<p>On the question of applying to a school ED if you know you are going to need FA, you don't need to decide before you apply to a school whether you will be able to afford it. As Chedva said, the college determines that. And it isn't a breach of any promise on your part if you apply ED to a school that you know is very expensive and that you will need aid to attend. </p>
<p>The problem for the applicant is that you might not find out your FA award until spring when everyone else does, and you certainly won't be able to compare FA packages. You will just have to go with whatever the ED college has determined is right for you (which may or may not be enough). Not all schools are equally generous with their aid, so you might get stuck in a situation where you have been accepted to the ED college, and that college has given you an award that in fact doesn't cover the cost to you and your family, so you can't afford to go to that college but you haven't been able to apply anywhere else...It seems like a pretty huge risk to take.</p>
<p>OniLawLiet, you've got it exactly right for most schools. You can apply ED1 and EA; if you don't get into ED1, you can apply ED2. However, some schools have limitations: You can't apply EA anywhere else if you apply to Yale or Stanford, for example, and you can't apply ED anywhere if you apply EA to Georgetown. Check the schools' websites to be sure.</p>
<p>"Your GC has to certify that you're only applying to one when he/she sends your transcript, rec & school report. Most GCs won't lie for you."</p>
<p>Not only must the Guidance Counselors lie to make this viable, but so must teachers doing the recommendation. If the student were caught, this could reflecty very poorly on the school and teacher. Also, if caught, you could be left with basically nowhere to go.</p>
<p>for the op, if you can not afford the school, top universities are "supposed" to match up to full need or as much as they are willing to. For ED, they will most likely leave some room where you have to pay more, but not enough so that you can back out of the school.</p>
<p>If it is financial reasons that you break your ED contract, they won't make you pay 50K. That's just stupid. The whole point is that you don't have money to pay for anything. </p>
<p>Just pick one ED or EA you are interested in. Most of the time, ED doesn't really increase your chances by that much anyway.</p>