I hesitate to join the conversation this late in the game, but I want to share what I have seen 2 out of 2 times when families tried to break an ED commitment. I will only give one example since the same thing happened each time. In each instance, a person was accepted ED and tried to move to another school after the fact. One example was ED to a top 20 National and the family tried to back out, for “financial reasons” and attend an equally competitive state school. The parent seemed to have a fine job, but that could be an illusion. The quick result was she withdrew and accepted admittance to the other. Unfortunately, for the student, guidance reprimanded the family for not withdrawing school 2 and taking a coveted spot from others in her class who did not get in early to school 1. The result, and I was not in the room, was that the student took a year off.
My point is that we have all read how a person can back away from an ED commit for financial reasons, but based upon what I have seen happen I am not so sure it is something a student can bank on.