A hypothetical but not impossible scenario: a student gets accepted ED to a dream college but the financial aid offer is so much less than hoped for that the parents would prefer not to commit.
At that point, is there any chance the college would be willing to keep the candidate in the pool - in case the RD part turns out equally disappointing financially and/or not so awesome academically, or perhaps an additional source of financing materializes and make the initial choice possible?
I see why a college would be disinclined to do so, seeing it as a breach of contract.
I also see why a college could, possibly, be willing to consider it - they liked the candidate enough to offer him/her admission so they may still want them later.
To stop the discussion from going off-topic, in the “what lack of due diligence” direction, let me add that the school doesn’t provide estimates beforehand, and NPC tends to be inaccurate for people with complicated financial/personal situation.
I presume you mean, would they be prepared to reconsider you with the RD pool (not keep your existing acceptance open?) I would be surprised simply because you are not saying “I can’t afford it”, you are saying “I’d rather pay less and want to compare offers”. The get-out clause for ED is “I can’t afford it” (regardless how accurate the NPC was - or rather, that’s why the get out clause is there, in case it’s not accurate). If you need to compare finances, then ED is not the correct route to take; the “I will definitely come here if you accept me” is the quid pro quo for the ED advantage. I know for my D’s college, you explicitly could not apply in both rounds (whether denied ED or whether you did not accept the ED offer). It may be different with Covid, though my reading from CC is test optional is going to lead to a deluge of applications at the types of colleges that tend to offer ED.
It’s not that I disagree with you, @SJ2727 but unless you are extremely well-off (upper 0.5%?), deciding what is affordable is often a brutal mind game. Do you dip into your retirement saving? Do you give up on something you’ve been saving for? So I don’t think there is a strict line between “I can’t afford it” and “I’d rather pay less.” And I don’t think ED is meant to be exclusively a very rich people game.
Extremely, extremely, extremely unlikely. Admissions is accepting you ED since you HAVE to attend if admitted. If you back out of the ED contract, it’s fine to apply to other schools—but you’ll lose your acceptance at the school and your HS could potentially be blacklisted (if not for a substantial reason, such as inadequate financial aid.)
I would say the scenario is impossible. If the college did not have FA for ED, the FA fairy will not magically appear 4 months later. And I highly doubt the ED college will entain matching an RD offer from another college.
But you can ask admissions. Nobody here will know.
Yet that is how the colleges (at least the ones whose info sessions we attended) described ED and when it is acceptable to back out of an admit. Many people argue against ED precisely because they see it as a privileged rich people thing.
From the National Association for College Admission Counseling Statement of Principles of Good Practice:
“Early Decision (ED) is the application process in which students **make a commitment to a first-choice institution where, if admitted, they definitely will enroll. **While pursuing admission under an Early Decision plan, students may apply to other institutions, but may have only one Early Decision application pending at any time. Should a student who applies for financial aid not be offered an award that makes attendance possible, the student may decline the offer of admission and be released from the Early Decision commitment. The institution must notify the applicant of the decision within a reasonable and clearly stated period of time after the Early Decision deadline. Usually, a nonrefundable deposit must be made well in advance of May 1. The institution will respond to an application for financial aid at or near the time of an offer of admission. Institutions with Early Decision plans may restrict students from applying to other early plans. Institutions will clearly articulate their specific policies in their Early Decision agreement.”
If you are accepted under an Early Decision plan, you must promptly withdraw the applications submitted to other colleges and universities and make no additional applications to any other university in any country. If you are an Early Decision candidate and are seeking financial aid, you need not withdraw other applications until you have received notification about financial aid from the admitting Early Decision institution.”
This is from the Emory pdf https://apply.emory.edu/pdf/EarlyDecisionAgreement.pdf but it is very similar if not identical to what we signed on the common app when my D applied ED. The bolded bit is mine for emphasis.
ED is EXACTLY a rich people’s game. It’s yet another advantage in the system of advantages. The fact that colleges say they are promoting equity and diversity but then continue to offer ED is just another example of how disingenuous this process is. A small number of extremely brilliant and extremely poor kids also benefit from ED, in theory, but those kids would probably still get into a nice variety of excellent schools if ED didn’t exist, and then would be able to shop offers around.
Thanks for all your sound advice. I want to make sure that my initial post is not misunderstood as some kind of attempt at gaming the system. I have been going through the process for the first time and learning.
The only way I could see a college allowing it is if your child was a finalist for a merit scholarship (outside) that would make the school affordable. Those are pretty rare, but maybe they’d consider holding a spot.
The first time through is a steep learning curve for everyone. I think that the advantage of the ED round for colleges is that they get x number of students to commit to paying y dollars. What would they gain by setting a precedent that allows ED admits (who are supposed to accept or decline based on the affordability of that offer) to convert to RD so they can compare financial aid offers from other colleges? They don’t gain anything by giving students early acceptances without any of the obligations. If you’re concerned about affordability I wouldn’t apply ED. If your child is accepted RD I don’t believe the financial aid will be different than if they applied ED.
ED is a rich person’s game. If you decide to play it then I think you have to be prepared to play by the rules. Figure out what you can afford to pay before acceptances come in. If the cost ends up being more than that say no and move on.
I don’t think ED is just a rich person’s game. There are colleges that meet full need and you can run the NPCs for those schools are be pretty sure that your package will look like that result. Even better, there are schools that meet full need without loans. Yes, those schools are all highly ranked and have low admissions rates but I do know families with decent need who went ED to schools like this and were good with their FA.
This is exactly the way to think about it. Admissions decisions are based on what is in the best interest of the college on a number of different factors. Their actions are not based on soft spots for certain applicants or giving anyone a break.
Don’t forget, there are colleges that have single-choice early action and restricted early action. These are like non-binding ED.
@homerdog I would argue that ED is a rich person’s game that happens to benefit some unusually talented poor and middle class families at a few elite institutions. ED is not for the middle class, upper middle class, or even the bottom of the upper class at most universities.
For example, if a family of four has an annual income of $300k - $325k it is unlikely they will receive financial aid from the vast majority of schools. However, that some family may not be in a position to spend $60k - 75k a year on an undergraduate degree. That takes them out of the ED game.
Wow. that’s a lot of income to not be able to afford full priced college. I would think a family with that income would have been saving for years for college!
I really appreciate so much good input, including the valuable opinions of many veterans of the forum.
I will try to update this with more detail when the ED results are out.
Taking a detour from the main topic, I’d say that the biggest surprise for me is how much you put yourself at a disadvantage for a decent FA if you follow the virtuous path of saving for college in a 529, living within your means, and paying off your mortgage.
In most places, NPCs indicate you are expected to spend ALL your 529 money for undergraduate education, as if grad schools were free, even if at the end of your kid’s college you are supposed to be retired.
Yeah, I hope we don’t go into the old arguments about not being able to afford life on 300k. (Sorry, but we’ve had plenty of those threads.) If college is a priority, at that income level (and far less,) you make the adjustments or find the grants/FA/merit that does exist to court your child.
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If accepted ED, you’ve agreed to attend, if the financial package works out. It’s rather black and white: you can afford it or you can’t. Maybe you get addl $ via a request for Professional Judgment. Sometimes, the first pass when they review you for FA just doesn’t take your full picture (the exceptions) into account and this works. Other times, not.
RD is its own process. It’s not like a warmer drawer, waiting for you to come decide. I don’t mean this to sound harsh, but it’s our responsibility, as families, to know our financial realities. If you need to compare offers, you do it via the standard RD process.
To be clear, that is not my situation; however, it is a reality for many families. Whether or not you choose to acknowledge it, there are places in the USA where the cost of living makes it hard to spend 1/2 your pre-tax income on tuition for two private colleges students simultaneously.
I was simply attempting to make the point (apparently not very well) that I disagree that ED is not a “rich person’s game.” While other types of families can and do benefit from ED, the vast majority of ED applicants come from wealthy families.
EA is something to consider if you aren’t sure about the ED commitment but want to see your options earlier - and potentially get a slight boost in admissions. Many schools give merit award preference to folks applying prior to a certain date, often the EA date.