We are middle class. Both of my kids got in ED at T20 schools. Unhooked. We did the Net Price Calculator before applying, and found the number doable, though stressful.

But when they were accepted and we received the packages - basically, discounts - both turned out to be much more generous than anticipated - especially the second kid. There are zero financial issues for us. These expensive T20 private schools are much cheaper than the alternatives.

The downside is that they didn't get a chance to apply to Stanford or MIT. But they are both very happy at their schools, so no regrets.

The biggest problem with ED is that you are foregoing other possibilities. And that's no small thing. But my sense is that if certain high endowment schools want a student, they will make it work. No one is saying no to Princeton for example because it's too expensive.

This has been asked and answered repeatedly on this forum!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we have a neighbor, their child wanted to go to a reasonably top-ish university. Got in early decision. Great!

Find out afterwards they end up being charged what I think seems like the max this couple can possibly pay with loans. Think like the above $70K ones you read about and then add on room and board, nickel and dime stuff, etc. YOW.

Is that what you get by going early decision? A trade off between admission and maximum payment, basically?

Pretty much. You are giving up the opportunity to entertain better financial offers.

You're confusing need based aid with merit aid. Need based aid is not going to change (and the top schools do not give merit aid) Merit aid is found at the 2nd tier schools and below

Here is a whole thread about how different schools come in with different numbers for so-called “need-based” aid, and many will change their offers to “match” offers made by peer schools, because they understand that how much you “need” depends on the price a peer school is offering you: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1276157.page#30144420.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we have a neighbor, their child wanted to go to a reasonably top-ish university. Got in early decision. Great!

Find out afterwards they end up being charged what I think seems like the max this couple can possibly pay with loans. Think like the above $70K ones you read about and then add on room and board, nickel and dime stuff, etc. YOW.

Is that what you get by going early decision? A trade off between admission and maximum payment, basically?

Pretty much. You are giving up the opportunity to entertain better financial offers.

You're confusing need based aid with merit aid. Need based aid is not going to change (and the top schools do not give merit aid) Merit aid is found at the 2nd tier schools and below

Anonymous wrote:we have a neighbor, their child wanted to go to a reasonably top-ish university. Got in early decision. Great!

Find out afterwards they end up being charged what I think seems like the max this couple can possibly pay with loans. Think like the above $70K ones you read about and then add on room and board, nickel and dime stuff, etc. YOW.

Is that what you get by going early decision? A trade off between admission and maximum payment, basically?

Pretty much. You are giving up the opportunity to entertain better financial offers.

If your family can afford full pay, you should be able to figure this out by looking at the websites. T20s especially are clear about the burdens and income cut offs and scales.

Most families applying early have a very solid idea of what their financial burden will be if accepted. What a neighbor is or isn't surprised at generally isn't a factor in the decision whether or not to apply early.

Anonymous wrote:My son applied ED, knowing he was a borderline applicant, and it worked, ED got him admitted when he wouldn’t have been otherwise.

There's no way that you could possibly know this.

Anonymous wrote:hey OP again - I'm not trying to crap on my neighbor and I don't obsessively read this forum.

Just trying to figure out what ED really means, when I'm paranoid that colleges will just take all the money we have and tell us to clap at graduation.

I would recommend doing some research on college costs—what colleges charge for tuition, room, and board for full-pay students; how need-based financial aid works (and what “meet-full-need” means); and how merit aid works at schools that offer it.

As others have said, most (but not all) of the schools that offer ED are meet-full-need, meaning that they do not offer merit aid and if you qualify for financial aid, they will give you the amount you qualify for according to their formula regardless of when you are accepted.

For the subset of schools that offer ED and merit aid, some include merit aid in their NPC, meaning that (assuming you enter your information correctly/accurately) whatever they tell you you’ll receive in the NPC is what they are committing to giving you, regardless of when you are accepted. So it’s the subset of the subset of these schools—that offer ED and merit aid but don’t include merit aid in their calculators—where you could be at risk of a lower merit award in ED.

My DC applied ED and got thousands in aid. Same price that we would have paid in RD

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hey OP again - I'm not trying to crap on my neighbor and I don't obsessively read this forum.

Just trying to figure out what ED really means, when I'm paranoid that colleges will just take all the money we have and tell us to clap at graduation.

That doesn’t make any sense. “Take all the money you have…”. What? If the cost is $X you can expect to pay $X. It isn’t some sort of max price, it’s the price unless you happen to qualify for something less based on need.

This. The price is the price unless you have some reason to believe you will get a need-based reduction. Being bad at saving is usually not enough.

Pretty much

My son applied ED, knowing he was a borderline applicant, and it worked, ED got him admitted when he wouldn’t have been otherwise.

We also knew from the FAFSA that there wasn’t going to be any need based aid.

So we understood that it was going to be full pay.

Anonymous wrote:hey OP again - I'm not trying to crap on my neighbor and I don't obsessively read this forum.

Just trying to figure out what ED really means, when I'm paranoid that colleges will just take all the money we have and tell us to clap at graduation.

That doesn’t make any sense. “Take all the money you have…”. What? If the cost is $X you can expect to pay $X. It isn’t some sort of max price, it’s the price unless you happen to qualify for something less based on need.

You have to run the NPC and make sure you are comfortable with that amount. If you get LESS than that in aid, you can negotiate or choose to go to a different school.

Anonymous wrote:hey OP again - I'm not trying to crap on my neighbor and I don't obsessively read this forum.

Just trying to figure out what ED really means, when I'm paranoid that colleges will just take all the money we have and tell us to clap at graduation.

You didn’t even do 5 minutes of independent research on the topic.