Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 21:29     Subject: Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?

Colleges off merit aid to students they really want to accept their offer and enroll at their school. It’s an incentive.

A student who applies ED has pre-committed to enroll if the college accepts them. So there’s no need for the school to sweeten the offer with merit aid. You’ve already told them you’re coming.

Financial aid is completely different. It’s need-based (according to the NPC) rather than want-based (we want to pay less the NPC says we can afford).

Does this mean you are volunteering to give up all your cash when you apply ED? That depends on the NPC number (and how much cash you have, of course.)

But overall, yes, by applying ED you are volunteering to pay either full cost or the NPC amount. No deals or discounts or merit money to be had.
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 21:09     Subject: Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For the top 25 -- most do not give merit aid or most would not match an offer from a lower school. So you lose nothing by ED if the number in calculator is ok.


But most T25 schools will match offers from peer schools, at least sometimes. And most kids who can get into one T25 can get into another. So you are losing something, actually. What you mean is that you’re ok with losing that money in order to lock in a T25 at the NPC price. So to revert to OP’s question, yes, applying ED is volunteering to give away all the cash you have up to the NPC amount. Applying ED means giving up your power to bargain and your power to walk away. Lots of people think it’s worth it. But that’s what it means.


Why can't you use the NPC result to negotiate with the colleges?


Great question. The answer is they only negotiate with actual offers. After all there’s no guarantee you’ll be admitted to the school with the good NPC number! And ED prevents you from securing the complete offer (admission + FA number) from a peer school, and thus prevents you from negotiating.


One should only apply ED if the school is actually the kid’s first choice, to the elimination of all other schools. If it’s only the kid’s first choice if the price is right, it not really the kid’s first choice.
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 21:00     Subject: Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
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.


ED = full pay

If that’s not for you, wait for RD.

Apply widely. To reduce costs, apply to some schools that have a reputation for giving merit aid AND are a few tiers below your DC’s targets - meaning, schools where your DC’s GPA and test scores put them in the top 25% of the published range.

The best way to get merit money is to be a star applicant compared to the school’s general pool of applicants. Lots of threads on here identifying colleges that tend to be generous with merit money for kids who are over-qualified compared to the typical student at that school.
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 18:49     Subject: Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For the top 25 -- most do not give merit aid or most would not match an offer from a lower school. So you lose nothing by ED if the number in calculator is ok.


But most T25 schools will match offers from peer schools, at least sometimes. And most kids who can get into one T25 can get into another. So you are losing something, actually. What you mean is that you’re ok with losing that money in order to lock in a T25 at the NPC price. So to revert to OP’s question, yes, applying ED is volunteering to give away all the cash you have up to the NPC amount. Applying ED means giving up your power to bargain and your power to walk away. Lots of people think it’s worth it. But that’s what it means.


Why can't you use the NPC result to negotiate with the colleges?


Great question. The answer is they only negotiate with actual offers. After all there’s no guarantee you’ll be admitted to the school with the good NPC number! And ED prevents you from securing the complete offer (admission + FA number) from a peer school, and thus prevents you from negotiating.


But you know in advance what the offer will be, for both schools. YOU KNOW.

Nobody knows what other schools will accept them if they choose ED and are accepted. That's what you surrender as part of the bargain. Financial considerations are actually ** at an advantage *** because you know what they are in advance. So your point is less than moot, it actually works against the claim you make.

ED is for any student that can afford the price the NPC says they can afford. End period.

ED


Yes. Either apply ED or don't. It's not going away.

Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 11:54     Subject: Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For the top 25 -- most do not give merit aid or most would not match an offer from a lower school. So you lose nothing by ED if the number in calculator is ok.


But most T25 schools will match offers from peer schools, at least sometimes. And most kids who can get into one T25 can get into another. So you are losing something, actually. What you mean is that you’re ok with losing that money in order to lock in a T25 at the NPC price. So to revert to OP’s question, yes, applying ED is volunteering to give away all the cash you have up to the NPC amount. Applying ED means giving up your power to bargain and your power to walk away. Lots of people think it’s worth it. But that’s what it means.


Why can't you use the NPC result to negotiate with the colleges?


Great question. The answer is they only negotiate with actual offers. After all there’s no guarantee you’ll be admitted to the school with the good NPC number! And ED prevents you from securing the complete offer (admission + FA number) from a peer school, and thus prevents you from negotiating.


But you know in advance what the offer will be, for both schools. YOU KNOW.

Nobody knows what other schools will accept them if they choose ED and are accepted. That's what you surrender as part of the bargain. Financial considerations are actually ** at an advantage *** because you know what they are in advance. So your point is less than moot, it actually works against the claim you make.

ED is for any student that can afford the price the NPC says they can afford. End period.

ED
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 11:31     Subject: Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
My kid with highest academic rigor, excellent grades and average ECs applied ED to an Ivy. He was rejected.

His classmate with high (not highest) academic rigor, great grades (lower GPA) but better ECs applied RD to same Ivy. He was accepted.

Both are Asian males, class of 2025.

Yes, I don't know what the essays or LORs said. Anecdotally, ED may not have been the way to go in my kid's case. This Ivy is one of 2 that accepts a higher number of students from their HS each year.

Both are attending state flagship. My kid was accepted to an honors program, but classmate was not.

Interestingly my kid said if he had been on the WL at Ivy and accepted this summer, he would have still chosen state flagship.
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 11:28     Subject: Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For the top 25 -- most do not give merit aid or most would not match an offer from a lower school. So you lose nothing by ED if the number in calculator is ok.


But most T25 schools will match offers from peer schools, at least sometimes. And most kids who can get into one T25 can get into another. So you are losing something, actually. What you mean is that you’re ok with losing that money in order to lock in a T25 at the NPC price. So to revert to OP’s question, yes, applying ED is volunteering to give away all the cash you have up to the NPC amount. Applying ED means giving up your power to bargain and your power to walk away. Lots of people think it’s worth it. But that’s what it means.


Why can't you use the NPC result to negotiate with the colleges?


Great question. The answer is they only negotiate with actual offers. After all there’s no guarantee you’ll be admitted to the school with the good NPC number! And ED prevents you from securing the complete offer (admission + FA number) from a peer school, and thus prevents you from negotiating.
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 11:23     Subject: Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For the top 25 -- most do not give merit aid or most would not match an offer from a lower school. So you lose nothing by ED if the number in calculator is ok.


But most T25 schools will match offers from peer schools, at least sometimes. And most kids who can get into one T25 can get into another. So you are losing something, actually. What you mean is that you’re ok with losing that money in order to lock in a T25 at the NPC price. So to revert to OP’s question, yes, applying ED is volunteering to give away all the cash you have up to the NPC amount. Applying ED means giving up your power to bargain and your power to walk away. Lots of people think it’s worth it. But that’s what it means.


Why can't you use the NPC result to negotiate with the colleges?
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 11:19     Subject: Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
Anonymous wrote:For the top 25 -- most do not give merit aid or most would not match an offer from a lower school. So you lose nothing by ED if the number in calculator is ok.


But most T25 schools will match offers from peer schools, at least sometimes. And most kids who can get into one T25 can get into another. So you are losing something, actually. What you mean is that you’re ok with losing that money in order to lock in a T25 at the NPC price. So to revert to OP’s question, yes, applying ED is volunteering to give away all the cash you have up to the NPC amount. Applying ED means giving up your power to bargain and your power to walk away. Lots of people think it’s worth it. But that’s what it means.
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 11:11     Subject: Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
Just run the NPC guys. Let's not complicate things.
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 10:55     Subject: Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
For the top 25 -- most do not give merit aid or most would not match an offer from a lower school. So you lose nothing by ED if the number in calculator is ok.
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 10:54     Subject: Re:Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes. Early decision is only for the rich and keeps the poors out.



Except it doesn’t.


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


For the 1000th time, because what you can afford is determined by the NPC. You can be dirt poor, the NPC for Brown will say you will receive 100% FA, you apply ED and guess what...you will receive 100% FA. If you don't, you call Brown and ask them to reconsider and if they don't, you tell them you are no longer bound by the ED agreement because there is always an out that the school pulled a bait-and-switch on FA.

The people crying about ED want merit aid somewhere and are pissed because they can only apply EA or REA (though those schools only give need-based aid)...even though Brown or Penn or Dartmouth won't be providing any merit aid because they don't provide merit aid. It's just they are hoping maybe USC or WashU or Emory or Tulane offers me a ton of merit aid.

Folks, there are schools that will give you an EA decision prior to receiving your ED decision. My kid heard from a number of top 50 flagships with merit aid prior to their ED decision. You can at that time decide to withdraw your ED application if you decide maybe you now want to take your chances in RD and look for merit.
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 10:04     Subject: Re:Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes. Early decision is only for the rich and keeps the poors out.



Except it doesn’t.


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


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.


+1 You should only ED if you run the net price calculator and are OK with the number it gives you. "Affording it" will be different for a family that is full pay vs. one eligible for a lot of need based aid. If they don't come in at the price from the calculator (save the info) then you are not out of line to decline the offer for financial reasons.
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 10:03     Subject: Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
Yes. If the NPC says you are full-pay, you are taking that chance. We were full pay everywhere. One of DC's favorite schools was U Miami. It's on the pricier side and has a boost for ED. While we could have paid full price, we wanted to see options. DC still got in EA and was given about 25% in merit. Maybe the merit would have been there either way, but the school wouldn't have been as incentivized to offer it if DC was locked in.
Anonymous
Post 08/26/2025 10:01     Subject: Re:Is Early Decision Just Volunteering to Give Away All the Cash You Have?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes. Early decision is only for the rich and keeps the poors out.



Except it doesn’t.


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


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.