@Penn95 why do this? That’s the question. Clearly they want the private college EA applicants to choose. Why? Penn already has them with the contract. The EA school can’t trump Penn. So why do it?
You don’t indicate how much aid you need. You just submit the FAFSA and the CSS profile. Then you cross your fingers and wait. You can estimate how much you might get thru the net cost calculator, but the ED contact doesn’t ask you if you have calculated your need and will accept if that amount is given to you. So you can turn down any ED schools’ offer for financial reasons without giving any justification. This is the only way to break an ED commitment
I am speculating that Penn is finding that sufficient kids are using this financial aid escape hatch. I can’t think of any other reason to demand that students not apply to a private EA school. For a kid thinking of using the escape hatch, an admit from a school like UChicago or MIT is the safety parachute. They can now bail from Penn and try something better at Penn’s expense. If everything else fails, they still land at a good school. Kids are being forced to play these games because admission to these colleges had become very unpredictable. Even the best kids can’t take an admission for granted. So a high achieving kid may choose an ED school just to boost their admission chances even if it is not their absolute top choice if their first choice doesn’t have an ED option. It’s a risk mitigation strategy. For such kids, using the finance escape hatch right after they got a nod from an MIT or UChicago was a way to have their cake and eat it too. They can’t do that now. Penn just took away their parachute. They would only do this if they are noticing too many kids using this EA parachute.