Hey CC community, hope everyone is doing well. I had a couple questions regarding ED agreement.
My son applied to a school and was admitted ED1 with his first choice major. However, after applying, I lost my job. Prior to my layoff, we ran the NPC and didn’t get any aid. We would’ve needed 7-10k in aid which he agreed to take on as a loan or work study in case the school didn’t give us any money.
Losing my income of 220k+ makes the school completely unaffordable. I am the main earner in our household. My sons interest in the school has also wavered slightly over time when I told him it likely wouldn’t happen. He is ok with moving on.
What does this mean for ED agreement? Can somebody walk me through this.
Would the school be willing to recalculate your aid based on your changed financial situation (i.e. do they meet need)? If not, you are generally able to break an ED agreement if the offer is unaffordable.
I would first call financial aid and let them know of your changed circumstances - they may have you fill out an aid appeal. If they can’t budge or can’t budge enough, then you are allowed to break the agreement due to unaffordability.
Agree with the above post…my first step would be to contact the Office of Financial Aid to discuss if they might increase the aid in light of your job loss. If the college is unaffordable you can break the ED agreement.
We did reach out to them about this, but the admissions office is closed until jan 2. That’s concerning because a lot of RD deadlines are jan 1. Does that mean we forfeit the chance to apply to these RD options based on our ED agreement?
You have not made the commitment to the ED acceptance. I would send the RD applications that are due…and if he accepts the ED offer you will withdraw those pending applications.
I would apply to RD schools given the situation. If the finances do work out with the ED school then the RD applications can (and should) be withdrawn.
Perhaps send an email to the Office of Financial Aid if you want to document that you tried to reach out to them when they were closed.
I don’t want to reveal too much but we discussed what happens in general if someone breaks an ED “agreement” in circumstances different than yours, in a meeting about what would be done if we heard about a student we admitted ED doing this- and the Dean said that they would not hesitate to call up another Dean and tell them that the student backed out and that our dean was confident it would result in bad results for the student.
I am 100% confident that in your circumstance the dean at least at my school would have NO issues whatsoever. I think a simple phone call explaining this and they would work with you- either by moving it to EA etc. If the admissions office wasn’t helpful, I would work my way up to the Associate Deans. They are all human beings and what a horrible awful position this put you in, I am so sorry.
(want to edit that I don’t know they would be able to give you a bunch of money- but I know they would feel compassion, re-evaluate your financial aid and offer what they could, which might not be enough- but they would not hold it against you etc)
They would do this in light of the ongoing DOJ investigation focused on schools communicating about ED results? (no idea the status, it was opened in 2018 so all these schools know about it)
I can’t imagine any school’s Head Counsel would think that was a good idea.
Regardless, like you said, OP’s situation is different and they should not make the deposit to the ED school until they speak with FA, and proceed with RD apps meanwhile.
Re the ED school. You will be asking for a special circumstances consideration. The income you previously had isn’t there anymore, and that was what your aid was based on.
The school will have a process for this…you will need documentation of your job termination. If you will be getting any severance pay, that will be considered as will any unemployment you receive.
Perhaps @kelsmom can comment. I believe colleges now have to consider these circumstances. But unfortunately that doesn’t mean you will get enough increased aid. BUT the financial aid folks will be understanding of your situation, they really will be.
You also need to ask for an extension for accepting or not that ED acceptance pending a financial aid review (however the college determines you should do this).
When this happened to us…it happened fall of my older kid’s freshman year of college at a very pricey school. We contacted them (2003 so things may have changed) and that school actually had a couple month waiting period before they reviewed these…because there was a hope that the parent would find a new job. In our case, that did happen. But we had all of the necessary documentation all set to send. The school was terrific giving us all the necessary information.
Good luck to you! I hope this all works out. And hoping you find another job too!
I think I was talking about it much broader than that. Not at all below board. Totally above board- student accepted ED, student declines, student enrolls somewhere else. Nothing about disclosing information- it was off the cuff and it was said before 2018 but I think it wasn’t meant in a stealth way but the discussion was about a student brazenly and publicly doing it.
I think saying the student “boasting” about it publicly is the best way to put it- and it wasn’t our school but we were like- ummm, so what would we do if this happened?? in a BS’ing convo before a meeting. But I took it to mean, while not enforceable- people do get pissed off if you break them in general- but NOT in this person’s case- no one will be pissed off at him.
All colleges are now required to consider special circumstances such as job loss. That doesn’t guarantee more aid, but it does mean that the school will have a process for consideration. Unfortunately, the timeline for this review doesn’t work in your case; the holiday shutdown means that there is no way to get an answer in time. If the school isn’t able to respond in a timely manner, it puts your child in a tough position. If they can’t give him enough money to make it work for you, you absolutely don’t want him to have missed out on schools you could afford. The advice to apply to other schools is spot on. If the aid ultimately works out, he can withdraw the applications, but if it doesn’t he can get a release from ED & go to an affordable school.