<p>D applied to several schools early action, one school early decision and a few more regular decision. At the only early decision school she applied to she was selected amongst 10% of those who applied for a program she wanted. That school's merit offer is 9K. She has four other offers greater than that at other schools without the select major (they do have ones that are close) Her top merit offer is 20K from a competing school. Supposedly we must decide if the ED school, with her select program, is where she'll go by Feb. 15.. but the merit aid offered is less than 4 other schools. She would like to leverage her 4 other superior merit offers against the 9K at her top choice and wait for the remaining RD schools to reply with thier offers of merit for even further leverage. </p>
<p>If we fork over a three hundred dollar fee by Feb. 15 she will supposedly (see below) be honor bound to withdraw all other applications and may never know what might have been offered from the remaining colleges. She basically got caught in a squeeze play here. In order to get an interview for the select program she wanted she basically needed to be ED. But with ED you give up leverage. The adcom she interviewed with told her to just send in the $300.. . then leverage ALL other offers.. and if she opts to go with a lesser expensive school they will understand and rebate her $300 on the grounds the finaid package was insufficient for her to attend. Technically this would be a violation of the ED agreement, but the ad. officer she spoke to told her not to worry about it, as they do it all the time. This seems unethical but the option outlined by the first ad officer was endorsed by a second ad. officer I talked to. Again he told me "Don't worry about this.. we do it all the time." Do some schools do this? Doesn't this send the wrong message to my D, or am I being inflexible to my D's possible detriment? What would you do in this situation?</p>
<p>Usually when applying ED, you are committing to attend if accepted - period. That's why it is not advisable to apply ED if fin aid is an issue. Your ED school sounds very strange.</p>
<p>Well the school is in a snowy area and has a big gender imbalance so I think they want girls there.. maybe that is why they ignore the ED policy with a wink and a nod.</p>
<p>The plot thickens. My D never signed the ED agreement. She called to ask about interviews for the special major and was urged to go ED and told not to worry about the ED constaints if things did not work financially. They put her RD application in the ED pile and that is how we got in this situation.</p>
<p>Very strange situation, which they really shouldn't have put you in, it seems to me.</p>
<p>How about agreeing to send in the deposit, provided that they simply e-mail you a confirmation that they're releasing your D from her obligation to withdraw other applications? If they're unwilling to do that, something slightly fishy begins to seem suspect. This seems to me to let you live up to the spirit of the other part of the ED agreement: to attend the ED school provided the FA offer is satisfactory. (Aside: in some states a verbal agreement can constitute a legal contract.)</p>
<p>Unless you're 100% sure she will wind up at this school, breaching the ED agreement by playing other institutions' offers off against this one is not a good idea. It will almost surely lead to revoking of admissions offers at the other schools if they find out.</p>
<p>The big question I am left with ... just how <em>special</em> is the special major?</p>
<p>You say that some of the competing schools have similar, close majors but not the exact program. Before I could decide, I'd want to have some solid information about the academic and future professional advantages of school 1. </p>
<p>And considering how many kids change their major -- just how committed is your D to that specific discipline?</p>
If she didn't sign the agreement then she's not ED and not bound. All that has really happened is the adcom's at that school have decided that they would treat your D's app as an "early read" and moved the app to the ED pile to accomplish that. No problem so far. </p>
<p>The problem comes with this next step, maybe. What does the $300 "say"? Is something signed or just $ sent? I don't think I could have her sign anything saying she will withdraw all other apps or had already withdrawn them. But that's just my take and based on the adcom's statements others could have different interpretations. Now if I had an e-mail or letter from them saying specifically that they knew she wasn't ED, and that they knew she was not withdrawing her other apps, send the $300 anyway ....hmmmmm. I can wink as hard as the next guy. ;) (It's their rule and they are waiving it. I think I'd let them. I'd just like a little back-up evidence.)</p>
<p>I think Curm has it exactly right. You are not bound by ED since you didn't sign the contract. Um, doing a bit of projection here, this might be one of those cases where the college really likes your D for this special program, and suggested recategorizing her application from RD to (wink, wink) ED in order to justify locking up a slot for her. How you proceed from her is a conundrum. Send the $300 and it looks like you're acknowledging that your D was accepted under ED. Don't send the deposit and you may risk your D losing her slot. You aren't me of course (for which you are probably grateful). But I would write a note to the school thanking them profusely for accepting D to the wonderful program, and also stating that the family is working very hard to find the necessary funding for her to attend. In fact, family finances are the reason D applied RD rather than ED, right? Not only would such a letter put the college on notice that (a) finances are an issue, and (b) your D actually did apply RD, but it also provides useful documentation should your D choose to decline admission. Good luck with this. I think it will work out OK. After all, the school likes your D and your D likes the school.</p>
<p>Is "signing" really necessary, especially w/ electronic applicantions? Also, if OP's daughter checked "ED" on her application indicating an indication for the priv and benefits of binding ED, couldn't the absence of a signature be just an oversight (and isn't that what an applicant would argue if s/he forgot to sign the ED form?).</p>
<p>It sounds like she did not check the ED box since her RD app was already in. From what I read above the school moved her app from the RD pile to the ED one when she asked about the interview for the special program.</p>
<p>
[quote]
They put her RD application in the ED pile and that is how we got in this situation.
[/quote]
This doesn't sound to me like any box was checked either. It's been a while but I remember very specific ED agreements that had to be signed by D (if we could have afforded for her to apply ED). Some I remember outlined the binding nature of the ED agreement before requiring a signature.</p>
<p>For early decision at the schools that my D applied to, if you applied ED, you had to also send in a seperate sheet declaring ED and it needed to be sent snail mail. These were schools that accepted the common app.</p>
<p>As I said, this was definitely not true for my S's school. Nothing was signed by parents or GC until after his acceptance. It was just a checked box before that.</p>
<p>This might not be germaine to this thread, but I do think it's worth noting that this "contract" is not across the board for ED apps.</p>
<p>Is this school in NY? If it's the one I am thinking of, the ED info on the website states the following: If admitted under EDI or EDII, you are obliged to enroll at __<strong><em>, as long as your scholarship meets your need. _</em></strong>_____ requires a nonrefundable deposit. Immediately upon acceptance of your ED admission offer, you must withdraw all other applications and make no subsequent applications.</p>
<p>So ... the school allows you to back out if the SCHOLARSHIP does not meet your need (this is actually strange ... it's not financial aid, but scholarship that is cited!). You could make the case that the scholarship isn't enough & get out of the deal. However, I wouldn't pay any money. That is tantamount to accepting the ED offer, and that is the point at which this particular school seems to consider ED binding.</p>
<p>If this isn't the school I am thinking of ... well, like Roseanna Roseannadanna always said, "Never mind."</p>
<p>Have you tried letting them know she would really like to go there but the financial offer from xxx was so much better? Give them a chance to sweeten the deal and the decision may become a good one. They may not match but may make it close enough to shift the cost/beneift. If they don't that might be your answer, too. You don't have to wait for the very last deal, unless it is near the top of your list.</p>
<p>You need to be careful when showing another merit aid offer. We did this with one school my son was considering. He did not apply ED anywhere. The school originally offered 7500 with a 2.7 or 2.8 required to keep the award for all 4 years. He was offered a subsidized stafford loan and w/s, but that was it. My son received another award at a similar school and they offered 13,000 along with their honor's program, but the gpa to keep it was 3.0, then it climbed to a 3.1 and 3.2 by semester 3. The school that offered 7500, came back with a counter offer that did not appeal to me at all. They offered 10,000 in merit a award, but changed it to 3.0 to keep it. Then changed the subsidized stafford to unsubsidized, and they took away the W/S. There was no discussion. They just sent us this offer. Bottom line is that you need to be careful when submitting other merit aid offers, when you have applied for financial aid as well, and be prepared for them to change the gpa if they increase the award. Needless to say, we were not happy with the counter offer, and my son went elsewhere, and was happy with this his choice. If your D has heart set on this school, be careful.</p>
<p>I distinctly recall earlier posts where parents were surprised that their chrn had applied ED - - applicants had designated ED on their electronic common apps, but parents had neither signed nor been notified of their chrn had applied ED.</p>