Does applying early decision completely remove you from consideration for merit aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would a college give you merit aid if you are applying ED? What incentive do they have to lure with aid?

So you're talking about schools where merit aid is handed out to students they like, not based on merit in any verifiable way?

That's what "merit" is. It's "market" price for a student who adds value to the school and is letting schools compete.

Except it's not capricious, the schools at least give lip service to how merit is awarded. If it's a formula based on stats, the details are published, and are applied to all applicants. If it's a competitive scholarship, they will still say all applicants are considered. Now do they use the ED round to find students who aren't competitive for scholarships? Possibly, that's certainly what families are hoping for when they say there's an admission boost with ED. And you are committing with or whether or not merit pans out. But it's still a step further to say ED applicants are precluded from merit. Are there examples of schools that explicitly state this?

None of them will state this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. I worry about this, too, as DS has started talking about applying to a reach school ED. I asked about merit aid and ED on a recent visit to U of Chicago and the admissions counselor claimed to have no idea/no information about how merit aid varied by decision pool, or averages across ED/RD. Also, she said she had never heard of anyone having to turn down an ED offer because of cost. I think my eyes about rolled out of my head when she said that.
I feel like ED is something of a scam by schools to get as many kids in full pay as possible, making it easier to meet their lofty goals of meeting 100% of financial need. Anyway, no good answer for you, OP, but the very same question keeps me up at night.

I agree and that admissions counselor sounds like an over privileged nitwit. Disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my kid - ED Brown. 100% merit aid. But his application was outstanding.

Your kid got financial aid from Brown. It may have been listed as “XYZ Scholarship” but it was not merit aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my kid - ED Brown. 100% merit aid. But his application was outstanding.

Does Brown offer merit aid?

No. Clearly stated on the website. OP does not recognize that the student received generous financial aid from Brown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would a college give you merit aid if you are applying ED? What incentive do they have to lure with aid?

So you're talking about schools where merit aid is handed out to students they like, not based on merit in any verifiable way?

That's what "merit" is. It's "market" price for a student who adds value to the school and is letting schools compete.

Except it's not capricious, the schools at least give lip service to how merit is awarded. If it's a formula based on stats, the details are published, and are applied to all applicants. If it's a competitive scholarship, they will still say all applicants are considered. Now do they use the ED round to find students who aren't competitive for scholarships? Possibly, that's certainly what families are hoping for when they say there's an admission boost with ED. And you are committing with or whether or not merit pans out. But it's still a step further to say ED applicants are precluded from merit. Are there examples of schools that explicitly state this?

None of them will state this.

So, the question is where’s the proof? There are certainly schools that explicitly state they don’t do this. There are students who do get merit aid during ED. I get why parents think this, but I don’t really see evidence it’s true. I’d think eliminating a class of students from scholarship consideration would be asking for trouble, unless the ED contract some how disclosed this.

[Anonymous]

Washington & Lee says not to apply ED if your attendance depends on getting that 100% scholarship. That’s the most explicit statement I’ve seen.

[Anonymous]

Merit aid is generally speaking a carrot to attract top students in the RD round. There is no incentive to give merit aid to an ED student bc ofc it is binding. That is why you should not apply ED if you are hoping for merit aid. Not everywhere always, but generally speaking - you do not receive merit aid if you apply ED.

[Anonymous]

In average, ED is an attempt to boost your chances. If you expect a merit discount, you are wasting your ED on a safety school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Merit aid is generally speaking a carrot to attract top students in the RD round. There is no incentive to give merit aid to an ED student bc ofc it is binding. That is why you should not apply ED if you are hoping for merit aid. Not everywhere always, but generally speaking - you do not receive merit aid if you apply ED.

This is generally speaking true of the most competitive schools, schools that have no difficulty filling a class with highly-qualified applicants. But other schools have different incentives.

At some schools, merit is a carrot to attract top students under any circumstances. Schools that use this approach will publish the stats needed for certain merit awards, and/or include stats in their COA calculator. You can apply ED relying on that calculation.

At still other schools, merit is a carrot to attract enough qualified students to fill the class. These schools publicly state that all applicants, or all ED applicants, admitted to the school will receive an award of $x amount. I believe Oberlin and Agnes Scott do this, and I’m sure there are others. Again, you can apply ED relying on these policies.

So I agree that you have to look at the school’s incentives, but different schools have different incentives because they occupy different positions in the college market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. I worry about this, too, as DS has started talking about applying to a reach school ED. I asked about merit aid and ED on a recent visit to U of Chicago and the admissions counselor claimed to have no idea/no information about how merit aid varied by decision pool, or averages across ED/RD. Also, she said she had never heard of anyone having to turn down an ED offer because of cost. I think my eyes about rolled out of my head when she said that.
I feel like ED is something of a scam by schools to get as many kids in full pay as possible, making it easier to meet their lofty goals of meeting 100% of financial need. Anyway, no good answer for you, OP, but the very same question keeps me up at night.

This^^^- If you willing to full pay and sign a blank check, only than consider allowing your child to apply ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course the college has no incentive to offer merit aid to early decision applicants.
As an applicant in the early decision process, you are committed knowing that you will accept whatever financial aid package the college will offer. This is why ED is so advantageous to wealthy families and so unfair to students who need to compare financial aid awards from different colleges.

And unfair to high-stats student who need merit aid (but can't pay full price or qualify for FA).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my kid - ED Brown. 100% merit aid. But his application was outstanding.

Does Brown offer merit aid?

No, it does not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. I worry about this, too, as DS has started talking about applying to a reach school ED. I asked about merit aid and ED on a recent visit to U of Chicago and the admissions counselor claimed to have no idea/no information about how merit aid varied by decision pool, or averages across ED/RD. Also, she said she had never heard of anyone having to turn down an ED offer because of cost. I think my eyes about rolled out of my head when she said that.
I feel like ED is something of a scam by schools to get as many kids in full pay as possible, making it easier to meet their lofty goals of meeting 100% of financial need. Anyway, no good answer for you, OP, but the very same question keeps me up at night.

Likely she was thinking that people understand that when applying ED, you are making a binding commitment, and need to be able to foot the bill without aid.

I am not sure why this surprises you. It says more about you than it does the admissions counselor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I worry about this, too, as DS has started talking about applying to a reach school ED. I asked about merit aid and ED on a recent visit to U of Chicago and the admissions counselor claimed to have no idea/no information about how merit aid varied by decision pool, or averages across ED/RD. Also, she said she had never heard of anyone having to turn down an ED offer because of cost. I think my eyes about rolled out of my head when she said that.
I feel like ED is something of a scam by schools to get as many kids in full pay as possible, making it easier to meet their lofty goals of meeting 100% of financial need. Anyway, no good answer for you, OP, but the very same question keeps me up at night.

Likely she was thinking that people understand that when applying ED, you are making a binding commitment, and need to be able to foot the bill without aid.

I am not sure why this surprises you. It says more about you than it does the admissions counselor.

A universally accepted reason for opting out of an ED acceptance is lack of affordability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would a college give you merit aid if you are applying ED? What incentive do they have to lure with aid?

So you're talking about schools where merit aid is handed out to students they like, not based on merit in any verifiable way?

That's what "merit" is. It's "market" price for a student who adds value to the school and is letting schools compete.

Except it's not capricious, the schools at least give lip service to how merit is awarded. If it's a formula based on stats, the details are published, and are applied to all applicants. If it's a competitive scholarship, they will still say all applicants are considered. Now do they use the ED round to find students who aren't competitive for scholarships? Possibly, that's certainly what families are hoping for when they say there's an admission boost with ED. And you are committing with or whether or not merit pans out. But it's still a step further to say ED applicants are precluded from merit. Are there examples of schools that explicitly state this?

None of them will state this.

I have not seen this in writing, but at the info sessions at both U. Rochester and WashU St. Louis, the admissions officers said that if you need merit money in order to attend, you should not apply ED.