Early Decision and Financial Aid.

calmom
Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:22:00 +0000

I’d note that at a school that factors merit into its aid awards – like NYU – the high end ED applicant might also end up getting less aid than they would if applying RD, just because of the way that colleges leverage aid money to try to attract high end applicants. If they already know that a student will come – why throw extra money at that student?

I have no idea as to what NYU’s practices are with ED vs. RD-- but here’s an article that explains how colleges use financial aid as part of enrollment management:
http://www.uccs.edu/Documents/retention/2000%20The%20Role%20of%20Financial%20Aid%20in%20Enrollment%20Management.pdf

I do know that NYU essentially awards its aid in a tiered fashion – they give generous aid to students in the top 5% of the applicant pool, modest grant awards that are not tied closely to need for a significant chunk of admitted students, and then nothing to those who are low priority for admission. So whether or not you get $$ at NYU isn’t about level of need – it’s about standing within the enrollment pool.