It’s binding under the conditions you describe and your “strategy” could jeopardize your student’s acceptance anywhere else. It could also damage the high school’s relationship with Northeastern.
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It is not binding if you cannot afford to pay. If you can afford to pay but simply do not want to pay, then you are violating the ED agreement.
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But who determines that? This is why we were terrified to let our daughter apply anywhere ED. How easy it is to argue if what you get on a net price calculator is different than what comes back from the school? The whole scenario sets up an unfair advantage for families with more money.
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If you used the school-specific (not the generic) net price calculator, that is what the school thinks you can afford to pay. That is what you are agreeing to when you sign the ED. If you are not comfortable with that number, you should not let your child apply ED. The school’s side of the agreement is that they will meet that demonstrated financial need.
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Exactly. And maybe I didn’t post clearly on what I meant by strategy, b/c it’s certainly not unethical. Again, going back to my first son. He was accepted at his 2nd choice school with a generous financial aid package through ED2. He was accepted elsewhere with much less for the financial aid package. In this case, the ED2 school did meet financial need promise and the other schools were charging a fortune. If the situation was reversed, I absolutely would’ve backed out of the ED2 school for not fulfilling their promise. So as long as the school fulfills their promise, there is no problem. My point was the non-binding if they do not.
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In your earlier posts, you were conflating financial aid and merit aid. Perhaps it was a misunderstanding. Merit aid has NO bearing on the ED agreement.
The school bases the financial aid on its own formula of demonstrated need. Most people find that number higher than what they are comfortable committing to without being able to compare offers from other schools. Everyone should know what that number is before they apply ED and sign an agreement.
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I believe it was and before leaping to a conclusion that someone is behaving unethically, it’s always a good practice to get more information and seek clarification. We all want the best for our kids and, I assume, also not want to be in debt until we die. It’s a right not an entitlement to compare the COA at each school.
It’s absolutely a right to compare offers from other schools unless you apply ED to a school. It is literally written in the agreement that if you are admitted, you will withdraw all applications from other schools. They provide the net price calculator so you can decide ahead of time if you are comfortable with how the school has determined your financial need. The only way to ethically back out of an ED agreement is if they do not meet that financial need as determined by THEIR net price calculator or if your family has some unforeseen change in your financial circumstances.
This is not specifically about you, but nobody should be applying ED to get an admissions advantage with the intent of backing out if they don’t get merit aid or anything above what the NPC predicted. There are so many families, some of them here, who ran the NPC, decided it was not a number they could commit to and had to apply EA or RD.
ED has a much higher acceptance rate because it is supposed to be a binding contract.
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You do, by completing the school’s NPC.
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ED absolutely benefits affluent students.
We are full pay but not comfortable potentially paying $320k X 2. My older daughter especially might have improved her chances by applying ED, but we wanted to be able to weigh different financial impacts before making a final decision. She applied to some highly selective schools that don’t offer merit, but she also applied to several schools that did.
We could not commit to ED because that would have been sacrificing being able to compare COA after merit. The NPC would have said the full amount. Anyone who wants merit in addition to what the NPC shows should not be signing an ED agreement.
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and the student’s high school college counselor should confirm with the family that they can afford it (or are applying for FA) before the student applies ED. At my son’s school the parents have to sign an agreement with the college counselor.
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I hate that we can all name the advantage it awards to affluence, but there is nothing to be done about it. We’re at a disadvantage in admissions when schools are filling half their freshman classes with ED applicants. And all I can tell my daughter who worked just as hard and is just as qualified, “That’s the system.”
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Very unlikely, but anyone think ED2 may come out today? I know the last day to switch for deferred was Feb 6 and they said we’d hear by next Wednesday so I guess there may be a chance its earlier
Portal says last day to switch to regular decision is the 13th, so probably not
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That language is not in the standard ED agreement. You can be released if the finances do not work for you—solely determined by the family. It is prudent to run the NPC…but you are not obligated to do so by the agreement.
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When my S21 was applying to college we qualified for nothing. 80k a year was definitely out of our range. There were schools he got into that we had to eliminate because the COA was too high.
For S23, we expected the same, but we’re genuinely shocked at what NE came back with. Their formula factors in multiple students in college.
ED benefits more affluent families if they can pay full price. There are a lot of people who have enough not to qualify for financial aid but still can’t pay 80k.
Unfortunately, I suspect if the NPC doesn’t make ED affordable, it’s not going to make any form of admissions affordable. They don’t stack merit aid on top of financial aid.
The family determines that.
Should a student who applies for financial aid not be offered an award that makes attendance possible, the student may decline the offer of admission and be released from the Early Decision commitment.
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Thank you for posting that. Maybe the judge and jury will be quieted now. I can’t believe I signed up on this board to get more info and instead encounter offensive judge-y posts. So unnecessary.
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So, ED is worthless. Any family can say they cannot afford to attend and be released from the agreement.
Not at Penn you can’t (emphasis mine):
The only instance in which you could request to be released from our Early Decision binding agreement is if your financial need can’t be met, which would be determined only after consulting with Penn’s Student Financial Services office.
During the consultation, I expect there would be a thorough review of finances, NPC values, and expected family contribution. It’s not as simple as saying “finances don’t work for us.”
If a family plans to use ED as a strategy (which I don’t recommend), take a few minutes to review each college’s policies for release from the agreement. It may be harder than you think.
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