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I have a bit of a problem. Paying for college is probably going to be a problem for my family. We filled out the collegeboard.com financial aid calculator thing with ballpark numbers, and my parents are not confident that they can pay the amount it said we would be expected to pay. I'd really like to apply to Brown early decision to sort of bolster my chances, but if I were accepted and Brown agreed to pay 100% of my "reported need" I still would need more money. But early decision is binding, and I would have no way to get out of it. Does anyone have any suggestions?

By Nerdboy (Nerdboy) on Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 03:09 pm: Edit

You know, I've done some research about the early decision commitment and what I found was that there is something called "Early decision second thought" which means that although the student has agreed to attend that school in case accepted in early decision and withdraw all the other schools he/she applied to, if the student can not afford to go to that school and has not received enough scholarships and ... he/she can refuse to attend the early decision school.


Good Luck,

By Stug (Stug) on Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 04:29 pm: Edit

I've talked to someone (a college counselor) about this, and she seemed to think that as long as the school had met 100% of your need as determined by the FAFSA or whathaveyou, you were still obligated to attend.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 05:56 pm: Edit

That is how I see it too stug.
If your EFC is $10,000 for example that is what you have to come up with, plus the money over that can be met with any combination of grants loans and workstudy.
IMO it isn't worth it to apply Early decision if money is a concern .

By applying regular decision you can compare offers. Your EFC will be comparable with many schools, but one school could offer you $10,000 in grants and $5,000 in loans, and another school could reverse that.

By Morgantruce (Morgantruce) on Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 07:41 pm: Edit

Why is it that people who want to know about financial aid, will talk about it to everyone except the ONE person who can give some real answers?

Call the FinAid office at the college that you want to apply ED to and speak to them. Ask what your debt will be upon graduation.

That's what we did... and we were told the truth. There is NO reason why you should not take advantage of the boost given your application when you apply ED----and in most cases, the boost is very substantial.

If you don't like what you are told, call up another college--and possibly apply ED there.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 07:51 pm: Edit

but I think it would depend on other factors like how much that particular student would add to the class, and hence how much of an offer the school will make.
My daughter gets quite a chunk in grants whereas another student who actually has better numbers, gets less. They both are having 100% of need met, but walletwise much different.

By Stug (Stug) on Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 09:43 pm: Edit

I think you are missing the point. According to some statistics I've seen, Brown (and many selective schools) meets 100% of the reported need. This is not where the problem lies. Our problem is that even if a school meets 100% of my "reported need," I still may not be able to pay, because the FAFSA thinks I can pay more than my parents feel they can spare. The problem is that one's "reported need" may be different from what one needs to be able to pay.

By Morgantruce (Morgantruce) on Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 10:37 pm: Edit

That has nothing to do with applying early decisions---as long as you discuss it first with FinAid and make a choice based upon what they tell you.

There is no one on this discussion board who can tell you how much you will have to pay or how much your loans will be. Only the FinAid officer for the college can tell you that.

Is there some reason you don't want to talk to the FinAid office?