ED II and potential change in income allocation

[Anonymous]

My son did ED II at a school and should hear back very soon.

Due to very recent medical issues, there may be a very significant change the availability of our savings in the near future. This will alter us from being full pay to needing assistance that may be hard to immediately document. It is also possible that this issue will not come to pass, and our savings will not be impacted. We expect to know more in a month or so.

This change in circumstances has DS (or us) very nervous about ED II. I told him we should not do anything yet and we can talk to the school if he is accepted and things go south.

My question is this: he has been admitted to or will be notified by every EA school by the time ED II comes out, so there will be no applications to withdraw. He has two RD decisions which he will withdraw per the ED agreement. But does he have to also immediately notify every school where he has a preexisting acceptance that he was accepted ED II and decline those offers? The ED agreement only discusses applications. Our fear is obviously if these circumstances come to pass and we cannot afford the ED II school, he will not have any options left (some of the EA schools are much less expensive).

[Anonymous]

I would wait until you hear something from the ED2 school. Once you do, I would contact your son's admissions/financial aid rep and get them on the phone and explain the situation to them. I would NOT withdraw any other applications (EA or RD) until you speak to the ED2 school and find out if they can help you or not. They should be understanding of the situation.

I would also loop in your son's guidance counselor at school and tell them what you told us. They need to be aware of what is going on, since they also signed the ED2 agreement, but also might be able to help.

Best of luck!