If you simply decline your admission to WashU due to FA, they will quickly move on and not give it a second thought. No need to worry about what WashU might think here, they have plenty on the waitlist who are just as well qualified to take your spot.
FYI - you may get some financial aid during the years when you and your brother are attending college concurrently. Depends on income, assets, his tuition, etc.
@NJFL123 Is your son happy at the school he applied ED to? I know that this is a bit late for me to ask in my situation, but do you think ED was worth it for him?
So your parents can pay $70K out of their annual income for college (once savings are depleted)? You have 12 days before accepting or rejecting WashU’s offer, so start discussing various scenarios with your parents sooner rather than later.
If you and your brother will overlap in undergrad years, make sure to run WashU’s NPC with 2 students in college with no college savings (so looking at the situation as it will be at some point after your 3rd semester). This will give you an idea if your family will qualify for need-based aid at that point, which would be good to know. Also, figure out the answers to Thumpers post re: CSS profile and your family’s situation.
I am going to not like myself but your reasoning of not having money for your sibling is your out. You don’t even need a reason but it doesn’t work out financially for your family. WashU is a very expensive school no doubt. Saying this, from what I understand is that you will find out about merit from them on your Ed ll date or prior? It’s really hard to make a decision if you don’t know if you can afford it. Lots of people sign the ED agreements with the “hope” of getting some merit to help pay for it.
One thing not discussed here is just talking to Wash U financial aid and scholarship departments again. Let them know your family needs to know more information to make sure you can afford ALL 4 years at the school. Put the pressure on them. They don’t want to lose you. They have stats that are important to them and guess what… You aren’t the only one going through this.
Also ask for a housing credit or help. There might not be financial aid but many schools can help with room /board. Trust me on this one.
Lastly, maybe generally speak to your GC. Let them know your concerns that just came up with your parents so it’s not such a surprise if you decide to pull out.
Free 4 year tuition… That really hard to beat. If your this good of a student you will thrive in just about any school. Medical school is not about which school you went to, it’s about the GPA and other things that make you stand out, like what you did to get into WashU…
Saying all this just realize if you “can” somehow afford WashU its a great experience which can give you an upper hand getting into their medical school /system. But… There are tons of great schools of medicine also…
Lastly, what parents actually have all 4 years saved up for 2 kids college? Like very few. We have 529 plans for both but no where close to all 4 years. We planned on working plus 529 plus some loans they could take /work study etc.
Do your parents still work and have an income? This is how most of us do it, unfortunately…
That’s my take on this. Might not be popular… I wish they would revise the ED system somehow.
Good Luck.
@bamamom2021 I’ve been straight up not fine since the first post. So not everyone thinks this is a good or ethical move. I’ve seen good reasons for kids to get out of an ED agreement. I remember a kid a couple years ago got into a top LAC ED —parents had a small business and NPC hadn’t been accurate. Aid was not sufficient to attend. Kid appealed aid, but eventually had to drop the ED school. That was legit. This is someone trying to get out of a deal that they understood, and nothing changed except now they have cold feet.
He is very happy because he made peace with the ramifications of ED months ago. Meaning 1) never finding out if he go into many amazing schools to which he applied RD; and 2) giving up full ride scholarships and going nearly full pay. And it was painful and involved many hours of discussion. Sure ED is a racket but it was his best chance at getting what he wanted and he realized that. I’m just saying that this agonizing decision process should have occurred before your ED application, not after. I wish you the best and I hope you figure this out.
I don’t think it’s for any of us to judge whether or not someone has a ‘good reason’ for getting out of an ED agreement.
We still don’t know a lot about this specific poster’s finances or family situation, or even whether his family can actually afford WashU after the 3 semesters of savings is gone.
Did you file FASA and CSS initially? What was your EFC? You mentioned a younger sibling. How many years will there be 2 (or more) of you in college? Did you run the net price calculator with that info to see if your EFC will change?
Like others have said, you need to have a serious conversation with first your parents and then your guidance counselor. Depending on when other sibling(s) are also in college, your EFC might drop in subsequent years. IF you do honor your commitment, you could also apply to be an RA sophomore & junior year. There may also be scholarships you can apply for sophomore, junior, or senior year based on your GPA, etc. But if you do back out, you’ll be burning bridges there like @psycholng said.
It’s a tough situation. Good luck and let us know what you decide.
It really doesn’t matter, WashU isn’t going to force anyone to attend who doesn’t want to be there.
@Mwfan1921 I’m a bit uncomfortable posting specifics about myself and my family, which I understand leaves much up to interpretation. That being said, I am definitely gleaning a lot of insight and information from this thread with its varied opinions and advice. I’m really grateful to everyone for putting in what think about the situation.
@NJFL123 I completely understand that this conversation is taking place a bit too late, but thank you so much for your input.
I am going to have a very in-depth conversation with my parents over the next week about this situation, as well as a conversation with my guidance counselor. I understand that these conversations should’ve taken place months prior, and that is my mistake and I know I am responsible for getting myself into such a situation. I truly love WashU and believe that I would thrive there, and I always have the option to take out loans and work. I will not back out of an ED agreement if there is not a valid reason to, and I hope that attending WashU is possible for me and my family. Everyone has raised very articulate points and I have gathered a lot from this thread. I feel more confident that I will make the right decision for me and my family because of this. Thank you so much to everyone who has commented on here, I am truly grateful! Additionally, this isn’t me closing the conversation. I just wanted to express my thoughts and gratitude.
The choice is yours of course but know that the only valid reason to back out of ED is because you didn’t receive enough financial aid. Deciding you don’t want to spend the money is not. Know that you took a spot from someone who would have honored their commitment. You should have thought this over before applying.
Good luck @chobani2023 and let us know how things go.
Wash U is a terrific school. The school is NOT going to force you to attend for any reason. Sometimes the financial picture changes between when the ED application is sent, and enrollment. If you decide to decline this acceptance, I seriously doubt that the “ED Police” are going to come after you…or even care.
You say your parents will pay out of current earnings at some point? Do they really have $6000 plus a month after they pay all their other bills to pay for this college out of current earnings?
This college very likely accepted more ED2 students than they expect to enroll…because, like you…others will decline the admission. Plus, they have the whole RD round to fill their class.
Have this money conversation with your parents…and yes…you should have been more forward thinking about this…but make a decision NOW based on NOW.
Practical matters:
Most families wouldn’t first empty out savings then pay entirely out of income.
If you have 3 semesters worth in your college fund, you probably have about 100k. That’s 12.5k per semester. Then you add the federal loans (5.5/year) and a job for basic expenses (1.5k/semester). That leaves about 40k for your parents to pay each year. Can they pay 3.8k/month each month for your college?
Btw run the NPC for WashU foe two kids in college. Does your award change?
It’s shocking to me that some posters are encouraging you to break a contract that you and your adult parents have entered into with the university and is really a sad commentary on current state of our society.
You knew the deal when you applied ED and ED gave you an admissions boost over other kids applying RD. You knew you would be full pay and not likely get any merit. Nothing in your finances has changed.
The college and you made an agreement, the college lived up to its agreement by accepting you as an ED applicant. Now it’s time for you to live up to your end of the contract.
Sometimes you need to do the right thing not just what is convenient for you. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned here?
@MYOS1634 This is very helpful, and I am going to run the NPC with my parents with various scenarios to see if there will be true financial strain.
I personally think the whole ED /EDll should be revamped or eliminated.
My kids applied EA not ED but I would of encouraged them to take a shot and bet on themselves if there was a chance at Merit.
I think Ed deadline should be Oct 1.Then you get information on merit and financial aid by Nov 1. You have to sign and decide if you can afford it by December 1.
This would all be eliminated and I would predict 30%-40% of students would drop out. But at least families can make sound decisions on their financial futures.