Anonymous wrote:We were banking on merit which was foolish in hindsight. Older kids attend reaches and knew wouldn’t get merit. Youngest stats were over 75th percentile and strong application to a safety. It’s a mid-level school that will have typical low yield, but no shortage of applicants to fill seats.

You should not ED to a safety and expect merit. Some schools give merit in ED, some schools may be less generous giving merit for ED, because the entire point of merit is to entice a student to attend, which is not needed for ED.

If what's done is done, you need to talk to the school ASAP to see if they can work something out for you with merit. Ultimately, you will be released from the agreement if you cannot afford it, but this is now stressful for you, the school, and your high school counselor. If the school is not willing to work with you on merit or need-based aid, then explain your change of circumstances and get released.

Anonymous wrote:Some state schools have late application dates. I think CNU is 2/1 and might be able to still apply for honors or the leadership scholarship.

I would worry that the school counselor isn't going to support an application that goes against the ED rules.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this is okay for those that apply for financial aid if the NPC does not match. What I am wondering about is cases where student did not apply for financial aid, but financial situation changes. This will be our 3rd in college, business owner, and it’s been a rough year. Would this be considered?

depends on school. need aware schools will think you tried to play them by saying you were full pay when you weren't. being a third kid isn't a change of circumstances since last fall.

And it being a rough year isn't a change in circumstance either (by November, that was known).

Do what you're going to do, just know it's ethically rotten.

Some state schools have late application dates. I think CNU is 2/1 and might be able to still apply for honors or the leadership scholarship.

Anonymous wrote:We were banking on merit which was foolish in hindsight. Older kids attend reaches and knew wouldn’t get merit. Youngest stats were over 75th percentile and strong application to a safety. It’s a mid-level school that will have typical low yield, but no shortage of applicants to fill seats.

call and ask, but you'll have better luck getting more money from reaches if older kids are still in school.

Anonymous wrote:I know this is okay for those that apply for financial aid if the NPC does not match. What I am wondering about is cases where student did not apply for financial aid, but financial situation changes. This will be our 3rd in college, business owner, and it’s been a rough year. Would this be considered?

depends on school. need aware schools will think you tried to play them by saying you were full pay when you weren't. being a third kid isn't a change of circumstances since last fall.

We were banking on merit which was foolish in hindsight. Older kids attend reaches and knew wouldn’t get merit. Youngest stats were over 75th percentile and strong application to a safety. It’s a mid-level school that will have typical low yield, but no shortage of applicants to fill seats.

Seems a bit odd that you applied for ED in the fall and a couple of months later the financial situation changed drastically.

Talk to the school.

If your financial situation is precarious enough that a change between November 1 and December 15 will make college unaffordable, you should be applying for financial aid/targeting schools that provide merit. And plenty of schools give merit aid in ED.

I don’t have any experience, but have heard different interviews with AO’s saying that sometimes an ED acceptance is withdrawn because of unforeseeable unfortunate events, like job loss, a death in the family etc. So maybe you can withdraw without penalty. Don’t know if they can retroactively consider you for financial aid. Surely your college counselor can advise you.

You can drop out; there's no binding contract. But it's unethical and it might hurt your school's reputation with the college. You should not have applied early decision in this case.

I know this is okay for those that apply for financial aid if the NPC does not match. What I am wondering about is cases where student did not apply for financial aid, but financial situation changes. This will be our 3rd in college, business owner, and it’s been a rough year. Would this be considered?