Hello, I am a rising senior interested in Vanderbilt. I want to apply to Vanderbilt Early Decision but I don’t want to get screwed over and have to pay a ton. Does Vanderbilt give a lot of merit based, or need-based aid? Is it possible to get close to a full ride, factoring outside scholarships? Here are some of my stats. If I don’t apply to Vanderbilt ED, do I have a decent chance at RD?
4.0 UW GPA
rank 1/220
1550 SAT/ 35 ACT
Math II/Bio E 800s
12 APs total throughout high school. Mixture of 3s-5s
Planning to major in CompSci
Lots of CompSci ECs, research experience community service, etc
Family income approximately 100k
You stand a good chance at of admission both ED and Rd rounds based solely on your numbers, and your ECs look promising even in their brief form. If you get excellent recommendations (which Vanderbilt really cares about) and write eloquent and insightful essays, you stand a better chance yet. With a family income of 100k, I’d say it’s likely your need based financial aid could bring the cost of attendance to around $10,000-$15,000, but you need to use the net price calculator to see if need based aid is viable, especially if you apply ED. I don’t know your family’s full picture with home equity and savings etc so I cannot even remotely guarantee that, but if you check the net price calculator, I found it to be rather accurate. My FAFSA EFC was pretty close, too. I think they offered me a bit more than FAFSA and CSS suggested. But it’s definitely case by case.
Vanderbilt is famous for its merit scholarships, which often provide the added incentive for a student to pick Vandy over another equally enticing school. These are the Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarships, for academic prowess (which you look to be a candidate for); the Chancellor’s Scholarships, for academics and leadership; and the Ingram Scholarships, which are for community service contributions, requiring 20 hours of community service per month once at Vanderbilt in order to continue receiving. Each of these is a full tuition award, but they are also need blind. So if you get one (either ED or RD, though most go out RD obviously as a recruitment tool) but still need more than just full tuition to make Vanderbilt possible based on your EFC, they meet the rest with need based aid anyway. So it’s an excellent deal if you get it. But, of course, less than 1% of ~30,000 applicants are awarded one so it’s not a given. Look up “Vanderbilt Signature Scholarships” for the run down of requirements, deadlines, and added perks that come with each of the signature merit scholarships, including a study abroad and research stipend for $10,000, as well as access to the college scholars program if you’re primarily a College of Arts and Sciences student. And it doesn’t look bad on a resume, either 
“If I don’t apply to Vanderbilt ED, do I have a decent chance at RD?”
In order to go ED, you really need to run the NPC and determine if your family is willing/able to pay the amount the NPC shows. Also fyi, if you get any outside scholarships those often will reduce your family’s need. Which means it will reduce the FA award you’ll get from Vandy. So the outside scholarship may end up saving Vandy $$$ but be a wash to your family.
If that NPC deal is not financially acceptable, then there’s no point to applying ED. Just apply RD.
Between 5-10% of the enrolled class (and less than 1% of applicants) get one of those merit schollies. Which means you’ve got to be an extremely strong applicant within the pool. Meaning someone who doesn’t need the boost from the ED device and who can buck the low odds of the RD round. Fwiw, my kid (4.0/4.75, 35 ACT) got a merit schollie in the RD round.
Most of those are full tuition schollies. If your family still has unmet need, you can get FA for room and board. With $100k in family income, my guess is that your family would still have to pay most/all of the room and board – $16-17k a year. That’s a great great deal, but it isn’t a true full ride.
The only way to get a true full ride to Vandy would be to get a Vandy merit schollie for the tuition and then also get an outside schollie to pay for the room and board. Very tall order.
Or you could get recruited as a football or basketball player. : )