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][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes. Early decision is only for the rich and keeps the poors out.

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Except it doesn’t.[/quote]

So then why does everyone agree that you should only apply ED if you are sure you can afford it?[/quote]

Multiple people have posted stories about kids who go in ED who have significant need-based FA.  Why are you ignoring that.  I'm sort of on the fence about whether ED is a good or bad thing --- but I don't think that the money thing really weighs in.  If you are eligible for need-based FA, it doesn't change the picture at all.  If you are full pay and aren't worried about comparison shopping, then it doesn't change the picture at all.  If you are not eligible for FA, but are middle class hoping to get merit aid, you should not be applying to schools like Brown, Northwestern, Columbia, Duke, etc., anyway, because those schools never give merit aid.  There are a fair number of schools that give merit aid for EA kids, so if you are shopping for merit and hope to be able to comparison shop, you should look into EA.

There is a small number of kids whom ED disadvantages ... these are kids who are saying "Well, I would go to Brown full-pay if I could get into Brown AND I could not get merit anyplace else.  But if I got good merit at someplace like Tulane, I would pick that over full-price at Brown."  That kid is giving up the opportunity to get a slight advantage in admissions at Brown by not applying ED so that they can see if they get merit at Tulane.  I just don't think there are that many kids in that scenario.  And, if they are and really had a shot at Brown, they will probably get the merit at Tulane (or whever) applying RD, so even if they don't get into Brown, they will end up in the same place---at Tulane with merit.  
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BINGO!!!!  The people complaining are "donut hole families" who are told "you should be full pay anywhere" but have not chosen to save enough for that (And if you haven't saved enough then it's definately the smart choice to find a place that is affordable to your budget).  But they want the advantages of ED and they want to compare merit offers.  Well you don't get to do both, as that's not the definition of ED.  
Also, Brown isn't giving you merit (or any other T25) in RD either, so you need to make a choice in October whether you want to chase merit or are willing to pay $90K and hope for an ED advantage.

You don't get to do both
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Exactly. We aren't rich but we saved enough for full pay. What we decided and told DC was that we would pay in full for most T25 schools. If he didn't get into any of them, we would chase merit for T50 - T100 options. We well knew going into the process that the most likely outcome was full pay at a T25, ergo, it made sense to ED his top choice. (it must be your child's absolutely top choice, but that is a different discussion)[/quote]

And you knew that if somehow your kid got into their ED (T25) that you were committed to paying full price.  Had you not been able to pay full price, you would have simply searched for merit in the 30-100 range.

Also, there are plenty of people who "aren't Rich" who saved enough for their kid to spend $90K per year.  It's up to you to decide if you are willing to do that or would rather search for merit.  You have choices.  Play the ED game or search for merit.  But you don't get to do both.  Yeah, it sucks, but just like most things in life, you don't always get what you cannot afford.  I don't get $60K private K-12 for my kid unless I can afford to pay for it (or get FA to make it affordable).  I also don't buy a $100K luxury car until I can afford to pay for it in our monthly budget.  Do I expect BMW to give me a $100K car for only $40K because "that's what I want and I deserve"?  I highly doubt it

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