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Does it come alongwith with your EA or ED decision. If not so, does school mail it after one has filled your 2004 tax return and reporting it to school?

By Alwaysamom (Alwaysamom) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 02:26 pm: Edit

Chinaman, I think it might depend on the college but I know that NYU sends an estimated f/a package with the acceptance letter.

By Sybbie719 (Sybbie719) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 02:34 pm: Edit

I believe that when you apply ED, you get an estimated FA letter based on the information you gave the college at that time. However, the FA package may be amended once you file the FAFSA for the 2005-2006 school year (which cannot be done until Jan 1)that has your information for the year ending 2004.

Applying RD, when you recieve the FA package varies with the schools.

I know at Barnard, Tufts, Bryn Mawr then came separately after the admissions letter.

Dartmouth, Williams , Amherst, MT Holyoke admissions and FA came together.

By Sybbie719 (Sybbie719) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 02:53 pm: Edit

Chinaman,

this is from Columbia's website regarding admissions and early decision. I hope it helps


1) If you are admitted under the Early Decision program, you are obligated to accept Columbia’s offer of admission if you receive an adequate
financial aid package that enables you to attend.
The decision as to whether or not your financial aid package is adequate is a decision made by the applicant’s family, after consultation with the
financial aid office. Once you accept Columbia’s offer of admission, you may file no further college applications and must withdraw any applications
that have already been submitted. In addition, your name will then be shared with other institutions, so that they are aware of your acceptance to Columbia.

According to National Association for College Admissions Counseling guidelines, “while pursuing admission under an Early Decision plan, students
may apply to other institutions, but may have only one Early Decision application pending at any time.” While Columbia does not necessarily
encourage the filing of both Early Decision (binding) and Early Action (non-binding) applications, we do not prohibit candidates from
doing so. However, candidates should be aware that Columbia’s Early Decision program is a binding agreement and a candidate will be expected to enroll, regardless of any pending applications (early or otherwise).


A. The College Board-approved Early Decision Plan, which is offered by Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College,
the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University, requires a prior commitment to matriculate. Financial aid awards for those qualifying for financial assistance will normally be announced in full detail at the same time as the
admissions decisions. An applicant receiving admission and an adequate financial aid award under the Early Decision Plan will be required to accept that offer of admission and withdraw all applications to other colleges and universities. All the Ivy institutions will honor any required commitment to matriculate which has been made to another college under this Plan.

B. An Early Action Plan is offered by Harvard University and Yale University. This plan does not require a commitment to matriculate. Students may apply to
other colleges at any time under their Regular Admission program (spring notification of final admission decision). Those admitted candidates applying for financial aid and qualifying for financial assistance will not receive any information concerning financial aid awards until the April Common Notification Date. Students are urged to consult the admission literature available at each Ivy institution for details concerning its particular December notification plan.

In short, if you are accepted EA at an ivy institution, you will not get you aid package until April.

By Chinaman (Chinaman) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 03:02 pm: Edit

Sybbie thank a lot you have clarified a lot more to me. That means even if my kid receive his EA ntifications, he has to send his other RD application by the time. Okay that means lot more work then we expected.

By Sybbie719 (Sybbie719) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 03:07 pm: Edit

Here is the link to the Common Ivy Group Admissions procedures (Cornell's) I looked to see if they are consistent among the Ivies- they are.

http://www.admissions.cornell.edu/application/freshman/IvyAdmissionsProcedures.pdf

By Marite (Marite) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 03:15 pm: Edit

Chinaman:

Just to amplify on what Sybbie wrote:

1. your son applies D somewhere and is accepted: e must accept the offer--and the financial package that comes with it.

2. your son applies to EA somewhere:
a. he can accept the offer if he wishes and not apply anywhere else.
b. OR he can apply RD to other colleges and wait until April to compare offers and make his decision.

3. In the event that he is either deferred or rejected in scenario 1 or 2, he can apply RD to a whole slew of other colleges.

Hope this helps.

By Chinaman (Chinaman) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 03:43 pm: Edit

ED is not for us thus we are locked in with Single choice EA. That application is almost done and ready to be mailed. Since fi aid pacakge will come late so all other RD will be mailed by the end of next month.

By Marite (Marite) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 04:09 pm: Edit

Chinaman:

You can wait until you hear from your SCEA to mail the RD applications. It could turn out that your son will be very happy with the admission and the financial aid package he receives and could save himself and you some money by not sending in the other applications (they're not due until Dec. 31 or Jan. 1).

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 04:47 pm: Edit

Chinaman, it depends on the SCEA school. Many do give you an estimated financial aid package. I believe both Harvard and Yale do, for instance. My son's school recommends that the applications be completed and ready to mail until the Early answers come. If you are done, then congratulations, you can have a shredding party for a cheaper than it costs to apply to batch of schools.

However, you might want to eye some of the scholarships that need early applications to be considered. Emory, UNC Chapel Hill, BC, Rhoedes, Tulane , Villanova, USC, Wake Forest all require earlier deadlines than their application deadlines for their best merit awards. There may be others. Nominations for the Morehead, Jefferson scholars programs need to be submitted by the schools, and if your student is interested, he should be letting the school know before someone else beats him to the draw. Also many schools have kids targeted for certain scholarships and to express early interest may put you in the running, being late is a definite disadvantage.

By Chinaman (Chinaman) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 08:45 am: Edit

Jamimom:

My son's school may have nominated my kid for Morehead scholar. Even though it is very nice offer, he decided that he was not interested in the offer and he did not want to take it away from other student. Theater and poitics are more important for his soul than money and hence he is not being considered for the award. I respect his decision.