<p>I've seen this many times now,can someone explain?</p>
<p>thanks very much</p>
<p>The very short answer is that if accepted under ED, you are obligated to apply to the school. If the financial aid offer is not good enough or other institutions come up with a more attractive offer, then you’re kind of stuck.</p>
<p>(I do think that you can get out of ED if financial circumstances make it so you absolutely couldn’t go to the ED school without forcing your parents into insolvency, but it’s probably quite complicated.)</p>
<p>thanks
If i apply for Need-Based Aid,i won’t meet this kind of circumstance?</p>
<p>It is in the ED contract that a student can be released from the committment to attend if the FA offered is not sufficient. That is not the issue.</p>
<p>What can be an issue is that since you apply to just one school, should you be accepted you will not be able to compare financial aid offers from different schools. While the ED school might offer you sufficient aid to attend, another school could have potentially made you an even better offer.</p>
<p>Another factor is that even if the college meets your financial need, they may meet it with hefty loans, and that would not be a wise choice.</p>
<p>But if you know for certain that a school is your #1 choice, and you are committed to attending if accepted – assuming the financial aid offer is sufficient – then you can apply ED. If you are accepted you need to then withdraw any other applications that are out to other schools and not apply to any new schools.</p>
<p>If you are deferred, then the ED agreement is no longer in effect and you can apply wherever else you like.</p>
<p>My son applied ED with financial need, but it was to a school that offered a solid estimate of what his financial aid was likely to be, and it does not package loans in the FA awards. I think if you need substantial aid you should only consider an ED app to a college that either does not package loans, or promises to cap them at a reasonable level. You should also see if the college has an online calculator or in some other way will give you a fairly solid estimate of what you might expect in aid.</p>
<p>You will hear a loud chorus of “no, don’t apply ED if you need aid” – but if you do your research and think it through carefully, you may come to a different conclusion. Just educate yourself about how FA works, what the policies are at a college to which you might apply ED, and discuss the matter with your parents.</p>
<p>Gotcha,thank you.</p>
<p>Playing with fire is your interest eh?</p>
<p>Set fire to your admission letter for every university. =D</p>
<p>hahaa,funny =D</p>
<p>what does your location mean? mi li jian he zhong guo? Michigan Public Park?</p>
<p>I think it’s not a good idea to apply ED to a school that doesn’t guarantee to meet need 100% with small or no loans. Plus, you have to a good idea ahead of time what your EFC is going to be and whether it’s affordable.</p>
<p>Yes, some do end up declining if the FA package is unaffordable, but then the student is often left scrambling to apply to more schools that might give merit and those deadlines have passed.</p>
<p>I think ED needs to “go away” and be replaced with Single-Choice Early Action (SCEA).</p>
<p>I didn’t see this mentioned yet, but it’s important …</p>
<p>Not only are you unable to compare financial aid offers at various schools if you apply ED and are accepted, but also “meeting 100% of your financial need” can (and often will) mean different things to different people.</p>
<p>Many people find that their EFC (Expected Family Contribution) is much, much higher than they could possibly afford. Your parents could make, say $110,000 a year, and the FAFSA you fill out to determine your financial need could very well dictate that your family can afford to pay $36,000 a year towards college expenses – as an example. It is commonplace for the family to think, “I can’t possibly afford $36,000 a year from my income!”, while a college with a $46,000 price tag could say, “We’re so glad you applied ED. It looks like your need is $10,000, since your EFC is $36,000 and our cost is $46,000. As promised, we’ll meet 100% of your need with this very nice $10,000 scholarship.” In their minds, your need was met. In yours … not so much. And you promised to attend if your financial need was met. There could be some wiggle room in a case like this … the college might bend a little bit to your view of “financial need” in post-offer negotiations, but going back on your word on an ED application is very highly frowned upon – and for good reasons.</p>
<p>ok,i get that,thank you.</p>
<p>I like SimpleLife’s example.</p>
<p>A couple of things to mention:</p>
<p>First, that $10,000 shortfall might be addressed by the school this way: </p>
<p>“We’re so glad you applied ED. It looks like your need is $10,000, since your EFC is $36,000 and our cost is $46,000. As promised, we’ll meet 100% of your need with this very nice $10,000 LOAN.” </p>
<p>As previously mentioned, only some schools offer to meet 100% of need - you might have a $36,000 EFC and a school that costs $46,000 may give you an award of $0.</p>
<p>Second, losing the ability to compare finanncial awards from various schools (and then go back to some schools and ask for more money based upon more favorable awards from other schools) is a biggie. People can, and do, negotiate better awards based on what they have been offered from other schools.</p>
<p>You are taking a bit of a risk when applying ED and having to rely upon a finacial aid package to make it work.</p>
<p>There has been much analysis done here on CC re: ED. One of the more interesting dialogues was the discussion regarding a perceived boost or not. My takeaway was that when you strip out the athletes, the super legacy students, and other high tip students the supposed “boost” of ED isn’t as much boost as one might assume.</p>
<p>Early Action is much better if it’s available; you get the speedy decisions but you don’t have to sign that scary contract and deal with the threats.</p>
<p>Threats? Or rumored threats?</p>
<p>I am actually a supporter of ED in the right circumstances.</p>
<p>Since it’s now become rather well-known that students can decline their ED acceptances if they don’t like their FA packages, I wonder if more ED schools will go to SCEA or just EA?</p>
<p>I used to volunteer as a GC, and the counselor would tell kids who wanted her signature for the ED contract that the ED college would notify other colleges about the contract, and if it was broken it would jeopardize admissions at other colleges. I’m not sure how that doesn’t qualify as a threat, even though (in my opinion) that’s a perfectly reasonable caveat.</p>
<p>There is absolutely nothing wrong with ED for people who are comfortably well-off and are comfortable going to that school. But for some reason we get dozens of threads here every year by kids or parents who signed an ED contract that they either didn’t read or didn’t understand; either they think the financial aid package is extremely weak or they realize that they don’t want to go that school. Usually it’s just carelessness, but every once in a while we get someone who has a legitimately good reason that would almost certainly be accepted by most colleges who is still full of anxiety. It’s just not necessary for most kids and I think that people rush into Early Decision just to get the college admissions process over with and don’t think through the decision until way too late.</p>
<p>M2CK, I believe the number of ED students who don’t end up matriculating is very small. I’m not sure why colleges who find ED useful would suddenly find it less useful when the opt-out for financial reasons has always been in place.</p>
<p>Schools have their own benefit with ED programs. For students, there is no other reliable way to let a college know it is your absolute first choice. SCEA and EA does not give the college the same benefit of getting a commitment from the students they want, nor does it give the student the ability to make that commitment clear. Also, if ED confers some advantage in admissions (I know that is arguable), EA seems to have the opposite effect. Many have noted getting accepted EA may well be harder than getting accepted RD.</p>
<p>I agree, Jahaba, that it isn’t for everyone. But for those that it is, it’s a nice option. (Even for those who need financial aid, if they do their homework first and choose the right college.)</p>
<p>There was an article a little while back about those “lists” that circulate. It was interesting.</p>
<p>“In their minds, your need was met. In yours … not so much. And you promised to attend if your financial need was met. There could be some wiggle room in a case like this … the college might bend a little bit to your view of “financial need” in post-offer negotiations, but going back on your word on an ED application is very highly frowned upon – and for good reasons.”</p>
<p>You promised to attend if you find the FA offer to be sufficient. The decision is completely in the hands of the student and parents; saying “Thanks but no thanks” is sufficient. No justification is necessary, and there is no retribution. Colleges know that FAFSA/PROFILE don’t tell the entire story for many families (e.g., debt in not factored in, but is very real for families that have too much of it). Colleges sometimes do respond to an appeal and more info, increasing the awarded aid.</p>
<p>I think ED should be used only at the one dream school, whether or not FA is requested.</p>