<p>Hi, from the self called expert, I heard...</p>
<p>"If you are applying for Financial Aid as an ED applicant, you will get less money than you should normally get -- or less money than you would get as a RD applicant -- since colleges know that I am "going to go to Cornell" and I 'have' to pay for their tuition...</p>
<p>I am heavily depending on getting financial aid from Cornell University and because of its need-based policy, I found it very apt for me. </p>
<p>But, now I heard about "ED lowers the money that you could get for need based financial aid," so now I am having a dilemma.</p>
<p>Any reply please ? ED due date is coming fast :(((((((</p>
<p>Most people that require FA are encouraged not to apply ED to any school. The reason is each school uses a different formula to calculate EFC, one maybe lower or higher than another school. By applying ED you are locking yourself into one school’s FA. Cornell’s calculation of your family EFC may not be what your family could afford or willing to contribute. The only way for you to get out of ED is for financial reason, and it can’t be “even though our EFC is 10,000, my parents are only willing to pay 5,000, so I want out.” You will have to actually prove you couldn’t afford to pay 10,000 to get out of your ED commitment. Even if schools are committed to meet 100% of your needs, how they meet it could be very different (grants, loans, work study). If you only apply RD, once the offers come in, there is a possibility you could get one school to match another school’s FA. If nothing else, by not applying ED you’ll have an opportunity to compare all FA before you make a decision.</p>
<p>If your income and assets are low enough, you don’t need to worry about EFC; if not, the above applies. This whole topic has been discussed in the past…</p>