What is the general discrepancy, that colleges won’t hold it against you? 1k? 2k? 5k?
You are the one who decides if the aid package is workable. You don’t have to justify your decision to the college/university.
Really? But won’t the college hold it against your school if you say nope to FA package even if its reasonable compared to the NPC? @happymomof1
Backing out of ED may cause the college to put your high school on an auto-reject list. This may not affect you at all, but future applicants from your high school will not appreciate it.
@ucbalumnus Exactly my concern, I want to avoid that. So, is there some recognized point where the difference between the FA and NPC is large enough where the university won’t hold it against your school in the future?
If they are going to be ticked off at your school because you backed out, then that is going to happen no matter how big the gap. Don’t worry about this. Or, don’t apply ED. That way you will be able to compare multiple aid packages.
A lot can change between the time you run an NPC and when you receive an aid offer. Even if the package matches the NPC results perfectly, what your family may decide is truly affordable could well have changed.
That’s a great question, but unfortunately I don’t know the answer either. Though the consensus is that if you’re looking for significant need-based aid, you shouldn’t apply ED, ED can confer such advantages that I hate the thought of families needing financial aid being left out of it. My daughter didn’t apply ED last year for that reason, and got into her first choice anyway RD, to a school where applying ED does give a significant bump. If it hadn’t worked out, I’d be kicking myself big time. So to your question, $1k or $2k would be too small an amount, but $5k is starting to sound material. I think it helps to look at it in percentage terms also; the difference between $20k and $25k looms larger than the difference between $40k and $45k.
Even if the ED school does indeed match the NPC estimate, by applying ED you miss out on the opportunity to compare FA packages from other schools, which might present an even better financial deal.
There are many reasons when an ED school is unaffordable even if the NPC said so. First, the NPC is just an estimation and many situations, like self-employed or home business, may make it inaccurate. Second, family situation may change between the time of application and admission, for instance, the stock market crashed. It is up to you at the time of decision whether the ED school is affordable with the FA package.