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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If your ability to attend is contingent on receiving merit aid, you cannot apply early decision.

You might, but might not, get merit money, and regardless, once accepted, you are obligated to enroll.[/quote]

My understanding is that [b]if you don't get the FA package that you need[/b] you are allowed to not enroll based on finances. I've read this multiple places. [/quote]

That understanding is not quite right.... if you don't get essentially the same level of FA package that the NPC suggested you would receive when you ran the NPC before applying to the school only then you are allowed to break the ED agreement.

On the other hand, if you ran the NPC before applying, saw an unaffordable EFC number, and yet applied ED anyway then you have no valid basis to break the ED agreement.  [/quote]

The NPC is only an estimate. Does it say "run the NPC before applying ED" on the ED contract? Many things can change. Maybe the student is hoping to get a scholarship from somewhere else or merit aid. Maybe the parent is going to get a raise, but doesn't. If you think you can swing it but find out you can't, you need to break the contract. I don't think the contract is based on the NPC. The "valid reason" is you don't have the money you thought you would, wherever it might have come from.[/quote]

If you are the kind of person that would break an ED agreement because you didn't get the raise you hoped for, or would break it because your snowflake did not get the Jefferson Scholarship at UVA he wanted, then all I can say is that the ED school is better off without you and your kid.

I don’t get the reason for the distain. If someone’s child wants to apply early and is committed to going to a school but it turns out they can’t afford it because they didn’t get enough FA, merit aid, or money from somewhere else that they were expecting, they are allowed to say “we don’t have the money.” This is why there is a clause related to lack of finances.

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I don't get it either PP. Anyone interested in applying ED and money is an issue should talk to the school to clarify their ED policy. Almost all allow you to turn down the offer for financial reasons and don't specify what those reasons need to be. People making disparaging comments about people who turn down ED for financial reasons don't know what they're talking about.[/quote]

Simply not true.  Several admissions representatives we spoke with said, if your ability to attend is contingent upon receiving merit scholarship money, then do not apply ED because it is a binding commitment.[/quote]

It is a binding commitment with a clause that says if you can’t pay then you can break the commitment.[/quote]

I think the point you are missing is that the college/university gets to decide what you can afford, not you.  If they think you can afford it (based on the numbers you provide and financial -- not merit -- aid available), you're stuck.  [/quote]

[b]No, you’re not stuck. The whole point of the “finances clause” is if you think your FA package was not enough for you to afford the tuition you can break the contract.[/quote][/b]

[b]Except “finances clause” does not mean merit aid. Don’t be a dummy and expect merit aid to save you in an ED. [/quote][/b]

Please listen to this person.  We are trying to tell you that private universities and colleges are a luxury and that some of us donut hole families simply can't afford them.  The college is in no way obligated to provide a free education to your child via federal financial aid or merit money.   Merit money is drying up at the elite universities and flagships because they get so many applicants they can find all the people they want for their class with the stats and skills they want without dangling money in front fo the applicant's eyes.  (with the exception of some athletes).  You have to do something really meritorious that the college wants in order to be offered merit aid.  Most MC and UMC students do not receive any merit aid unless they are willing to drop down and attend a less prestigious college that needs your student as a statistic, say a perfect ACT.  Or they want to say they have a class from all 50 states and 183 countries and your child is the only quality applicant from Idaho. Then you file the FAFSA (and yes if Princeton and a few other elites the CSS but FAFSA first) but if FAFSA says your EFC is high you aren't going to get any financial aid no matter how many kids you have in college.  The institutions want to save that money for the questbridge, low-income, URM international, first-generation, immigrant crowd.  Please be smart about this before applying to institutions that are now $80K a year in after-tax dollars or you may wind up with a severely depressed child.  We have three in college. All three are in-state.  All three were valedictorian or equivalent, eagle scout or equivalent, and 4.0+++ GPA and ACT 35.  We got zero merit aid offers except from unsolicited offers who had bought the list of ACTs scores and wanted our child's ACT scores for reporting purposes.  STill, state universities in-state were less expensive.  Granted, we were trying for the very top caliber institutions but we received no merit offers, no work study, no financial aid over than the min. $5500 loan.  And yes we applied CSS too.  You need to get some good books and read up on the process.  The donut hole problem is very real.  Most of the families I know are in it.  That's why there is a surge of applications to state schools across the United St[b]ates and why California recently restricted OOS and international to only 20% of student body because the Californians were furious that they couldn't get into their own state schools.  And please don't believe the admissions officers - they are marketing people. Their job is to get your kid to apply so they can be rejected, thereby increasing the number of applications ("Applications up by 1500 this year at JMU!") and then reject them ("Selectivity drops to only 5% of applicants at JMU! Most selective year ever!).  This is all a numbers game thanks due to USN&WR.[/quote]

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