<p>ED seems like a great idea because acceptance rates are much higher than RA.</p>
<p>However, as we know, a student is "locked in" and must attend, unless there are real problems with affording it, and it is looked down upon to withdraw from an ED acceptance.</p>
<p>For those who's done the ED route-</p>
<ol>
<li>Did you have financial need?</li>
<li>Were you happy with the f. aid package?</li>
<li>Is there ever a way to appeal an ED f. aid package?</li>
</ol>
<p>The general rule is if you need FA don’t apply ED. The school has little incentive to give you a great package at that time since they have their pick of kids with no need. And, of course, you can’t compare offers going that route. It’s tempting. But makes little sense.</p>
<p>Right. I realize the general rule. I’m just curious if there are an CC families that have gone against conventional wisdom and had it work out.</p>
<p>Two of my kids were admitted ED and qualified for need-based aid. Their need was met, one without loans, one with a small loan amount which she has actually not had to take out because of outside scholarships. We encountered no problems in the process, but we had reasonably well-defined financials and assets which matched our income. I’m very glad we did not follow the oft repeated recommendation that ED is only for those not applying for aid.</p>
<p>Didn’t have financial need, so can’t give you personal experience. That said, if the NPC numbers look good, and you don’t have a non-standard family configuration (e.g. family-owned business, divorce), it can work. Check on the school’s policy of meeting need during both RD and ED, and see if folks have been happy with the offered packages during this year’s ED round. </p>
<p>People do appeal ED financial aid, but without competing offers in hand from peer schools it’s a tough sell. Be prepared to walk away from an acceptance if the price isn’t going to be right. Think about what’s worse: possibly better odds of acceptance but not being able to attend? or possibly worse odds of acceptance and much better chance of negotiating FA?</p>
<p>Just a related question: So if you get accepted ED, what determines whether or not you can decline the offer of admission? Is it acceptable to so if the FA offer is not what you had hoped for, or does it depend on the school? Am a little unclear on how binding ED actually is.</p>
<p>Most ED schools allow you to back out if the financial aid offer is not sufficient (but read carefully to make sure that this is the case before applying). Remember also that you will not be able to compare the financial aid offer with that of other schools, so only apply ED if the school is the clear first choice even if some other school gives a full ride. Running the net price calculator on the prospective ED school would be a good idea before applying – no sense on applying at all (much less ED) if there is no chance of affordability.</p>
<p>ED is generally regarded as giving an advantage in admissions at most schools that offer it*, particularly at schools which consider “level of applicant’s interest”, but the amount of advantage can vary from school to school, and may not be as large as acceptance rates imply due to more “special” applicants (e.g. recruited athletes) in the ED pool or an ED pool that is stronger than the RD pool.</p>
<p>*There may be exceptions. Cal Poly SLO offers ED (the only California public university that does so), but nothing on its admissions web site indicates that it is advantageous to apply ED there in terms of chance of being admitted (though if the applicant is admitted ED, then s/he can forego applying to any late-deadline safeties).</p>
<p>You can decline based on FA, and I think that’s totally your call–meaning you can simply say that the aid offered was insufficient and it’s accepted. But you can’t compare offers. Even among schools that meet need, there can be differences. </p>
<p>When I applied to collleges (in the 80’s) I had fairly high need and never considered ED for that reason. The school I ended up attending was probably my 3rd choice when i applied, with the top 4 being pretty close. All were affordable but one package had a smaller loan. amount, which tipped the scales.</p>
<p>electronblue-</p>
<p>Glad you chimed in. I figured there would be at least one family that had a positive experience of applying ED and having large financial need.</p>
<p>Thanks to all who posted.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>it isn’t just “looked down upon”. It is a clear violation of the ED agreement to withdraw for any reason other than inadequate need based financial aid.</p>
<p>For years I had the attitude presented by intparent above, but after a lot of discussion on CC, some of it involving admissions staff, and studying the actual language of agreements and what colleges told ED acceptees, and thinking about it, I reached an almost opposite conclusion: That an ED acceptee can really withdraw for any reason that presents itself, or for no reason at all, as long as it happens by the deadline the college gives for accepting the offer of admission (and as far as I could tell every college requests a post-offer acceptance). No college will take any action to enforce more restrictive terms in its ED agreement, including punishing the high school involved (at least unless there develops a real pattern of ED declines from that school).</p>
<p>They really aren’t worried about it. Why? Because at the end of the day it’s extremely rare for a student to want to turn down an ED acceptance before having other college acceptances to compare it to. The ED college is invariably A top choice, even if it’s not THE top choice, and in real life people don’t reject that for what’s behind Door #2 without a really good reason. And that really good reason is likely to be money, or a total lack of fit, or a better offer from an EA school. Only that last is problematic, and so far I think it hasn’t happened enough for the ED colleges to care about it. In general, no one whats to enroll a student who is guaranteed to be unhappy and resentful. And no one wants to get into a public ****ing contest about their financial aid policies.</p>
<p>I don’t think students should be cavalier about applying ED without intending to enroll if accepted, and there’s really no winning strategy around applying ED to a college you don’t like. But the notion that it’s difficult to turn down an ED acceptance is a myth.</p>
<p>Son applied ED two years ago - was accepted - and did receive some FA. We were concerned that he would be iffy in the EA pool - and liked the FA projected by the net price calculator. All worked out. The actual FA award was pretty much identical to that predicted by calculator. For us - it was the right way to go.</p>
<p>The Net Price Calculators generally do a terrible job for students whose parents have divorced (especially if either parent has remarried – school policies on how to handle step-parent income and assets very wildly) and for business owners. That probably represents 30% or more of the students applying to college. For those families, opening up the projected financial aid award is often a real surprise. </p>
<p>Families need to be very clear about whether they need (and are likely to get) financial aid or merit aid or both. Applying ED to a school that does not give merit aid, and with family income that makes financial aid of any magnitude unlikely, is likely to result in many tears if the student is admitted.</p>
<p>DS applied early this year and the financial aid was very close to the NPC. We are very pleased with his admittance and the aid.</p>
<p>This was for a full-need school that includes no loans in the package. The bulk of the package was grants, with a small portion that is work-study. But that’s great, as DS can use the work-study to pay for expenses at school.</p>
<p>I think one of the things that is really difficult about that scenario is that you don’t really know if it is going to be better anywhere else. When my daughter was applying to schools and we got the first FA package, I was completely and totally floored that they thought I could pay that much. Then the rest came in- all within a relatively close amount to each other- and I realized that was just the way it was. So if she had applied ED, we might have turned that first one down only to find that it was equally bad everywhere else. </p>
<p>With my son, I do have a better idea of how it works and there was one school I would have been ok with if he’d wanted to ED because I have a good feel for what they’d offer. Sadly, we couldn’t pull together a visit to that school prior to the ED deadline so he’s applying there RD and keeping our fingers crossed. I was also wary of ED because the initial FA package would be based on 2012 numbers if they required the CSS profile at the time of application. Those numbers are very different than our 2013 numbers because of a one time liquidation of an asset giving me an atypical income boost. I know they would refigure it based on actual numbers, but that feels scary to me.</p>
<p>One of my kids applied ED at a meets-full need school that had a calculator on its webpage. This was in the days before schools were required to have Net a Price Calculators. We had high need. I am self-employed and we needed a non-custodial parent waiver. Kiddo was not accepted but the financial aid office inadvertently sent out the award-- and we would have been happy to accept it. (Low estimated family contribution and no loans) In the end, kiddo had a number of offers from similar schools. Was the ED school the best offer? No-- but it was in the ballpark of the best ones and very doable.</p>
<p>I believe some schools (like Ivies) do share their ED/EA lists. I would think if an applicant were to turn down Brown due to FA, he/she probably wouldn’t be able to afford Penn either. I don’t think Penn would likely to accept him/her for RD.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Even at a school that does not give merit aid, the need-based aid is sometimes negotiable. You may not be able to negotiate the total amount, but sometimes, if the college wants the student badly enough, they will adjust the amount of scholarship vs. loan.</p>
<p>The problem here is that an ED student is at a disadvantage when trying to do this. An RD student might be able to say “College X gave me $5000 more scholarship and $5000 less loan than you did.” But an ED student doesn’t have this opportunity to compare financial aid packages and ask for an adjustment.</p>
<p>Regarding a release from an Early Decision admission, this is what Columbia University says:</p>
<p>"Can I be released from my Early Decision contract because of my financial aid package?</p>
<p>It is extremely rare for a family to ask to be released from the Early Decision commitment for financial reasons. However, on occasion possibly due to a lack of understanding of need-based aid (i.e., they were expecting merit-based aid, they did not submit complete information when using a financial aid estimator, etc) families have requested to be released from their Early Decision contract.</p>
<p>It is the familys determination that they cannot afford to pay for a Columbia education that allows them to be released from the binding early decision admission offer. The family must first speak with a financial aid officer, before the release is granted. Ultimately, it is the familys decision whether or not they feel capable of accepting the need-based Columbia financial aid award.</p>
<p>Those who do opt out of their Early Decision contract are released to pursue lower-cost school options, such as state schools and/or schools that award merit aid. The admission offer at Columbia is then cancelled. A candidate who declines Columbias Early Decision offer will not be allowed to reconsider Columbias financial aid estimate during the spring Regular Decision cycle and will not be able to reinstate the original offer of admission."</p>
<p>Worked out great for my S too. We went against the grain and decided that $ would be more readily available in the ED round. We definitely needed aid, and just decided to throw caution to the wind. Because he was the last of 5, I think we were all just sick of the process. My S also LOVED this school, and thought he would have a better chance getting in ED. The day he got his big envelope was quite a day. He was screaming and I was crying. I literally could not believe how generous his package was. My DS12’s ED round was a nightmare, so happy it worked out this time, especially as it will be my last.</p>