My DC was accepted off of the WL at a school that is very popular on this forum. The WL letter did not identify DC as being on a FA wait list, but DC was WL and we had applied for FA. Anyway, I thought the AD's words were revealing and may give you some guidance so I will share them here.

The AD called a few days after deposits were due for new families and said, "this just came across my table... and I have an offer of X amount in FA" . Now, I assume that what came across the AD's table was a decline from another family and the "I have X in FA" was the amount of FA the declining family had been offered.

Perhaps that gives you some idea....

I'm not sure if they open more aid up to current parents first before offering more/any aid to new families. Would depend on the school so definitely worth asking about.

My guess is that if someone doesn't continue with FA, you are one of the next in line. We signed a contract but payment isn't due for another month or so. Someone can always say yes to a contract but when money is due, they decide they can not do it? Maybe after all their tax info comes back in April, they may not give FA. Honestly, I am not really sure but they are some guesses. I think the best answer is to call the FA department of your school

Thanks for your comments.