<p>Remember aid is based on what the school calculates your financial need to be based on family income and assets, not just on you thinking you need aid. You are expected to attend when accepted ED as long as they have met your need as determined by them. If finances are an issue you may be better off not applying ED so that you can compare aid and merit offers from other schools before you decide where to attend. If you are accepted ED you lose the option to compare offers. If you scroll through CC you will find many posts where students were accepted ED but did not receive the amount of aid they considered they needed to attend. For instance
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/624024-ed-decision-shot-down-financial-aid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/624024-ed-decision-shot-down-financial-aid.html</a></p>
<p>When you look at schools statistics for aid you have to realize they are based on meeting need as defined by them. For instance when you see that the average aid is, say, $15,000, that could mean 2 people each received $15,000 based on each having need of $15,000. Or it could mean that one received $25,000 and the other received $5,000 based on their need as calculated by the school. The average would be $15,000 in either scenario.</p>
<p>Your need is based on your family income and assets. The averages published by schools do not mean that a student with family income of $150,000 will receive the same ‘average’ aid as a student with family income of $30,000. One may receive a lot. The other may receive nothing.</p>