@ProudDad26 I think you raise an issue I went round and round with last fall, as my daughter (and family) was debating whether to apply EA or ED. From what I understand the only way you can turn down an ED offer is if you can not afford it. Since CWRU would want to have very few students they accept ED turn them down based on cost, I kind of expect that they would come close or better than what the EFC calculator states. But, then I also worried like you suggest that ED means that you are more locked-in, perhaps that means less aid. In the end we applied EA (for this very reason), and we were very happy with the merit scholarship. They did not really push ED, perhaps since it is new, like some schools we visited. However, CWRU is clearly becoming increasingly selective. I suppose, the more students they get to take the ED offer, the fewer offers they will have to make. So, I guess I also am just not sure how the merit aid would work for ED admits, but I tend to think/hope it would be very similar to the way merit aid works for EA.