Matching Financial Aid

vballmom
Sun, 27 Mar 2011 12:59:43 +0000

One drawback of ED is that you lose the ability to compare financial aid packages. You’ve traded the chance to compare aid with the opportunity to have an early notification of acceptance and the (possible) bump in admissions percentages.

While it’s true that you can decline your ED acceptance if you cannot make the finances work, and this is a legitimate reason for declining, you can’t negotiate for more aid based on offers from other schools. Your ED application says that Cal Poly is your top choice and you agree to attend if the finances work for you. They either do or they don’t. If they do, then you withdraw all of your applications from other schools. If they don’t, then you can ask for a reconsideration of your offer, but basing that request on aid given by some other school is really really not cool.

Having said all of that, and without knowing the details of your aid, CSUs are very short on money and you’re unlikely to get anything more.