If you have a major life event, you talk to the school.

Anonymous wrote:Listen to the recent YCBK episode that explains it. Use the net price calculator. Take a screenshot. Then ask for more if they don’t come back with an offer that matches. You can decide not to attend if they won’t honor their net price calculator.

My understanding is that you can also back out if your financial situation drastically changes. Something like a major medical diagnosis, or a job loss, or something like a house fire can change finances dramatically.

You are ALLOWED to back out for financial reasons. The "blacklist" is to punish schools for situations where kids back out because they just don't want to go anymore.

There was a Your College Bound Kid Podcast interview recently with an admin here from a college/university that had banned students from a specific high school from applying ED for several years because of students from that school breaking their ED contracts. I don’t remember which college it was. They could still apply to the school in regular decision but not ED.

Listen to the recent YCBK episode that explains it. Use the net price calculator. Take a screenshot. Then ask for more if they don’t come back with an offer that matches. You can decide not to attend if they won’t honor their net price calculator.

despite the stories on DCUM, it's probably more uncommon than it should be. Like 10 students back out at year at a place like Tulane.

I think 10% should back out. But it's nothing near that. People think they're stuck

Anonymous wrote:Early decision agreements aren't legally binding on anyone. High schools have been blacklisted for having multiple ED withdrawals, but my understanding is that it's very uncommon.

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1300&context=mhlr

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/business/tulane-early-decision-colorado-academy.html

Only if the students ghost the school and don’t formally withdraw. They will let you out of ED, OP, for financial and other reasons. No school wants a student who doesn’t want to be there in the end.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is your child thinking of doing this? If so, can we ask why?

Nope, currently in 9th grade but heard the rumors a lot, want to avoid the colleges later if our high school is blacklisted

Your 9th grader who isn’t even halfway thru 9th grade heard this rumor “a lot?” From whom, from how many people?

Anonymous wrote:Is your child thinking of doing this? If so, can we ask why?

Nope, currently in 9th grade but heard the rumors a lot, want to avoid the colleges later if our high school is blacklisted

Would school counselors be informed if a high school is blacklisted?

Is your child thinking of doing this? If so, can we ask why?

Early decision agreements aren't legally binding on anyone. High schools have been blacklisted for having multiple ED withdrawals, but my understanding is that it's very uncommon.

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1300&context=mhlr

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/business/tulane-early-decision-colorado-academy.html

I think there's a lot of urban legend around this, so take everyone's anecdotes with a big grain of salt. But I think it's extremely uncommon, high schools could get blacklisted, and college counselors work really hard at most schools to make sure it doesn't happen. That said, a financial aid package that's very different from the net price calculator should be honored as a legit reason to not commit.

It is uncommon because the student is expected to run the NPC before applying and be comfortable with the number shown before signing the contract. It would be highly unusual for the number to be significantly off in the FA offer.

The only genuinely legitimate reason to break the contract is because of job loss, though sometimes schools are willing to adjust for that (not always).

Is this a common situation? How do underclassmen at the same high school find out so they can avoid these schools? I heard that if this happens, the high school would likely be blacklisted because their senior students breached ED contracts.