<p>In regular decision, schools are essentially competing for you and therefore it would make sense for them to offer a financial aid package that would contend with the offers from other schools. Whereas, I understand early decision is binding so do schools take advantage of that by offering less generous aid packages? Basically, is applying early decision a bad idea if you are in need of financial aid?</p>
<p>If the school offers “full need” then it shouldn’t make a difference for NEED-BASED aid.</p>
<p>If the school doesn’t meet full need, then perhaps the package won’t be as good. </p>
<p>And, if you have a very high EFC and are applying ED to a school that gives big merit, than applying ED may not be a good idea. In such cases, merit awards probably go to RD students. </p>
<p>Although ED is “binding,” a student can still decline it if the FA package isn’t affordable. However, make sure your school doesn’t cancel your other apps if you get accepted ED and need to decline. There are some GCs out there that have done that.</p>
<p>If you need aid and have a decent EFC, I wouldn’t apply ED. ED seems to work best for those who can pay full-freight or have very low EFCs without non-custodial parent income issues.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My D1 interviewed recently at a school that offers big merit. Since she is a NMSF and the school says that they “consider” NMSFs for their big merit awards, I told her to ask about how many NMSFs receive merit money. The adcoms told her to apply RD, not ED, in order to maximize the amount of merit aid. </p>
<p>This may vary from school to school, so it’s important to check out each school’s merit award mindset if you want ED.</p>
<p>Many colleges leverage their aid for purposes of enrollment management.</p>
<p>That is, they offer what they think is the optimum amount of money to attract the student, while avoiding offering more than is absolutely necessary. They even work with private consulting firms, using statistical profiles, to get a better sense of what factors should be considered in shaping the aid offer. </p>
<p>Obviously, an ED student has already announced their intent to attend, so there would be little incentive for the college to offer more money.</p>
<p>I do not think it is a good idea for students who seriously need financial aid to apply ED, for an number of reasons. I do think that on the whole, they have put themselves in a disadvantageous position financially.</p>
<p>If the school guarantees that it will meet your full need, and you have run the calculators and know that your family can indeed afford the EFC, then it could be OK for a student who is looking for financial aid to apply ED.</p>
<p>However, if your family can’t afford your EFC, or if the school doesn’t guarantee it will meet full need, then you should apply only RD. That way you will have multiple offers to put on the table come April 1.</p>