ED Merit Aid Offer to Parents -- Normal for LACs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, as the PP mentioned, Oxy does a guaranteed $15k per year for anyone who is accepted ED1 or ED1. They mention that you may get more than that, but the 15K is standard:

https://www.oxy.edu/admission-aid/first-year/early-decision/scholarship

But you must take these offers in context of the school’s health and what they are trying to do to market themselves. ED serves the school to boost yield rates which, in turn, are reported to the rankings services. The schools aren’t making these ED merit offers because they want your particular kid. They are trying to boost yield numbers. Oxy suffered a 15% decline in this fall’s incoming class so the school is doing whatever it can to bolster admissions for next year. https://theoccidentalnews.com/news/2025/11/05/college-adjusts-spending-and-admissions-tactics-in-the-wake-of-enrollment-decline/2916071

wow. These types of colleges- Xavier, Occidental, American, Syracuse are really hurting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can confirm that Connecticut College gives merit awards to ED applicants. DS got 30k/year.

But Conn College doesn't include the merit aid when you run their net price calculator, so there's no guarantee you'll get it if you apply ED. So seems better to apply RD if you want to maximize the chance of getting merit aid at Conn College.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can confirm that Connecticut College gives merit awards to ED applicants. DS got 30k/year.

But Conn College doesn't include the merit aid when you run their net price calculator, so there's no guarantee you'll get it if you apply ED. So seems better to apply RD if you want to maximize the chance of getting merit aid at Conn College.

I mean, maybe? They had absolutely no incentive to give my kid merit aid but they did anyway. He was a good but not amazing candidate (3.75 UW gpa, 1460 SAT, 7 APs).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, as the PP mentioned, Oxy does a guaranteed $15k per year for anyone who is accepted ED1 or ED1. They mention that you may get more than that, but the 15K is standard:

https://www.oxy.edu/admission-aid/first-year/early-decision/scholarship

But you must take these offers in context of the school’s health and what they are trying to do to market themselves. ED serves the school to boost yield rates which, in turn, are reported to the rankings services. The schools aren’t making these ED merit offers because they want your particular kid. They are trying to boost yield numbers. Oxy suffered a 15% decline in this fall’s incoming class so the school is doing whatever it can to bolster admissions for next year. https://theoccidentalnews.com/news/2025/11/05/college-adjusts-spending-and-admissions-tactics-in-the-wake-of-enrollment-decline/2916071

wow. These types of colleges- Xavier, Occidental, American, Syracuse are really hurting.

Occidental has been hurting since pre-Covid. It terminated it football team in 2020, blaming COVID but the truth is that ending the football program has been discussed since before 2017. A lot of alums objected, and m when the entire program was stopped, also stopped donations. During Covid, Oxy went $30 million in debt. https://www.oxy.edu/magazine/issues/summerfall-2020/price-pandemic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, as the PP mentioned, Oxy does a guaranteed $15k per year for anyone who is accepted ED1 or ED1. They mention that you may get more than that, but the 15K is standard:

https://www.oxy.edu/admission-aid/first-year/early-decision/scholarship

But you must take these offers in context of the school’s health and what they are trying to do to market themselves. ED serves the school to boost yield rates which, in turn, are reported to the rankings services. The schools aren’t making these ED merit offers because they want your particular kid. They are trying to boost yield numbers. Oxy suffered a 15% decline in this fall’s incoming class so the school is doing whatever it can to bolster admissions for next year. https://theoccidentalnews.com/news/2025/11/05/college-adjusts-spending-and-admissions-tactics-in-the-wake-of-enrollment-decline/2916071

wow. These types of colleges- Xavier, Occidental, American, Syracuse are really hurting.

Those colleges are very different from one another.