<p>Nothing about an antitrust suit would prevent any college from adopting policies that would make its own aid policies transparent to its applicants.</p>
<p>While “transparency” of Aid Policies sounds good, one danger of transparency would be to provide a road map for the manipulation of assets by families to minimize their contributions to the education of their student.</p>
<p>Another would be to '“telegraph” to competing Colleges the methods to be used, with the result that the “transparent” College is less able to provide a “winning” aid package when they compete with “opaque” Colleges for students.</p>
<p>So there are financial and competitive reasons to be “opaque”.</p>
<p>Most of the issues that cause big differences in calculation of aid are not the sort of thing that lead to manipulation of assets. I don’t think a family is going to suddenly enroll a younger sibling in a new private school because they learn that their chosen school will consider that cost as an offset against income – but a family already struggling under the financial burden of paying for the private education of the siblings might be more likely apply to a given college if they knew that is being taken into consideration.</p>
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<p>Exactly! Knowing that there could be a $24K difference in packages if you were able to examine all packages and compare them, why would any family who needed aid take the chance of leaving $24K on the table by picking the wrong college to apply ED to and accept admission to the ED college without knowing how much money the applicant could have gotten from other colleges? Seems like RD would be the best way to maximize options.</p>
<p>I know colleges don’t want ED to become a “rich person’s game,” but the fact that many families need to be sure not to leave money on the table means that they will be in the RD pool.</p>
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<p>Exactly.</p>
<p>And a $24K gap is not a matter of “leaving money on the table.” It’s a question of not being able to afford college. When your EFC according to some colleges is well over 60% of your annual income, those colleges become impossible. Even if you WANTED to borrow it, you couldn’t. (I’ve explained the situation that led to this bizarre EFC for us before. But we are not the only family that has something a little more complex in its financial picture.)</p>
<p>*"Seems like RD would be the best way to maximize options.</p>
<p>I know colleges don’t want ED to become a “rich person’s game,”*</p>
<p>Definitely right. But the problem is that colleges actively promote ED for FA applicants as a way to pretend that ED is not a “rich person’s game.” Unfortunately, there are plenty of families who misunderstand the meaning of “meets 100% of need.” Others have a child with a clear number one choice, and even though they need FA, they have done their research with online calculators and believe they have accurately estimated the award they will receive. As shown in the examples above, there is potential for a huge variance in actual FA. Disappointing FA from the ED school can be a big shock and lead to the student having to decline the ED acceptance. And this is why the option of release is permitted.</p>
<p>“picking the wrong college to apply ED to and accept admission to the ED college without knowing how much money the applicant could have gotten from other colleges? Seems like RD would be the best way to maximize options.”</p>
<p>Yes, this is a misuse of ED, which is meant for the one dream school above all others that one will attend if it’s financially possible.</p>
<p>My D’s top choice of chool (Muhlenberg) admits 50% ED, which put her at a disadvantage becaue we just can’t do that. But uch is life.</p>
<p>I thought this might be relevant to our discussion, since there seems to be many knowledgeable people here…how possible is it to withdraw from ED? </p>
<p>Their financial aid package was almost nothing (and we researched & used many calculators and got atleast $10K in aid each year, so we didn’t go into this blindly).
We spoke with the school’s aid counselors - she said there was nothing they could do, and encouraged to take it all out on loans, since the school couldn’t help us in any way. </p>
<p>We are in no way wealthy - not even upper middle class, and this tuition payment can buy us a nice house. We can not afford this, and were expecting more aid (through our calculations). </p>
<p>What options do I have?</p>
<p>You told the college you can’t afford it and the college told you to take out loans?</p>
<p>^Read the ED agreement you signed. It should have a clause permitting you to decline for financial reasons. There may be a penalty – it’s possible that you may not be permitted to apply to peer schools after you withdraw. You can wade through this long thread for more details.</p>
<p>oops crossposted^^oh my, youtube, there are over 40 pages discussing this that I’m guessing you haven’t read… I suggest you read carefully your colleges website and all the information you’ve received from the school regarding ED. As discovered in this thread some schools will release you from that agreement if attending will cause your family hardship. You need to look into your specific college/uni and the language they use.</p>
<p>dstark dontcha love it…I’d have a hard time if someone said that to me (sorry take out loans), I’d be inclined to answer with some colorful language.</p>
<p>youtubefan: uch is life. Shouldn’t have applied ED.</p>
<p>Just blows my mind…momofthreeboys.</p>
<p>“We are in no way wealthy - not even upper middle class,”…youtubefan…just call the school back and tell them your family can’t afford to take out loans and you won’t be able to attend.</p>
<p>Thanks, but I did read the 100+ pages of opinions. It seems to all depend on the wording. The thread seems divided 50/50 on the issue, both sides having compelling arguments. In the end, it depends on the wording of the agreement I guess.</p>
<p>And yes, the aid counselor said to stop putting money into our retirement, and take out additional loans.</p>
<p>That counselor is irresponsible and is not acting in your interest.</p>
<p>Go to the school’s website. Type in Student Affairs in search. When you get to that web page…type in early decision.</p>
<p>See if that gives you the information you want.</p>
<p>If there isn’t a student affairs web page, type in early decision in the search box at the school’s web page.</p>
<p>Thank you dstark,</p>
<p>I re-read the Common App agreement that the school uses - the student may decline if the financial aid offered makes it impossible for the student to attend. </p>
<p>What is their definition of “impossible”?
*Anything *is possible if we never retire and take $200,000+ in loans!</p>
<p>Youtubefan:</p>
<p>Since you read all the posts, you know I’m not a fan of breaking an ED commitment. But I think that counselor was irresponsible and even unethical in advising you to stop putting money into your retirement. Financial advisors always counsel not to dip into retirement money; while you might not have to do so, not investing in your retirement amounts to pretty much the same thing, inasmuch as it makes you vulnerable to loss of adequate income.</p>
<p>Document your dealings with the counselor. Check the wording about discussing financial aid on the school website; perhaps talk to another counselor (and document). And if the school won’t offer more, I strongly advise you to turn down the ED offer on financial grounds: it is impossible to attend the college without loss of needed retirement income.</p>