<p>I think that is exactly correct. Which is why, since we aren't allowed to sit inside the admissions offices of these so-called "need-blind" (doesnt exist) schools, ED is almost always a bad idea for an applicant who knows s/he is going to need substantial amounts of aid. </p>
<p>"(Although I realize this dilutes my argument somewhat. LOL. Dang, this honesty stuff gets in the way, doesn't it? )"</p>
<p>It may not dilute your argument at all, unless you believe that your "need" (as determined it) would be such that you would have ended up paying more without a merit award. That was never true in our case. So what happens with H. eliminating SCEA is that they will lose a couple of students who want to "lock things up" by applying ED elsewhere, applicants they can well afford to lose (they clearly didn't have any special reason for being at H. to begin with), and enable the rest of the applicants to do true price-value comparisons. (I don't think they are particularly worried on that score.) Really, the only question is who they actually admit - for a decade, they've had the lowest proportion of low-income students attending of any of the COHFE schools, and it isn't because they couldn't find 'em. Maybe that will change...we'll just have to see.</p>