Reply to Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Yup.  That’s why ED is a rich kid’s game.  Poor kids need to see the financial aid offer and can benefit by comparing packages.
[/quote]

I don't understand this. Say I'm a (relatively) poor family with only a 25k budget. I ran the NPC of my kid's favorite, need-blind school and the net price after need-based aid is 20k. Seeing that this estimate is within budget, my kid ED there and is fortunate to get in. If the actual offer is anything below 25k, we're done. If it's anything above, we can get out of the ED.

So why is ED a rich kid's game? Honest question because I've seen this way of thinking a lot on DCUM, and am afraid that there is something fundamental I just didn't know. (I understand that waitlist is mostly need-aware which is when rich families have advantages.)[/quote]

Speaking from personal experience, there are lots of kids who fall in the middle and won’t qualify for need based aid but can’t afford expensive tuition. Our budget is 30k and we will get $0 in FA. We believe firmly in avoiding debt (except a mortgage). Instead our kids focused on merit aid. We don’t consider ourselves poor by any means. There are lots of families like ours in Potomac and Bethesda. [/quote]

So how does RD/EA change any of that at top schools?  It doesn't.  Those schools are not giving your kid merit.  But schools in the 30+ range will and you can ED to anyone of those and they will let you know the merit offered with the ED.  Hint: at T30 schools, your kid isn't getting merit anyhow, so if you require it, then ED there isn't for you.  You still wont be able to afford it in RD either.  [/quote]

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