If the ED college’s financial aid package contains too much student loan,can I break off the ED agreement or I will have to attend nonetheless?
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You cannot be legally held to ED but it’s a serious commitment - and it should be honored, especially if the details match the estimate.
You can find out up front if schools use loans.
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If the net cost after aid is unaffordable, you can ask the school to release you from the ED agreement.
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You should run the net price calculator and see that the finances are expected to work before applying ED to a college.
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This is exactly what I was thinking. If the NPC predicts that the school will be affordable with an aid/loans/cost of attendance balance that you and your parents are okay with, then I would print it out and keep a copy. Otherwise, I would be reluctant to apply ED.
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If the net cost matches the upfront estimate / financial pre-read, then they will not release you from the agreement. And you should ask the school in advance how the aid package is structured.
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What do you mean by “too much”?
The federal student loan amount for freshmen is fixed, 5.5k (with the added loans for soph, jr, sr years they add up to what a college graduate can be sure to pay back over 10 years.)
Any loan over 5.5k is on your parents (and you really don’t want to do that to them).
If you run the NPC, you should first see NET PRICE, that is, price without loans.
If that price+5.5k matches your need (as per EFC*) AND that result is okay for your family, print it out and feel free to apply ED.
If the actual offer is much lower, you can show the estimate from the NPC and say you applied ED based on the NPC results, which you could afford, but the actual offer makes it impossible financially to afford and you must thus turn down the offer.
If the net price is, say, 39k above EFC and they show “federal loans: 5.5k, parent contribution 10k, parent loans 20k, student contribution 3.5k” then the school is not affordable and you can’t apply ED.
If the NPC DOESN’T include potential merit you can chance it if your stats place you in the top 10% applicants (check out the CDS, Typing either college name cds or college name collegedata).
In any case if you can’t afford the school from parent income+parent savings+(financial aid+ scholarship)+ personal savings + the 5.5kloans, you write the schol and explain they’re not affordable, and then the ED agreement becomes void. (Sometimes the college offers more money but it’s extremely uncommon and usually tied to a new factor such as a parent losing their job or unlisted medical costs.)
So, if you run the NPC and it looks like the cost is unaffordable, don’t waste your ED chance on a college that will be unaffordable -find a similar college that will be.
(*EFC is the minimum a family can expect to pay. It’s usually much higher than what the family expected.)
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Are you talking about the Direct Loan of $5500 for freshmen? If so…why is that “too much”.
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I know you are considering applying to Washington and Lee from your other thread. You should know they do not include loans in their financial aid package. In other words they fund students fully without requiring loans. What’s more, on their financial aid page they explicitly encourage international students to apply for aid.
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The OP is international. The NPC won’t be accurate
As an international, OP is ineligible
Although to be fair to the respondents, being international is a critical piece that @Cloudysparkles should have mentioned at the outset. The quality of advice improves exponentially when users have all the facts.
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Actually I am an international student,so I don’t qualify for federal loan. I will be given institutional loan. But I understand your point.Thank you for the detailed response
So how much in institutional loan do you think it too much…for an international student.
As an international student,I don’t want to graduate with 30k+ in student debt, specially considering the fact that finding employment for international students after graduation is very hard.
I’m going to be very honest with you. Many students here take the federally funded Direct loan which totals about $27,000 for four years. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for others to take college institutional loans in about the same amount. But that’s my opinion. This loan is an investment in your higher education here.
Do you have any free options in your home country? If you want no debt and something affordable, perhaps look there.
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I’m glad you’re aware of this. I see from your other thread that your intended major is environmental studies / economics. It’s going to be hard to find a sponsoring employer in these fields (vs, for example a CS or engineering major, or someone with a PhD). Therefore, there’s a large likelihood you will need to return to your home country after graduation. So keep that in mind when considering the size of loans you’re willing to take on.
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It’d have been helpful information to mention 
.
Then indeed you do not qualify for any federal or US private loan.
Institutional loans should be as low as possible since you would have to repay them quickly while on OPT (due to salaries being much lower in other countries).
What does the university’s NPC indicate (keeping in mind it’s fie domestic applicants so that result would be a best-case scenario, it still reveals whether the college’s formula’s results match your ability to pay.)
On another thread you indicated possible ED application to Bates? Is that still the case?
Students who qualify can receive financial aid for up to eight semesters, in the form of a grant (that does not need to be repaid) and on-campus employment (up to 20 hours per week during the academic year). Bates does not include loans in the aid awards for non-U.S. citizens.
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I am debating whether to ED to Washington and Lee or Bates. But you have given me a really good information about bates not including loans in fin aid for non citizens. I thought the loan inclusion was for all financial aid recipient and I do apologize for not mentioning my International status in my main post.I also have some affordable programs in my country that I can attend as much needed backup.
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From Washington and Lee.
100%— W&L meets the full demonstrated financial need of every admitted applicant entirely through grants and student employment, without loans.
You should check to make sure this applies to international students… but I don’t see an exception…but do check.
It’s very important to know each school’s policies regarding international students. I worked at a graduate school that had limited financial aid other than loans for most students. Domestic students could borrow what they needed, but we did not facilitate loans for international students. International students were required to demonstrate ability to pay if they were accepted, before the visa process could begin.