To the extent that we see committing to a particular college as identical to committing to going on a particular cruise, schools absolutely should offer incentives to people who are willing to commit early. That’s a smart sales tactic.
To the extent that we see higher education industry as being a little different than the cruise industry and perhaps caring about things like equity and inclusion, then worrying about whether a certain practice hurts socioeconomic diversity makes sense.
If the DOJ was seriously concerned that current college admissions practices like requiring students to commit to a school by May 1st of their senior year and forbidding other schools from poaching those students was anti-competitive, then ED contracts seem even more anti-competitive. If Student A signs an ED contract, then no other school can try to poach her, not in the fall or in the spring or ever. Student B, by contrast, can commit to one school on May 1st, but can still entertain any offer all late spring and summer, and colleges theoretically can now offer almost anything in order to poach: “We’ll beat any financial aid offer!” “We’ll guarantee your pre-med student an opportunity to work in the lab of one of our top research professors!” The higher education industry is worried that we are now in the wild, wild west, where things which were previously seen as unethical will now become normalized. We’ll see how it plays out.