Alright, so my question concerning financial aid is in regards to the different application methods, those being Early Decision and Regular Decision. Hypothetically, assuming that I would be accepted in either round, would it make more sense financially to apply RD rather than ED? If accepted ED, then Rice can give me whatever minimal financial aid package they want and unless I can prove that I cannot attend with that amount of aid, then I have to go. On the other hand, if accepted RD, Rice may give a more lucrative package to attract me in their direction, or I can come to them with competing offers from other universities and ask them to match those offers. However, I have also heard that colleges have more money to give out in the ED round rather than later in the RD, making the financial packages offered in ED better. Can anyone help me figure out if it would make more financial sense to apply ED or RD?
Run the Rice net price calculator to see what Rice is likely to give you in financial aid. https://financialaid.rice.edu/resources/resources/net-price-calculator
If you can afford to pay the amount shown in the net price calculator, and Rice is definitely your first choice, then apply ED. Rice has a higher admission rate for ED than RD. Last year it was 20 percent versus 10 percent. Otherwise, apply RD. Rice meets full financial need, but is fairly stingy with merit awards. After she was admitted, my daughter sent Rice admissions evidence of her merit awards from two peer schools. Rice responded politely, but did not budge to give her any merit money. Rice was the best fit for her, so she went to Rice anyway. https://admission.rice.edu/apply/freshman
With schools like Rice you are probably wasting your time sending in the offers from other schools. Their waitlist is full of students with stellar resumes and a lot that can pay full cost of attendance (not us). Seriously, run that net price calculator, my daughter got in the ED round last year and our financial aid was exactly what the calculator said which was very generous. Merit scholarships at Rice are few and far between, I am not certain, but I think the biggest is $25k/year. Don’t bank on the merit portion because everyone is an unweighted 4.0, class president, volunteer coordinator, chess champion, etc. Realistically, you will get the same aid in the ED round as in the RD round if you get accepted.
Financial aid is not impacted by ED vs RD. Rice meets 100% need, that “need” does not change dependent on when you apply. Merit scholarships are awarded differently, the admissions staff does those reviews. Rice will not match other offers so you can bring in your other offers for an explanation as to why they might be different, but they won’t offer more aid to compete with other schools. If you’re worried about how much aid you’ll get, they usually will tell you to apply RD because ED is binding.