In terms of enforceability, in the small world of college admissions, could the consequence be this: if a student claims that another school offers a “better” financial package (or merit aid), UPenn reserves the right to call the other school, and inform that Ad Comm of the applicant’s behavior.
Wouldn’t this curb a lot of "bad’ behavior by the 0.5%? If the other Ad Comm found out that an applicant was expressly violating Penn’s ED agreement, this would certainly give the other school pause. Especially at an ultra-competitive school like Chicago or MIT, this could have severe repercussions for the applicant.
Before approaching UPenn’s Ad Comm about this, I’d want to test the limits and parameters of any such suggested policy change. That’s why this discussion board can be put to good use!
These points aside, the current policy really does seem like overkill. There’s a certain point where actions go from reasonable to shenanigans, and it looks like Penn went off the deep end here.