<p>I am a first time poster, but nontheless i really need advice. I was accepted ED to UPenn and applied for financial aid. My parents did not get in the initial financial aid papers on time to penn, so I just got my package...which is NOTHING. I myself was devastated to find that no financial aid was provided (my family has very recently come under financial stress, and perhaps last year's tax results/income did not display it enough despite that we explained it to them in a letter). As part of the ED agreement, I have not rescinded any of the schools I applied to until I received my financial aid package, but I began thinking that the only schools that would POTENTIALLY give money would be Yale or Harvard (the 2 schools that I applied to RD that have a larger endowment/perhaps better financial aid policies than Penn). The thing is, i believe from what I read that, that if I keep in my RD decisions it goes against policy and I certainly don't want my Penn acceptance to be rescinded (after all, it was my first choice AND I don't even know that I would be accepted to Harvard or Yale anyway). The main thing here is I don't want to be blackballed. I'm afraid that if I contact Penn about keeping in my Yale/Harvard apps they would be angered and perhaps rescind. Is it against contract to keep in those two apps even with my ED acceptance? I don't know what to do. Any help is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>first of all, fin aid officers are absolutely nasty (numerous conversations with them) and WILL NOT help you. If you accept Penn at full price, great. If not, move along. </p>
<p>Next: During the spring showing for newly accepted students, a girl who got into Yale asked whether Penn would give her money because Yale did. The panelist laughed. Didn’t say no but actually sneered at the question.</p>
<p>Call up Penn, tell them if they are serious about wanting you, they got to start bidding. Otherwise, move along just as that girl did.</p>
<p>Btw - you accepted this situation by applying ED. You can either pay and attend or you can turn down Penn and hope for a better option. But have no delusion about Penn’s generosity (Penn is only generous towards minorities to the best of my knowledge).</p>
<p>The whole point of a RD is to know early and make a decision to commit, or opt out. It seems to me that if you think you have a REALLY REALLY REALLY good feeling that you’ll get better financial aid offers at other schools, and you have a REALLY REALLY REALLY good chance of getting in somewhere else, then perhaphs withdrawing your Penn application should be best. (note: I said REALLY 6 times!) I do not really recommend this.</p>
<p>To answer your other questions- yes, it goes against the “contract” that you signed with Penn. They will probably never find out, though.</p>
<p>^^ that is not true. Schools communicate about applicants. I have definitive evidence of it and there are numerous examples of kids being blacklisted.</p>
<p>I do believe the ED contract is broken if fin aid sucks.</p>
<p>so i just want to make sure these are my options</p>
<p>1) Opt out of the ED - Call up Penn and say no and immediately rescind all my apps
2) Stay in and pay full</p>
<p>And would you think that keeping the ED and waiting until the other decisions would come around to bite me? After all, I’m already grateful I was accepted to Penn and it would be foolish to assume I could get into Yale/Harvard.</p>
<p>Yes, those are your options. Are Yale and Harvard the only other schools you applied to?</p>
<p>i just read necrophiliac’s post. so i think i will contact penn and ask them what to do because I don’t want to be secretive at all. does this sound good?</p>
<p>I also did Duke. The thing is, I rescinded most of my others immediately upon acceptance because I assumed Penn would give me better aid than any of my other choices (Penn was also better in terms of endowment than all the others)</p>
<p>Actually, necro~, the chance of Penn finding out that he didn’t rescind his other applications are very slim- but I would still not risk it. Also, the contract isn’t “broken” because they didn’t give good financial aid. The contract comes with an option to decline their acceptance. </p>
<p>Future, I think you have a very difficult choice to make, and one I do not envy. I did not apply to my dream school because I was scared of having to make the same decision you have to make now. Binding early acceptances do have their pro/cons. </p>
<p>I would talk it over with your parents, and I definitely recommend calling Penn. At this point you do not have to be secretive. I would be as honest as possible. You have to be aggressive and cautious- don’t seem too demanding :P.</p>
<p>However, you WILL be paying them thousands of dollars/year, so I would definitely try to make my case.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>PS. I would probably rescind the Penn acceptance, but I applied to 10 schools, so I would still have lots of good options. You do not- Yale, Harvard and Duke arn’t really good “fallbacks”. </p>
<p>Goodluck.</p>
<p>Selter</p>
<p>^^^
I would write Penn’s FA office (include a copy of your FA offer and the letter your parents wrote explaining their financial issues) and explain to them that you applied ED because Penn was your #1 choice. BUT if they can’t provide X amount of dollars in FA then you will be forced to pursue other opportunities. Be realistic about what you need and hope for the best. Follow up with a phone call in two weeks.</p>
<p>Also, consider whether you can finance the first year at Penn and then next year when your FAFSA / Profile better reflect your dire financial issues perhaps Penn will be more forth coming with FA. OR your parents are able to improve their situation.</p>
<p>I fully understand how difficult it is to walk away from your dream and wouldn’t suggest you do that until you’ve exhausted every other possibility. On-the-other-hand. do NOT withdraw your other apps until this FA issue with Penn is resolved. You absolutely must have some good alternatives (hopefully other than Harvard & Yale). Good Luck!</p>
<p>Aglages’s advice sounds good :-)</p>
<p>my FA adviser said “What do you want me to do? I’m just an employee of the University of Pennsylvania.”</p>
<p>Please keep expectations realistic.</p>
<p>UPenn has touted generous grant/scholarship (no loan) for students. Does UPenn typically provide grants roughly equal to (80% x (total expense-EFC))? Is the EFC calculated per FAFSA or UPenn’s unique formula?</p>
<p>
Supposedly both. That is one of the reasons why students must supply documents in addition to the FAFSA.</p>
<p>
If that occurs, I would recommend asking to speak with someone (i.e., a supervisor) with more authority in Student Financial Services. And if that proves fruitless, then contact your regional director in the the Admissions Office and explain the situation. The key in this type of situation is to reach a person in the organization with the incentive–and the authority–to make this work for you, i.e., someone who understands and appreciates the broader institutional priority of not losing admitted ED applicants to other schools because of bureaucratic FA screw-ups.</p>
<p>not true. They can take a loss on yield since waitlist is no longer need-blind.</p>
<p>^ Trust me–Penn does NOT want ED acceptees jumping ship, if it can be avoided.</p>
<p>And anyone who says “I’m just an employee–what can I do?” is NOT the person you want to be making the final decision on your case, if YOU can avoid it. :)</p>
<p>Deal with enough large institutions and bureaucracies over time, and you’ll get a feel for when you need to start going over people’s heads.</p>
<p>I’m not guaranteeing the OP that he or she will get the desired result, but I wouldn’t let it end with a relatively low-level SFS employee who claims to have no discretion.</p>
<p>Also, before discussing his/her situation with the appropriate person in SFS, the OP should be familiar with–and ready to cite–the statements and data on this page:</p>
<p>[A</a> Look at the Facts, Comparing Penn’s Cost](<a href=“Submit My Documents”>Submit My Documents)</p>