On May 24, 2017 the New Your Times ran the article “When Colleges Dangle Money to Lure Students who Ignored Them” in which the author told of colleges contacting accepted applicants who had not made the colleges aware of their fall plans to tease out the students reasons and in some cases, increasing the student’s aid package. College staff is busy discussing the ethics of this behavior, and parents are busy discussing the ethics of colleges staff not offering students their most competitive financial aid package upfront. While they are sorting things out, some students may be able to leverage their May 1 silence into a better financial aid package, meaning the student’s first choice college just might become affordable which would be the best outcome for the prospective student. And what is best for the prospective student should be the paramount concern.
So are you suggesting that students NOT commit to their first choice college by May 1? What if they aren’t offered a better financial package? Worse yet, what if they are not allowed to accept their offer after the deadline? Sounds like a big gamble to me.
I would recommend students accept at their first choice college from all existing offers by May 1 as usual. The only step I would eliminate is declining the offers from other colleges to which the student has been accepted. If one of these college contacts the student with an enhanced aid package after May 1, and a better fit school becomes affordable, the student would have the option of changing their fall plans…it happens all the time with waitlisted students. There is no guarantee the colleges will contact the students with enhanced financial aid plans, and if they don’t, the student attends the school they accepted on May 1…there is no risk, or downside to the student.