<p>Our daughter was accepted to her 1st choice school Ed. We are thrilled. We knew that we would have to accept whatever offer of FA she received. We did, and sent in a deposit to reserve her place in the class of 2014.</p>
<p>And, while we can try to make the tuition work (wow!) with loans and help from family, we have also been advised to try to appeal to the school for additional scholarships and FA. </p>
<p>My question is: WHEN is the best time to do this? Was it prior to sending in the deposit to secure my D's seat? Or, is it now, before the rest of the 2014 class has been accepted?</p>
<p>If it’s a school generous with aid and you have good reasons, it’s not too late to talk. Realize this will be one of the hardest years in history to extract money. Hopefully you have some unusual expenses (medical or similar), they misunderstood some part of your financial picture or another very good reason.</p>
<p>Our school was very clear that if there was an issue with FA, it should be addressed before the deposit was made. I realized when we received the package that I’d made a HUGE mistake (in their favor) on the CSS Profile and appealed and they were incredibly understanding and generous. We then sent in the deposit.</p>
<p>We applied before that humongous post about applying ED w FA (and I was so happy we did because I was woozy from that thread and it would have made me nuts) We all read the Common App for ED and took it completely at face value and after much discussion, decided to apply. </p>
<p>It was the perfect decision for my son.</p>
<p>PS Please forgive the “we” above - it was truly a team effort at our house with the whole college search/application journey.</p>
<p>Also, if I were in your shoes, I would absolutely try to appeal. I don’t think it would hurt. The worse that could happen is that nothing happens and you’ll be in the same boat. It’s worth a try.</p>