Early Decision and Scholarships

momonthehill
Fri, 28 May 2010 10:40:38 +0000

My daughter is an incoming Freshman for this fall at BU. She did receive a generous (merit based) scholarship and was an RD applicant. I don’t know how merit based scholarships are awarded to ED applicants, although my understanding is if you’re an ED applicant with demonstrated need per the FAFSA and the school accepts you without meeting that need, then you have a legitimate way to back out of the ED acceptance. That having been said, my rule of thumb is that if finances are an issue for a student, (especially for students who don’t qualify for need-based aid on the FAFSA or CSS Profile) then that student should not apply ED, but rather EA and/or RD so that (s)he can compare various FA packages from different schools, rather than be locked into one school. Just my two cents…

Good luck to you.:)