<p>I was recently accepted Early Decision to Macalester College. However, my preliminary financial aid offer was not sufficient for me to attend the school, and while I am currently appealing, it is not looking promising (by the way, I have talked to the school, and they've agreed to release me from the ED agreement if I can't afford it, so that won't be a problem). I really had my heart set on Macalester. While many have said that I would be happy wherever I end up, and I am sure that is true, I am not very optimistic about any of my other top schools working out financially either.</p>
<p>I had the idea of taking next year off to save money so that I could apply again next year and have a lot more money to be more flexible with financial aid. However, I was wondering, would Macalester ever accept me again if I had previously turned down their admissions offer? Especially if it was Early Decision?
Advice very much appreciated, thanks so much.</p>
<p>Don’t withdraw your application until you discuss this idea thoroughly with admissions at Mac. Many LACs allow students who are admitted to defer their matriculation for a year on a case by case basis.</p>
<p>Why did you apply ED if financial aid was very important? Were there surprises in their financial aid? (as in different than their online calculator)</p>
<p>You’ll need to figure out how much money you can make during your year off, and then you’ll need to recalculate how much aid you would get once you have that money. You’ll be offered less. This is another thing Macalester’s Financial Aid office can help you figure out.</p>
<p>Mac’s financial aid is one of the reasons my son can’t apply there even though he really liked the football program. I’m sorry for your disappointment, though. I hope you find a way to make it feasible.</p>
<p>Macalester, according to their Common Data Set, do allow students to defer admission for a maximum period of one year. Talk with the financial aid office, you might be able to work something out. Don’t give up yet!
Good luck!</p>
<p>@thirrdplanet
Hi, I applied ED because the school assured me that I would not be held to the ED agreement if I did not get enough aid. I figured if there wasn’t a risk of me being held to pay something I couldn’t afford, then I might as well go ahead with the ED if it was going to give me any better chance of admission.</p>
<p>And everyone else, thanks for your helpful responses. Of course if I were to do this (which I’m still definitely not sure of) I could much easier just defer enrollment than withdraw and apply again next year)</p>
<p>One problem with this plan is that you might earn enough to afford one year of your EFC. But realistically it would be hard for a high school graduate in one year to earn enough to offset your EFC for four years. And as someone else mentioned, the EFC will changes as you (the student especially) puts money in the bank. Just curious, what is in the way of your family paying the EFC that Mac thinks they should be able to pay?</p>