I'm a little confused by Early Decision.

Parents Forum
1

I just took this off another website:

ED applicants. Apply early (usually in November) to first-choice college. Receive an admission decision from the college well in advance of the usual notification date (usually by December). Agree to attend the college if accepted and offered a financial aid package that is considered adequate by the family.

OK, so what happens if you don’t like the FA package? And with all the research I have done about picking a college or colleges, I actually don’t know when other schools will actually offer their FA packages…

2

@AbsDad

When you apply ED it is with the understanding that you WILL attend if accepted. That being said…if the financial aid doesn’t work out, you can decline the ED acceptance.

You will NOT be comparing this ED financial aid offer to other college financial aid offers. Typically, ED acceptances and financial aid are sent out before the Christmas vacation and the students have a VERY short window of time to either accept or decline the offer.

If you think you will be able to compare your ED financial aid offer to other financial aid offers…and you also feel you will NEED to compare these offers…well…ED is NOT something you should do.

Here is the rub. Your kid could get an ED acceptance and financial aid offer…and you will NEED to make a quick decision. Trouble is…you have no way of knowing whether the net cost of the ED school is the best one your kid MIGHT have received. You could say NO…and find out that the ED offer was THE best…but too late! You will have declined.

I know you have twins…but really…have you run the net price calculators…for an estimate? If you have regular W2 income, are not self employed, own no additional real estate, and are not divorced…you would get a decent net price ESTIMATE. Does this apply to you?

If the cost looks too high…don’t do ED.

OR make it clear to the applicants that if the money isn’t there…the admission will need to be declined…period.

3

I have run them for many schools. They usually say about $31K each per year for the schools they have serious interest in. The problem is that we make too much money, but also not enough money.

The one good thing is that both of my kids would be fine going to University of Pittsburgh, an in state school. But this is definitely not the preference for one of them.

4

@AbsDad, neither of my kids took the ED route because we needed to compare financial packages. What I did was I told them what I could afford to pay each year. I ran the NPCs at the schools they were interested in. If the numbers came back within around 10K of what I could afford, then I told them that they could apply BUT that if they were admitted and the FA was not enough, they would have to walk away. I am divorced so the NPCs can be off, which is why I had the 10K range.

5

@AbsDad Have you run the NPC for Pitt also?

The value of in-state public schools are sometimes deceiving because they often provide much less financial aid. A quick look at Pitt’s in-state costs show tuition, fees, room & board of ~$31k. Hopefully you’ll have aid to reduce that if Pitt is selected.

Good luck!

6

@magtf1 I did it yesterday… 28,500 per daughter for Pitt.

7

Even you may withdraw from an ED admission agreement for a financial reason, it does not mean it has no consequence. Your HS may restrict you from applying to other private or OOS school. You need to fist check with your GC. If that is a school you really want to attend and it appears financially feasible for you at least on the NPC, you should apply ED. If you need to compare financial aid package or keep the other doors open, you should not apply ED. Neither of my D applied to any ED school mainly for the financial reason.

8

How does the net.calculator. differ for those who are self employed ?

9

And if I may add a few examples. Suppose parent has $15k per year they feel they can contribute. Suppose the calculators come up with a cost of $45k. In that example a parent would have to come up with far more than was comfortable, unless school came up with some wild, huge, phenomenal grant or scholarship. My numbers are just made up to show an example, but if after running calculators a parent comes up with a huge difference, then they have no business promising to attend if accepted.
A student or parent isn’t thrown in jail for breaking their word, but ED is a promise the student will attend if accepted. If there is uncertainty about the finances I suggest the family not do it. Not only could there be repercussions as mentioned in post 6, but it’s also a life lesson. Don’t make a promise unless you really really intend to follow through. Don’t make a promise needing a near-miracle to be able to follow through.

10

@ambkeegan – it really is not predictible for self-employed unless have a low overhead occupation and don’t take many deductions. Otherwise the colleges often want to look at your tax returns and they will add back in money that is deducted — particularly things like car expenses, travel & entertainment, depreciation. So self-employment is one of those factors that can really mess up the calculations.

11

@ambkeegan - Many of the Net Price Calculators do not go as deeply into financial details as the financial aid applications do. That means that they don’t give accurate results for people who have complicated financial situations. If your situation is not a simple one, then contact the financial aid offices directly and find out more detail about the formulas that they will used when evaluating an aid application.

12

From what I’ve seen over the last decade, ED is for rich/legacies, athletes, and questbridge.

If you are hesitant on your financials and eager to compare finaid offers, it’s unethical for you to have your child apply ED. And you’re probably getting worked up over nothing because ED favors the 3 cohorts above.

13

@happymomof1 He has low overhead and makes much less than when he was working in a company.

14

It is very painful for a kid to get in ED, then have to walk away for FA reasons. Don’t do it unless the NPC for that school looks reasonable.

15

OK, thanks… I understand it now.

16

It might make a little more sense if you understand the purpose of ED-- it is a way for colleges to lock in roughly 1/3 5o 1/2 of their incoming class early on. The colleges want to lock in applicants who are particularly desirable to them – this would include student such as recruited athletes, and also well-qualified applicants who are full pay. The full pay part is important because they have to bring in $XX to meet their budgetary needs-- so if they admit too many students who need financial aid and too few who can pay… they run into financial problems.

They do in fact offer financial aid during the ED round, but it is certainly not a priority for the college to lock in high need applicants – so it really doesn’t matter to them if financial aid awards are turned down. That’s just more money that stays in their financial aid budget.

The ED applicant gets the benefit of an early determination and that can also be a cost savings when you tally up the cost of applying to a dozen or more other colleges. But it’s not a process meant to benefit those who want to compare awards. It’s more meant for those who are willing to trade the possibility that they may end up paying more than they need to for college in exchange for preferential consideration for their first choice college. That is, if you really want to attend Ivy U over all others, it stands to reason that you wouldn’t mind paying a little more.

Obviously that doesn’t mean that you would be willing to pay any price at all – but the idea is that you will look at the financial aid award with the mindset of whether you have the ability to pay in absolute terms, not where the college falls within the range of what you can afford.

17

One thing to consider - it is possible to apply both ED and EA in order to get financial aid information for comparison’s sake. You would still be committing to go to the ED school if the financials are acceptable but by applying EA as well, you would be able to make a more informed decision. In addition, if the ED school is significantly below the EA schools, you would have grounds to negotiate or decline the ED offer.

18

First, look at the NPC. Can you afford what the college thinks you can afford? If not, do not apply ED; you already know that any financial aid will not match what you want to pay.

Second, is it a “meets full need” college? If it is not, do not apply ED; your need may not be met.

If, however, the college meets full need and the NPC looks good, AND your child’s stats fall in the middle 50% or top 50% for the school, applying ED may be a great strategic move. It may improve your child’s chances of admission.

Yes, some ED spots will go to athletes, legacies, and other niches the college wants to fill in order to be financially, racially, culturally, extracurricularly, and geographically diverse. I do not know whether that will work in your child’s favor or not. But some ED spots will go to typical “unhooked” applicants as well, at all income levels. I know people with no “hooks” who were admitted ED to strong colleges and were happy with the financial aid package they received.

I recently listened to a phone call for alumni at Williams College. I was so impressed with the efforts they are making to ensure that every admitted student can afford to attend Williams, and they are 100% need blind for admissions. The call took place in January, right after the December ED admissions, so that was a major topic during the call. The dean of admissions and financial aid spoke specifically about how financial aid is the same for both ED and non-ED students and how they never want any student who is admitted ED to have to not attend because of finances. They are extremely generous, flexible and caring, in making sure that the admitted students can attend. But they can afford to be.

Some top colleges admit a fairly large percentage of the class early decision (sometimes almost 50%), so it really does improve the odds to apply early. But more people are admitted RD, so you should not feel pressure to apply ED if the EFC is not right.

So, the summary is, if you think your estimated family contribution on the net price calculator is manageable, and the college is one of the colleges that meet full need, apply early if you have a college you would be happy to attend if admitted. But if the EFC does not sound right or the college does not meet full need, it is safer to wait for the RD round.

19

If the instate net price for Pitt was $28,500 then the only aid you can expect is the student loan of $5,500.

So your EFC even with two in college must be pretty high.

They should both apply early to Pitt, if their stats are high (A average with honors and AP, top 5% class rank, 1500+ SAT), they might get some merit.

What are they interested in studying?

20

@mommdc

Yes, both have those kinds of stats. And on a “chance me” site, both are at least top 15% for every college still in play.

Daughter 1 — Marketing / English with a Creative Writing minor… she wants to go to Simmons College in Boston. But she has Pitt as a 2nd choice.

Daughter number 2 LOVES Pitt and Mount Holyoke, but we are going to see Smith, Amherst, and UMass Amherst in 4 weeks. Who the heck knows what she wants to study… first it was Physical Therapy, then Pharmacy, then Psychology… and now, probably, maybe, we’ll see… genetics.

They don’t have the SAT at 1500, but low to mid 1400’s. They have 3.9 GPA and 4.6 weighted GPA. Both in NHS.