American University Early Action / Early Decision for Fall 2025 Admissions

It is same in that URI announced EA would be released on a date.

They didn’t release them all, some are coming out later.

That is the parallel. (not the december date).

I will agree RIT EA was never promised to be one day, just gave an estimate “by” date. It is now (apparently) rolling… There was less expectations set.

A reddit poster (who seems legit, but may not be) has said some are now coming out, and they may not make it at all by 1/31 - into mid-Feb. Nobody here on CC has heard yet, though, to my knowledge.

So they may not even meet their deadline - at least AU seems to be doing that.

My child was accepted, but unless I’m missing something he was offered no money, which is very odd because he got some great packages from better schools. Not sure if it’s due to a lack of demonstrated interest or something else. We did not visit the school, but had plans to do so in March. Looks like we can cancel that trip!

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Ah I misunderstood what you were saying then. Nevermind!

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may not have been clear enough - it is all confusing!

I do wish there was more consistency in process of releasing across schools - not even perfect alignment but closer would be nice:) Nothing about AU specifically! just booked trip to new eagle day!

I feel like it adds a lot of slow-burn stress in our house!

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From what I’ve gathered, they were quite stingy with aid this year, but this is also the first year of EA so there’s no real basis of comparison as to how much EA applicants got in past years. It’ll be interesting if RD comes out with similar low aid.

When we used the NPC, based on GPA, my son should have gotten 20K merit. And to be honest, even with that, we know it is still expensive and it really depends if he gets into the program he wants. Turns out, he gets into CLEG + PPL, which is exactly what he wants, but they give only $12K, while I see many with similar stat received 20-25k. What is the chance for negotiation? And would a HS counselor letter with more details help?

AU generally does not negotiate merit aid unless there was a giant error in the application. The NPC is just an estimate, never a guarantee, and it’s likely they simply wanted to give other students more merit for a variety of reasons. The NPC doesn’t take into account things like essays, LORs, ECs, etc that all play into merit aid. Unfortunately I think your chances of appealing are close to none.

My kid got in, also Lincoln Scholars. Very excited. But we are very low-income, SAI of -$1,500, Pell Grant, on SNAP benefits. The NCP had estimated out of pocket cost of between $10,000 and $20,000 for her… and then, bam! The fin-aid package today came back at more than $55,000 per year out of pocket. How could the NCP be that wrong? We have no hidden assets, no other income sources, no business. We will ask the financial aid office but … uhm…

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I am so sorry! That is a HUGE disconnect :frowning: :frowning:

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D25 got accepted and she is thrilled. But she got absolutely no merit–only the student loan. this is very disappointing.

the “paying for college” system is completely broken. D25 has a sibling already in college. this is absolutely clear on all her paperwork. so it is astounding that any college would think that $80k + $xxk (and one can probably assumer anywhere from $30k-60k on average) is “financially feasible”. My spouse and I are older parents and probably a lot closer to retirement than some other families. We have diligently saved money in 529 plans for our children. We REFUSE to enter retirement as co-signers of student load debt. IMHO, that would be financially irresponsible. It is so disappointing.

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It is definitely a broken system. American was S25’s first choice, but I am single parent with a disabled older son. AU’s financial aid offer is $30,000 less than the next lowest offer and $50,000 less than a school that is equally competitive and now the top contender.

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financial aid can be negotiated. speak to the financial aid office directly. Ask them how to appeal the amount. for the record I do not have any familiarity with AU

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Just a word of advice if anyone does try to appeal, do so after RD decisions come out because they’ll have a bigger picture of how much money they have leftover from other students turning down admission. As well, put your focus on need-based aid. If AU is truly your student’s top choice, emphasize that they’d put down a deposit as soon as possible if it was affordable. AU generally doesn’t negotiate merit aid, I was told this by a financial aid advisor when I was a student and appealed and since then I’ve chatted with multiple families on this forum who got the same.

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My S25 was notified about 3 weeks ago that he was a candidate for a music scholarship but has yet to hear anything. In the email they stated that he would hear from them “shortly”. The email asked if he was still interested in American and he wrote back an enthusiastic email. It feels sort of cruel to send that email to him and then not offer it? Has anyone received a music scholarship yet?

To be clear, the email did not ask for additional materials or any other submissions. I am just wondering why send that email if he isn’t going to get it? It just seems unnecessarily mean.

Have they actually said that he was denied from it or is it just taking a long time? Because those are two very different things. To me it sounds like the email was sent to candidates, but they want to make sure that they offer the money to people who want to go so they’re just checking in to make sure candidates are still interested in AU. Nothing about this reads purposefully cruel or mean to me. Just that they’re taking their time.

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He has not been denied. Yes, it was an email to check in to make sure that he wanted to go to American but it feels like they shouldn’t use the word “shortly” if it’s going to be a month or so before he hears back from them. I did not say it’s purposeful cruel or mean. I only said that it seemed cruel and mean to send an email, indicate that he will be receiving information shortly and then not send anything. And with no response to his enthusiastic email. I was mostly asking if any others had received a music scholarship. That’s all.

Things like “shortly,” “soon,” “in the coming weeks,” etc are just filler language so people don’t get mad that there was no timeline and honestly don’t really mean much in any email, whether that’s in admissions or other sectors (happens on a weekly basis almost at my job). But for admissions and financial purposes, a month can be “shortly” because you have to keep in mind that they haven’t released RD decisions yet, so the admissions process is very much ongoing. As they finalize those decisions, they’re probably just looking at where they want to direct that money. As for no response to his email, they probably have hundreds they’re receiving. Especially if it was from a general email like “admissions@american.edu” or “music@american.edu” not getting a response unless a direct question or problem needs to be addressed happens every single day.
The entire admissions process is about managing expectations. The less you read into stuff like this–which is all very normal–the less it stresses you (and your student) out.