“ED is to locked down full payers”

[Anonymous]

Why do so many posters think this? In my kid’s friends group, everyone doing ED at a selective school is looking for financial aid. The thought process is that (1) ED typically has higher admit rates and (2) you can withdraw if you don’t like the package.

Are people implying need blind schools reject FA kids at higher rates during ED? Or do they not realize ED agreements allowing you to back out of the school can met a family’s need?

[Anonymous]

The thing you cannot do is compare FA offers.
But yes, you are right that it is not true the ED does not allow you to apply for FA and that admission should come with a guarantee of coverage for need.

[Anonymous]

People here say stuff, OP. It's not based on facts for the most part, just their own limited experience.

It is definitely not true that schools only accept ED applicants who are full pay. One of my DD's best friends is at Yale with substantial aid (and from what I understand Yale increased the offer when the family requested an aid review). Of course, this is also anecdotal and based only on my own limited experience!

[Anonymous]

Very few schools are completely need blind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People here say stuff, OP. It's not based on facts for the most part, just their own limited experience.

It is definitely not true that schools only accept ED applicants who are full pay. One of my DD's best friends is at Yale with substantial aid (and from what I understand Yale increased the offer when the family requested an aid review). Of course, this is also anecdotal and based only on my own limited experience!

Yale's reasouces are not typical.

[Anonymous]

I work for an org that helps low-income students with the admissions process. 5 years ago, we told our families not to do ED/EA because we wanted everyone to see all of their financial packages. Now, a lot of the financial aid is given out in that first round so if you need money it's smart to ED/EA. For our students, the strategy is a little different because for those applications we are going for schools that fully meet financial need or at least have very generous need-based aid.

[Anonymous]

I thought that, at least at need-blind/meet-full-need schools, you can turn down ED only if the school doesn’t meet your demonstrated need. So, the onus is on the student/family to do the research to understand what they are likely to get based on demonstrated need.

Obviously it’s all honor system, but in terms of the agreement students, parents, and counselors are signing, isn’t the “out” for ED based on demonstrated need?

[Anonymous]

Adding on to the idea that you can’t compare aid offers. ED contracts are usually due by February before RD acceptances are out, even with an aid appeal. The contracts state you can’t make other RD apps.

There is also typically less merit aid associated with ED.

It seems if you apply ED, you should be pretty sure you will accept, otherwise you will be scrambling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People here say stuff, OP. It's not based on facts for the most part, just their own limited experience.

It is definitely not true that schools only accept ED applicants who are full pay. One of my DD's best friends is at Yale with substantial aid (and from what I understand Yale increased the offer when the family requested an aid review). Of course, this is also anecdotal and based only on my own limited experience!

+1 People say so much that is not accurate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing you cannot do is compare FA offers.
But yes, you are right that it is not true the ED does not allow you to apply for FA and that admission should come with a guarantee of coverage for need.

This, and for kids who in particular want to compare merit offers, it is a non starter.

[Anonymous]

With ED, the family is committing to if the student us accepted. If they want to entertain other offers, don’t apply ED. If the school is the student’s first choice NO MATTER WHAT other school they might get into, AND the family supports that choice, then ED. If there’s any question about “what if” and someone is uncomfortable with the risk, then the student doesn’t ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very few schools are completely need blind.

+1

Also, ED is not an option for those who need merit aid to attend, i.e. those who neither qualify for need-based aid nor can pay full freight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing you cannot do is compare FA offers.
But yes, you are right that it is not true the ED does not allow you to apply for FA and that admission should come with a guarantee of coverage for need.

This, and for kids who in particular want to compare merit offers, it is a non starter.

And kids who need merit aid and receive none with an ED acceptance are locked into a school they can't pay for, for which reason they cannot apply ED.

[Anonymous]

Isn't it much more complicated than "withdraw if you don't like the package?" That makes it sound very easy. Is that the case?

I thought you had to prove that the school didn't meet your demonstrated need?

[Anonymous]

OP here - I think what’s missing is that these kids aren’t looking to compare FA offers. They want to know what their top choice school is offering and move on if it’s not enough.

For my daughter, she spoke specifically to the FA office at each of the schools she was considering for ED. She asked specifically if the school did not give her enough aid (as determined by her), whether she could withdraw from the ED agreement. All 3 said that was correct, but asked that if that happened, she should come back to them and appeal the FA so that could take a second look at the package before she withdrew.

Anyway, I just see this repeated a lot, but at least among my kid’s friend group, they are definitely all seeking aid.