Nice theory! Our grandparent alumni wants our kids to go to a great state school but with OOS costs it would cost WAY more than our generous offer for a top 10 school. Yep they still think we’re bad parents for letting him go to the better school (that he loves) because it’s far away from them and they literally laugh at the thought of contributing anything. I wonder if the schools send anything to the alumni relatives congratulating them…that would be a nice touch! I bet some of them do.
I have no idea whether or not there are more ED “issues” this year than in the past, but threads like this one remind me that too many students think the rules of ED don’t apply to them:
What part of “binding agreement” does someone smart enough to get admitted to Duke not understand?
Smart is not the same as ethical.
^^^ Sad but true … unless you believe in Karma!
Also the OP doesn’t seem even to be aware of what ethics ARE as he posted two separate threads asking the same question without any acknowledgment whatsoever that what he is proposing is a serious breach of integrity and will reflect poorly on himself, his parents, and his HS counselor.
Dunno about the Duke ED student. NPCs are useful and can be accurate, except when they’re not. Without knowing more about the student’s story–NPC predicted more? students and parents thought there might be some flex in how much was offered?–I can’t condemn him/her. They are following the letter of the law: they got an award package, and realized that the cost was going to possibly be too much. If she/he turns down the ED acceptance, then that is technically fulfilling the ED agreement.
ED schools have a delicate balance to maintain with regard to how ED is perceived. Here on CC, we know that ED is a big advantage for full pay families (and since both of my D’s had successful ED rounds, I appreciate this). And we know that any student looking to find the absolute minimum out of pocket package should wait for RD. The schools know this as well. But if schools were to say this flat out, then they look elitist. If Duke were to say “if you run our NPC and find you can’t afford that cost, then don’t apply ED”, that destroys the careful fiction that ED does not discriminate against the middle class.
That’s the tradeoff for the schools. Accept a bit of melt in ED in order to present a public face that ED is not just for the wealthy or exceptionally hooked.
And that’s why I’m not perturbed if a student like the one mentioned above turns down an ED acceptance for financial reasons.
Just looked at the title of the thread and without delving in, just assumed that this had to do with today’s Wall Street Journal article about price increases in Viagra. Just goes to show, you can’t judge a book by its cover.
I don’t see a school telling students to run the NPC before applying ED as elitist, nor do I expect schools will avoid recommending running it if an applicant asks questions about ED. At meets need schools, the student could very well see an affordable package.
However, the schools with the best financial aid use EA (usually restricted, though) rather than ED. Probably this is because they know that few competing schools will beat them on financial aid, so that they do not have to lock in the early admits to get a high yield from them.
Unfortunately, the advice to “run the NPC” is not useful for divorced parents, those who own a business or who have unusual assets (glad the farm thing worked out @hiislandmom ). I could have allowed D to apply to her first choice ED - she wanted to - but I didn’t, for that reason.
She didn’t get into that school RD but she got into a better one for her that certainly offered her a better package than the other school would have, so IMO it was the right call. A semester into college she’s thrilled with where she is but she was angry with me last year about it.
I suspect part of the increase is that less people are willing to borrow “whatever it takes” than they were in the past. Some are just coming to that realization much later than they should and/or still want to see if they can get in even if they are not willing to borrow as much to make it work.
I always hear that you can’t withdraw from ED excel for financial reasons. What about medical reasons? Am I correct that a school would look more kindly on a student who withdraws because of an exacerbation of a chronic illness?
I am wondering about a situation where a student withdraws from ED, goes to community college again and then reapplies as a transfer.
I believe a school would grant a medical exception and a GC would honor it if a kid had become ill or a existing condition had worsened since the app was put in. Or if a parent or sib had become severely ill in that timeframe and the kid suddenly needed to be near home. No guarantee that the kid would get in if reapplying later, though. Some schools would allow a gap year, which would be an alternative.
Why would a chronic illness not allow you to attend an ED school but allow you to attend a CC? Proximity of certain doctors?
Not only proximity to doctors, but it might be better for the student to be closer to the parents in that situation. Also, depending on the medical situation the student may not be able to live in a dorm or apartment.
When my daughter was applying to college four years ago NPC’s were less common AND because we were going through the process for the first time, I frankly didn’t trust them to be accurate. For those reasons we didn’t let her apply ED. When she eventually got her financial aid packages from the 100 percent need schools to which she was accepted I was so impressed. The NPC had been dead on, and the packages all very affordable. We are neither rich, nor poor - but have very straight forward assets. Given our experience with our daughter I did allow my son the choice of applying ED to a certain set of schools which I had researched, run NPC’s and felt comfortable with. If you do your research carefully ED is not only for the very rich or very poor.
In case anyone remembers the situation I mentioned before (ED to 100% need college by foster care kid resulting in completely unaffordable package), the situation was brought to the attention of the college, the student advocated for herself, and the situation’s been resolved positively for all involved. 
@MYOS1634 Wonderful ending to that story!
I think like a nurse too often. I saw the title of this thread and thought it referred to the other ED. Oops!
Proximity to doctors or hospital, ability to take just one or two classes at a time, able to stay home where parents can help provide physical care, financial concerns due to medical costs . . .
I like the grandparent idea…too bad DD isn’t applying to MIT. Lol. However, she did apply (RD) to my Alma mater. I know I am willing to mortgage my life if she gets in and wants to go. Funny, my older DD made noises that if little sister goes to her Alma mater, she will contribute something toward tuition.