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

[Anonymous]

Here is an article (a year old) explaining why all this is so confusing. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/your-money/college-early-decision-northeastern-merit-aid.html

[Anonymous]

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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.

Odd statement from admissions officers as ED applicants can apply for need based financial aid. The admissions officers should have advised such applicants to apply for need based financial aid even if applying ED.

If an applicant applies ED but does not seek need based financial aid, then the desire for merit scholarship money is essentially a preference, not a need, therefore closing the universally accepted out of an ED acceptance.

"the admissions officers said that if you need merit money in order to attend, you should not apply ED"

The above is about merit scholarship funds, not financial aid. For many people, merit money is not a preference, it is a need. You don't get to decide what people want vs. what they need.

" You don't get to decide what people want vs. what they need." What exactly do you mean by that? Yes, if someone needs merit in order to attend, then they should NOT do ED. They must do EA/RD in order to have an "out". That's how ED works. You can only opt out for FA needs---if FAFSA says you would be full pay and you know you cannot do that, then you should not apply ED. Yes, it sucks, but it's part of the process.
There are plenty of schools that offer merit---if you need it, you can find it, just a apply 1-2 Tiers below where your kid's stats put them. A top academic kid who is well rounded (Think 1500+/3.9+UW/8+APs) can apply to many schools in the 30-120 range and get merit (think private school as they offer more merit than most public schools, but some OOS publics will give you merit to essentially be "instate") If you want a full ride go in the 80-120+ range, and you can find it.
So yes, you might not attend an "elite" college with merit, but merit is out there. And it's your choice to make where you go---you can make it affordable if needed.

That comment was in response to this:

If an applicant applies ED but does not seek need based financial aid, then the desire for merit scholarship money is essentially a preference, not a need, therefore closing the universally accepted out of an ED acceptance.

[Anonymous]

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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.

+1

[Anonymous]

A PP here and still thinking about this thread and ea vs ed strategies for MC family.

DC has a school in mind that may be a safety(?), but most definitely a target. I've read the school can be generous with merit aid for high stats students. (Kid has high stats, rigorous course load, good but not over-the-top ECs.)

I've done the NPC for this school and it's about 10K-15k/year more than we'd like to pay. We could probably swing it with some sacrifice but not sure we'd want to given its location in a high COL area. Their ED rate of acceptance is about 68 percent and EA 53 percent.

WWYD in this case - EA or ED? Is there a way to find the rate of merit aid the school gives in ED vs EA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A PP here and still thinking about this thread and ea vs ed strategies for MC family.

DC has a school in mind that may be a safety(?), but most definitely a target. I've read the school can be generous with merit aid for high stats students. (Kid has high stats, rigorous course load, good but not over-the-top ECs.)

I've done the NPC for this school and it's about 10K-15k/year more than we'd like to pay. We could probably swing it with some sacrifice but not sure we'd want to given its location in a high COL area. Their ED rate of acceptance is about 68 percent and EA 53 percent.

WWYD in this case - EA or ED? Is there a way to find the rate of merit aid the school gives in ED vs EA?

First of all, you discuss with the school in question not here.

Second, if a top school best in mind they most likely won’t offer sufficient merit aid to meet your needs because they don’t have to.

Third, if you can’t swing it over the $10k-15k don’t apply because you are unfairly dangling something that may not be affordable in front if your kid. If accepted ED you are bound unless the FAFSA gets you out (its also embarrassing to your child, your child’s school and the college counselor to bail later)

Find schools you can afford to apply EA. Apply EA or RD to this school. File FAFSA as soon as possible

Finally, take a screenshot if the NPC screen. I can’t tell you how many parents find they relied upon a NPC calculator only to find that is nothing close to reality come spring of senior year

[Anonymous]

My understanding of this is that it completely depends on where you apply. Some schools give merit aid and some do not, whether ED or RD. What applying ED does is make it impossible to compare merit aid offers among schools you apply to but it does not mean you will not get a merit off from the school you apply to ED, if it is a school that offers ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The main schools it doesn't effect are Duke and UPenn. We knew a super smart and qualified kid who ED'ed to Duke, got accepted, and was invited to interview for one of their merit scholarships. We know another who got into the Huntsman Program at UPenn through early decision.

Penn doesn't offer merit scholarships though.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:There isn't that much merit aid out there, so applying broadly to find schools with merit aid makes sense. In that case ED isn't viable. However, saying ED students are systematically shut out of merit consideration is different, and I don't believe it is a case. Schools have a responsibility to be even handed. E.g. a school with one amazing scholarship, they don't offer that money to lure one amazing kid, they use it to increase apps from amazing kids more broadly. If the award ends up with someone who already was admitted ED it doesn't really change the benefit the school receives--more high stats students submitting applications. What I do believe is special offers run out, so being pulled from a waitlist usually means full pay. That asymmetry makes sense, leaving out the earliest applications from a scholarship process doesn't.

Based on what?

Fiduciary responsibility. So for example the ED applicants are supposed to receive equal consideration for the W&L Johnson scholarship. I'd think that's the rule, not the exception, if the scholarship is truly merit based, it should mean all students with apps in at award time are in the pool.

A lot of "merit" aid is not really "merit" based though - it's a discount given to a lot of full paying students because they need to attract them to attend. Most schools need at least some kids paying 50k+ to attend. They have no "fiduciary responsibility" to their applicants. They need to compose a class where there are at least some kids paying higher rates, thus being need bling but accepting 50+% of the class ED with minimal merit aid.

Oberin gives a 10K discount to any student who commits and Grinnell automatically awards at least 20K to students who ED (when my first was applying, it was more in the ballpark of 10K).
https://www.grinnell.edu/admission/financial-aid/types-aid/scholarships

However, these are specific to the school. In general, I would also assume that ED'ing takes you out of the running for the most competitive scholarships meant to attract students with other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

+1. Usually the top schools don’t offer merit aid because they don’t have to - they can fill their classes with what they want without having to hand out money. Our DS received no merit offers from top
Publics and Ivies but very generous merit offers from tiny colleges that you’ve never heard from because they wanted his ACT score to report to USNWR

[Anonymous]

My dc applied ED to a SLAC that does give merit aid. He was accepted and did not receive any merit aid. Kinda annoying, but we had expected full pay anyway, so it is what it is.

[Anonymous]

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

Brown doesn't do merit aid -- how can you have an Ivy League offspring and be so ignorant? Any financial package from Brown is need.

[Anonymous]

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

That's impossible, as Brown doesn't offer merit. Only financial-need based, as do the rest of the Ivy schools.