholarship deadlines, benefits, etc. so the decision should be weighed carefully as it can end up limiting some options. The guidance office at the student’s high school also signed the agreement so the concept of juggling the acceptance might backfire with the other applications. The father in your post will NOT be able to wait until “spring”…the ED acceptance will come with a due date to accept or decline which is generally only a couple weeks. The father will not necessarily know if the ED acceptance was the best financial deal after turning it down, because they won’t have the other offers until after they decline the ED offer. If the father has the son accept the offer and pays the required deposit I suppose they can back out later but they will forfeit the deposit, it could bite them if a competitor college finds out the student has already accepted a spot at another college and rescinds their offer or the guidance office refuses on moral grounds to play the game with transcripts, etc. and it’s really an attempt at gaming the system by the father which is morally repugnant and probably not the best example the father can set for the kiddo.</p>
<p>Know nothing first-hand. But there are always stories circulating on how Brown found out the student was going to Cambridge and had that admission revoked, or how the school counselor notified a school that a student had committed to an ED elsewhere, etc. There have been threads in the past on this subject that you may wish to check out for more authoritative into.</p>
It is not a real, legally binding contract for several reasons, the most likely one being that the son is not 18 and therefore can’t legally sign a contract.</p>
<p>On top of that, no school will risk the negative publicity of suing to force someone to attend.</p>
<p>The easy “out” is that the financial package has to be “acceptable” to you the student/parent, and you get to decide what is acceptable, not the school. So it is really pretty easy to get out of it.</p>
<p>There can be ramifications as others have pointed out. And there is the question of integrity and ethical behavior, but some people just don’t care about that.</p>
<p>^exactly. This gets to the heart of being an ethical person. Do you abide by a non-binding contract which is meant to give students a way to say to a specific school: if I get in, I will attend?</p>
<p>Or is it another game to play with odds and probabilities?</p>
One presentation we attended they told us that other schools are notified (maybe there’s a clearinghouse or something, not sure if what she was saying is true). Those schools are expected to rescind their acceptances.</p>
<p>No, it’s real life, it’s not a game. Face it, the hard truth is anyone who knew the student could “cause problems” for the student with a simple e-mail or phone call should the dad decide he thinks he’s smarter than everyone else. After all the wall street shenanigans the country as a whole is growing more intolerant of people who game the system…not more tolerant.</p>
<p>One last thought, I had to chuckle about someone sitting around a table postulating about gaming the system…that’s probably NOT the smartest move in and of itself to vocalize that behavior. Some poster got ‘outted’ here trying to pull that kind of stunt a few years ago when someone put two and two together by searching out the poster’s posts.</p>
<p>One would assume that the high school and their guidance counselor would refuse to participate in sending materials for other applications in this situation unless the ED offer had been turned down. So transcripts, letter of recommendation, mid-year report, etc. would not be sent. Of course, the GC has no way of knowing for sure if the kid turned down the offer for financial reasons, which is allowed… but this guy sounds dumb enough to say they were turning it down for other reasons.</p>
<p>Editing to add that most ED decisions seem to come in mid-December, so the GC should know before the other apps are due… although given school breaks, they might send the initial information in before the ED decision comes through. But a GC on top of things would know about that ED application and follow up on the status… I know ours would! And the mid-year reports would still be an issue.</p>
<p>OP, you’re not mentioning the school, but you can tell us what the acceptance rate is. I’m going to guess that it’s below, oh, 30%. We as parents all know that our children are special and unique, but sorry, in the world of college admissions, they’re overwhelmingly not. There is no special ED (or RD) spot set aside for his kid. There are plenty more applicants to choose from. </p>
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<p>If the ED school is a Common App school, then other Common App schools don’t need to spend much time to research this. Would they? Maybe, maybe not. Schools like taking part in the CA because it boosts the number of applications they get. If a school doesn’t follow whatever rules are set up by the Common App organization/consortium/whatever it’s called, then I suppose it’s possible a school would be asked to leave–no idea if it’s ever happened. A CA school accepting students who turned down an ED offer from another CA school, especially when it’s not because of financial aid offers…well, I’d think the other CA schools would be rather displeased. If your friend wants to roll the dice and gamble with his child’s future, I suppose that’s his own affair. </p>
<p>If all of his child’s other schools are non-Common App, he’d probably be OK. He’ll infuriate the high school guidance counselor, possibly mess up the ED chances of any students from that high school applying to the same college in the next few years. If he’s a jerk, none of this will sway him. If he’s just ignorant of the ramification, he needs to be educated.</p>
<p>Typically, when a student applies ED, the PARENTS and the high school,in addition to the student, must sign an agreement. So, it doesn’t matter if the child isn’t 18 yet. My kids’ high school would not send out transcripts, recs, etc. if a student reneged on an ED acceptance unless it was financially motivated.</p>
<p>*Parent of the ED applicant is completely not concerned about breaking this ED contract, if his S is admitted. He basically said, “What’s the college going to do about it… sue me? They have more important things to worry about… like filling my S’s spot.”</p>
<p>By the way, he may allow his S to attend, he wants to wait until next summer to decide, based upon other things going on his life.*</p>
<p>??? Wants to wait til next summer to decide? What? If accepted in Dec, he’ll have to commit with his deposit in January. At that point, his OTHER apps are rescinded. His GC may have a part in that, I’m not sure. </p>
<p>But, if he doesn’t accept his ED spot (and deposit) in January, then he will no longer be an accepted student. </p>
<p>If he DOES accept his ED spot and deposit in January, then his OTHER schools won’t get midyear grades, etc, in order for those apps to be processed. </p>
<p>Also…for the RD applicants, they have to decide by May 1st…not summer for those schools either.</p>
<p>Frankly, I don’t really like ED because people do “game” the system because no one seems to be truly obligated to enroll. BUT…you can’t just keep the option open while waiting to see the result at other schools.</p>
<p>Well, 1, he won’t be ABLE to wait until next summer, even with regular decisions if you don’t notify the schools by May 1st it’s assumed you are not attending so the kid won’t have a spot come May 2.</p>
<p>ED is binding and yes there is a financial aid out but why did they let their son apply ED in the first place. That is just silly.</p>
<p>I thought the GC is obligated to notify all other schools that he was accepted ED and then he/she cannot ethically allow the student to apply elsewhere or provide the transcripts etc.</p>
<p>To all of you who have spent the time to reply, I want to thank you. I also want to be honest and tell you that I personally agree with the ethic issue many of you mentioned. The dad though, does not. </p>
<p>In terms of setting an example for his S, I can tell you that he has not told him that he is not certain if he will be sending him (if admitted ); the S is clueless regarding this possibility. Yes, the dad is being a jerk. Also, as I mentioned, the dad’s indecision is NOT based on the financial package. Therefore this is not his “out”. </p>
<p>I noticed a few of you referring to this as a “game” - I agree, which is precisely why I started this thread. I feel somewhat cheated when I hear families doing this. As a parent I took the “ED” decision very seriously, and assumed others do too. </p>
<p>Oh, more thing, about waiting for next summer… I think the dad is prepared to lose the deposit. Also, for those who mentioned the deadline regarding other schools, I believe he has already applied to other schools (reg. decision), so the gc has sent necessary information. </p>
<p>Question: Does the gc notify other schools if the S is accepted? Or is this the responsibility of the student? (I assumed student has the responsibility)</p>
<p>I started this thread more to clarify what the obligation is regarding ED. I thought it was “binding”. I thought the only “out” was inability to pay when the financial package was determined. I kind of argued this point the other night, although I did mention that I was not certain. This was how I understood it. I suppose the Dad is not concerned about disappointing his S and setting a poor example for him, should the Dad decide not to send him. I was not trying to analyze the dad’s ethics (or lack of). By the way, I agree, it’s a lousy thing to do - to the school and to his kid (and potentially to other graduates of his kid’s hs if the colleges penalize the gc/school in the future). This however was not the reason I asked the question. </p>
<p>Thanks all. And now I wonder if many people out there “abuse” the ED process.</p>
<p>The “binding” part of ED is honor bound. What the student, parent, and school is saying that in exchange for an early decision, if accepted, I will attend, withdraw all outstanding applications and I will not make any new applications.</p>
<p>Can anyone make a student attend the ED school? No. The school does not want a student who really does not want to be there. Can there be ramifications for applying ED and not following through? Absolutely!!</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<p>On Princeton’s Undergraduate Admissions and application instructions on the last page is the Joint Statement on Common Ivy Group Admissions Procedure.</p>
<p>Under Early Decision it states:</p>
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</p>
<p>There is also a professional ethical responsbility on the part of the high school and its administration. Even if the student and the parent attempt to “game” the system, many schools will not go along with it especially because they will have students applying to those same schools either in the RD round or during subsequent years. The school will not sacrifice future students for the sake of one student who wants to “abuse” the process.</p>
<p>High schools are dependent on maintaining good relationships with their regional college representatives. Remember, these are the same people that you will be inviting to your school college fairs and will be interacting with when they hold open houses in your city/town. I know at my school, if a student is accepted ED (and we follow up with regional admissions person after the decisions are made), the process stops until we receive in writing and confirmation from the school that the student has withdrawn the application. Nothing further is sent out on the students behalf: no transcripts, evaluations, recommendation letters,e tc. When the school contacts us regarding missing pieces of the application, we inform the school that the student was accepted ED to another school (and we received/did not receive confirmation that the student is attending) and let the college take it from there.</p>
<p>At the end of the school year, only one final transcript is mailed out. It is the student/parent responsibility that we are informed of the college the student is attending. IF a student is accepted off of the wait list, they have to bring in proof that they are attending the school before another final transcript is sent.</p>
<p>The parent of the high school JUNIOR should think about this. If students start to pull out of an ED acceptance, for reasons other than finances, the college will likely look negatively at students from that high school who apply in the future.</p>
<p>Really, the ED application is a contract. I honestly wish this WAS enforced more diligently. If this senior gets accepted ED, and doesn’t attend, he selfishly has taken a spot away from another ED applicant who WOULD have attended.</p>
<p>P.S. the kid will NOT be able to wait until summer to decide. He will be given a VERY short window of time to either accept or not the ED offer of admission. If he says YES, he is required to withdraw all other applications and acceptances immediately.</p>