Released from NYU ED 2 to see UC admissions because of financial aid

Applying to College Early Decision / Early Action
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Your high school guidance counselor is going to have to send your final transcript to the college you end up going to. The GC signed the ED agreement and knows you’ve been accepted. If you commit to going there and then go back on that commitment, so you can go somewhere else, you’ve put your GC in a very bad spot.

Bottom line - don’t do this. Either accept the NYU offer and withdraw your UC applications, or tell NYU that the finances won’t work and decline their offer.

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I don’t know the definitive answer either but OP this not a time to guess, pray, speculate or hope because the consequences could be significant and impact not just you but others. Don’t ask an anonymous and unvetted group of strangers. Talk to your GC and parents and come up with a plan.

Congratulations on your acceptance and a high class “problem”.

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I agree. The ED agreement is not legally enforceable, or rather it’s unlikely a university would bother enforcing it. It’s more an agreement underpinned by honor and commitment so if the student and the GC don’t abide by it there seems to be little to no risk of repercussions.

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Agree with this. Sure, there’s a chance you could essentially game the system and get away with it. But that is quite unethical and just generally sketchy behavior. And what if this kind of behavior really p***ses someone off along the way? One phone call to the UC admissions office to describe to them what you did might be enough to get you rescinded. Could be low probability, but absolutely possible. There is something called character and, believe it or not, some people - and colleges - still highly value it. What you are proposing shows poor character.

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Strictly speaking “insufficient financial aid” is always a valid reason - and with NYU’s NPC being so bad (the only upper income category is 99k+, whereas paying 80K would be a huge difference for a 100K and a 300K household) that’s why they’re quite willing to let ED obligations go.

But once an applicant says “no - insufficient FA”, that’s it.

And bc some GC or HS could get “black balled” by universities if an applicant takes back their commitment to attend another university, some GC can take action. It can get messy.

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