<p>Does applying ED affect your chances of receiving financial aid? (ie - does the demonstrated interest make them less willing to give money?)</p>
<p>How easy is it to back out of the early decision agreement if the financial aid is not enough?</p>
<p>Also please give your general opinions about the process if you've applied/been accepted ED to penn, or any other school.</p>
<p>I would suggest if you want to know more about financial aid that you contact someone in admissions. They would probably be able to help point you in the right direction. I’ve observed that a lot of people seem to have very different experiences with financial aid, so I’m guessing that it is something that can be pretty specific to your own personal situation.</p>
<p>well obviously someone in admissions will tell a prospective student that financial aid is just as accessible to ED applicants, i just wanted to find out if there was any truth to that statement via this website.</p>
<p>But they may be able to give you more information about how it is calculated and what factors go into your package that anecdotes may not be able to provide. Because it seems that there are a variety of results with financial aid. Some people that I met going to Penn this year seem to be really happy with their packages, but others really thought they would be more generous. However, I have heard more about financial troubles with RD applicants, but that might be because they had different circumstances than the people I knew who applied ED.</p>
<p>One last thing, Penn has a strong motivation to make financial aid work during ED. They do not want to be forced to release you from early decision, which you can choose if your aid doesn’t work. It looks bad for them to have to do that. So if you tell them that you are applying early, they may even give you more information than if you were applying RD.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help, I really appreciate your feedback.</p>
<p>One last question, though. How much “proof” do you need to be released from the early decision if financial aid is not enough? (Since, obviously, just wanting more money is not a valid reason to back out of the agreement). I know these questions could be more easily answered by an admissions/financial representative at the university, but I’d like to hear what others have to say and compare that to their responses.</p>
<p>Also ask the school this: If any kind of proof is needed to be released from the ED agreement for financial reasons, what happens if they don’t accept your proof? Will you be expelled if you can’t pay the bill? I think the answer is that no proof is ever needed, but that’s just MHO.</p>