<p>Some EA schools will calculate FA and offer an estimate, some don’t. D has gotten both, and for the ones who offered to give an FA package we had to fill out the CSS Profile in November.</p>
<p>@SlackermomMD,
D is out shopping, but a box from New College, Florida arrived today, and it sitting here waiting for her. 
</p>
<p>A box? Like with goodies?</p>
<p>Congratulations @shoboemom!! </p>
<p>@rhandco you are playing fast and loose with the ED rules. You should not even be considering other EA financial aid. ED Is BINDING. If the EA school worked out in your favor what would you have done? I am a guidance counselor at a well known prep school. If you broke the ED contract you would have jeopardized the admissions for future students. They would be blacklisted. Other parents on this thread please use this experience as a cautionary tale. Not following the ED rules has consequences. </p>
<p>Accepted at New College! Got the t-shirt! 
Thank you @SlackermomMD. :-)<br>
D has gotten a couple other acceptances, but she says this was the best presentation ‘so far’ <:-P The box came with the t shirt and multi colored shredded paper to toss into the air. lol I do love when the schools do that sort of thing…makes it feel special.
This school has been a serious contender, but I think it has slipped down the list in recent weeks. I am grateful that she has choices! 8-> </p>
<p>On ED rules:I thought some ED schools were non-binding, and some that are binding let you apply to others, as long as you withdraw them when you accept their offer. That being ‘blacklisted’ is something I have seen references to, but, wow, that seems harsh for a college to punish future applicants because of something one student did, who may or may not have fully understood what they were signing up for. This is a complicated process. @-) We didn’t apply ED. D wasn’t that ‘set’ on one school, and I am still not sure I understand the details about what ‘allows’ the student to turn down the offer.</p>
<p>ED is binding: you’ve made your decision early. Usually you can also apply to your state flagship and in some cases to other schools EA but when you re admitted to your ED school you must retract your other apps. The only way to get out of an ED contract is if the FA makes the school unaffordable, and that would be hard to do if the FA came in at the same amount as the online NPC. EA is non-binding. You apply to as many schools as you want and are admitted or not early, but you don’t have to make your final decision until May 1, as with RD. I signed the ED contract for SS-LAC and then DS chose not to do ED but it’s a real contract. Whew! Glad we didn’t do it.</p>
<p>We never got as far as studying a contract for ED. D was sure she wasn’t ready for that commitment. I wondered about the FA not being affordable, and who gets to decide that. It makes sense that you say it might be difficult if it matches the NPC. On the school that D would have been most likely to apply ED, the NPC just shows need based aid, and she’d need merit in addition, hopefully enough to cover the loan portion. So, in that case, the NPC doesn’t look affordable, I don’t know if we could have considered ED anyway. </p>
<p>@Hoosier96, A while back there was some discussion of the smart pen. I am thinking about that for D.</p>
<p>I know others talked about it, couldn’t find all the posts. Someone mentioned that even though it uses special paper, the paper lasts a long time. I don’t understand, does it not actually write on the paper? D goes through pages of regular paper in a day!
She says she wants a laptop, a little larger than what she has, and doesn’t want Apple. She likes taking notes ‘the old fashioned way’ with a pen, so she can doodle and draw arrows…that sort of thing helps her remember what she wrote. She does not want to type notes.</p>
<p>D got her last acceptance, so relieved! Now we just wait for FA packages to arrive and competitive scholarship meetings/interviews to see where we stand. But glad this part of it is over. Congratulations to everyone with great news and continued good thoughts for those still waiting.</p>
<p>The Grinch arrived at our house this morning… >-) LOL… This year we got a real Christmas tree for the first time in years. And, for the last several days I have had sinus headaches and coughing. #1 suspect-the tree! So, this morning we moved the whole thing…all decorated… out to the back porch. It’s right outside the window it was sitting in front of, so we can still see it from inside. We’ll add some more decorations on the porch…it’s always been neglected at Christmastime anyway. D hasn’t walked through to see that it is missing yet… :-SS hee hee, hope she doesn’t mind too much!</p>
<p>You’re a mean one. </p>
<p>You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch - YouTube
- YouTube</p>
<p>We went to an artificial tree after it became obvious I was allergic to the real thing. Silver lining is that the artificial tree has lasted us about 10 years.</p>
<p>Our tree fell down this year. Twice. I’m ready to move it outside too.</p>
<p>In response to #22304: "you are playing fast and loose with the ED rules. You should not even be considering other EA financial aid. ED Is BINDING. If the EA school worked out in your favor what would you have done? I am a guidance counselor at a well known prep school. If you broke the ED contract you would have jeopardized the admissions for future students. They would be blacklisted. Other parents on this thread please use this experience as a cautionary tale. Not following the ED rules has consequences. "</p>
<p>ED at the school he applied to is apparently not a death sentence as other schools you may be familiar with.</p>
<p>The FA is NOT the same as the NPC - it was $12,000 per year MORE for us than the NPC.</p>
<p>The NPC indicated a grant of almost $10,000 per year more, and the cost of the school went up $5,000 from the NPC.</p>
<p>Financial reasons are the only reason that ED can be turned down. I have other kids. I have elderly relatives. It is my decision, with my son’s help, if something is unaffordable.</p>
<p>A quote from his ED school’s ED binding agreement page:</p>
<p>“Applicant agrees to attend our college, if admitted, and satisfactory financial arrangements can be made.”</p>
<p>Not even as strong a mention as affordable, it says “satisfactory financial arrangements”. So, you are a GC and you think schools get blacklisted because a parent can’t afford the FA package, AND kids should agree to full pay when their family can’t afford it, because of ED? Fine, my son didn’t apply to a school with those onerous ED conditions. At worst, his acceptance would have been rescinded.</p>
<p>The arrangements were NOT satisfactory until we had other schools to compare the FA package to. The penalty is withdrawal of the offer of admissions, if he did not accept the offer of admission due to financial reasons.</p>
<p>But if he didn’t find the FA satisfactory, he would resign to not going there, ever. </p>
<p>I think mainly what they are trying to avoid is someone putting in a deposit at an ED school, which does indicate the intent to attend, and then applying to other schools and trying to get “something better”. He rejected his acceptance at another school (which WAS unaffordable and if it was ED, he would have rejected on financial grounds) and we are trying to figure out how to withdraw his other applications. He’ll probably email the admissions office.</p>
<p>CC is full of threads about having to reject ED due to financial reasons. This is the first time I heard this dire tale of high schools being blackballed because someone has to reject due to FA.</p>
<p>And what would I have done if the EA school gave a much better (at least $10,000 per year better) package? Asked my son which one he preferred, unless it was more like $30,000 per year better, and I would have insisted he take the EA school. I suppose, it is up to the EA school if they would want to reject him because he had to turn down an ED school due to FA.</p>
<p>Yep, we had our artificial tree for several years, but it was a very heavy one to deal with, and H said he was tired of hurting his back dealing with it; once setting it up, once taking it down, every year. Perhaps we will see if any go on clearance after Christmas for next year, or maybe the porch location will become the new tradition…Bonuses:no pine needles in the carpet, and no storing a tree! 
</p>
<p>From what I have gathered from reading posts on various threads over the past couple of weeks, the whole ED, SCEA “agreement” is a farce. It seems to be no more than an honor system, and as with any honor system not everyone will choose to follow it, since in the end there are no repercussions. </p>
<p>@rhandco Clearly you care very little about the rules of ED. It is evident from your posts. The reason I commented on this thread is so that OTHER PARENTS can see that what you are doing is wrong. I see that your son was deferred from one of his EA schools but was admitted to his ED school. ED at RPI gave him an advantage, as the policy is designed to do for students who have it as their number one choice.</p>
<p>I am very very familiar with their policy and the consequences of not following it.</p>
<p>Early decision applications are BINDING.</p>
<p>What rhandco left out of his last post was this part of the RPI policy on ED: </p>
<p>“Student may apply to other colleges under REGULAR decision.” NOT “EARLY ACTION” AS rhandco DID.</p>
<p>I will not be commenting further, but flouting the rules is an insult to every kid/parent on this thread who was admitted ED /SCEA and followed them.</p>
<p>This whole college search thing throws us into a world we are unfamiliar with and is filled with conflicting advice and information. We are all working to navigate these new waters, to figure it out and do what is best for our kids. It’s not easy. </p>
<p>So, “HereToHelpYou”, don’t comment further I guess, but you are implying that RPI has written specific things in their ED binding agreement explanation:</p>
<p><a href=“http://admissions.rpi.edu/undergraduate/admission/policy/Early%20Decision%20Policy%20(Binding).pdf”>http://admissions.rpi.edu/undergraduate/admission/policy/Early%20Decision%20Policy%20(Binding).pdf</a></p>
<p>and in reality does something else.</p>
<p>YOU added the words “NOT “EARLY ACTION”” it is NOT in the policy that applying early action is banned by RPI’s ED agreement, you added that. Heck, maybe you have talked to people on RPI’s adcom personally, and that’s their opinion. That’s not my problem though.</p>
<p>And my son’s GC, AND the Common Application folks must also be “an insult” as well because they allow students to have binding ED agreements signed by the parents and the GC and the student AND have EA applications submitted. He is not the only one who applied ED to one school and EA to several other schools at his HS.</p>
<p>You apparently think that FA decisions are binary, like on TV - Yay, we can afford it or "Oh no, we can’t!!!. We are talking tens of thousands of dollars here, for my son to choose to go for the EA school. </p>
<p>And he is going to his ED school. So everything is peaches and cream. </p>
<p>I’ve perused the College Board site on the same subject, and still cannot find anything that says “You can only apply to one ED school and no EA schools, or apply to multiple EA schools”.
<a href=“Early Decision and Early Action – Counselors | College Board”>http://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/applications/early</a></p>
<p>They do say this, to GCs:
"Make it clear in your school handbook and at college planning events that your policy for early-decision applications is to send the student’s final transcript to one college only: anything else is unethical. "</p>
<p>but that means that they don’t want kids putting deposits down at multiple colleges, like holding an ED spot with a deposit and then applying to other schools.</p>
<p>My son had until January 15 to accept his spot. The sole reason, in my estimation and others can correct me if I am wrong, is so that the FA package can be reviewed vs. our funds and any other considerations.</p>
<p>I cried with joy when I saw he was accepted. Then I cried real tears when I saw the FA package was more than $10,000 per year lower. I had to leave the room so he didn’t see. Yet I am being called unethical to weigh our options <em>exactly</em> as it says - to make sure the FA package is adequate for our family.</p>
<p>And let’s see what Peterson’s thinks:
<a href=“Ask the Experts: Early Decision and Early Application - Peterson's”>http://www.petersons.com/college-search/ask-experts-early-decision.aspx</a></p>
<p>“However, the ED commitment is binding in the college admissions process, and if you are found to have applied to other colleges after having been admitted ED someplace, or to have applied to more than one ED school, or to give up your ED choice for another college that has offered you admission, you will face the usual consequence of being blacklisted by the ED college.”</p>
<p>Absolutely NOTHING about EA in that statement, and many more similar questions answered on that site.</p>
<p>I consider myself highly ethical, and I can sympathize if perhaps others do not see me that way, but the College Board, the Common Application, and Peterson’s apparently think I and my son have done nothing wrong. </p>
<p>The same way that RPI thinks they have done nothing wrong when they note that the merit aid that shows up on the NPC really is a combination of merit aid and loans, and errs on the high side.</p>