<p>It doesn’t matter what rating Princeton Review gave the school. YOUR need based aid will be dependent on YOUR family’s income and assets. I don’t believe Lafayette guarantees to meet full need (someone else can tell me if I’m incorrect about this…honestly I’m not sure). </p>
<p>I will give you my humble opinion…if finances are a significant consideration for your college selection…do NOT apply early decision. ED is a binding application whereby you agree to accept enrollment early if offered a place. You KNOW what the costs are, and there are some financial aid calculators out there that can give you a guess as to what your family MIGHT be expected to contribute. You absolutely should do this. You also need to talk to your family about what THEY can and will pay for your education annually. Remember, the SCHOOL determines the expected contribution by your family…you do not do this. There are a number of threads here from students whose families will only contribute a small fraction of what the school has computed their contribution to be. They are now trying to figure out what to do about their ED acceptances. To be honest, they should have known what the parents intended to contribute BEFORE they applied. </p>
<p>If you apply regular decision, you can apply to a variety of schools and you can then compare financial aid offers and compare total out of pocket costs.</p>
<p>Lafayette is a terrific school. Why would you think that applying ED would be better than applying RD? The “edge” for applying ED is not significant. In other words…if you don’t have the “stuff” to be accepted, an ED application will not GET you accepted. If you have the “stuff” to be accepted, your chances RD are just as good (or very close) as ED.</p>