Accepted Early Decision? Next Steps and What To Do if It’s Too Expensive
By Karen Treon, Senior Editor & College Parent
If your student applied and was accepted Early Decision (EDI or EDII) . . . huge congratulations to them and to you! ED acceptance is a cause for both celebration and relief. If your family is through the celebration stage and ready to move on, here is a quick overview of next steps:
Follow Instructions from the Accepting University: First and foremost, make sure your student is reading their email and staying caught up in their student portal. Students accepted through ED usually have quick deadlines to meet, including confirming acceptances, making deposits, and applying for housing. The whole process will move along quickly and they need to stay on the timeline. We suggest that families arrange a weekly time to review school communication and track the follow-up steps together.
Communicate with University: Questions inevitably arise, and the admissions officers at the ED university are your best source for answers. Most schools have regional admissions officers and your student should have that email address close at hand. (Gentle reminder: in almost all situations, it is best that your student communicates with the school rather than the parent or guardian.)
Refresh your Memory on the Binding ED Agreement Terms: If your student applied ED, that means that your student, a parent, and the student’s counselor all signed and submitted an ED Agreement. The terms of this agreement basically state that the student is applying to one and only one school through ED and that if the student is offered admission to this school, the student WILL accept the offer. There is an out . . . and that out is that if the cost of the school ends up higher than the estimate that the family reasonably made and relied on, they can be released from the agreement to attend.
If the Cost is in Excess of What You Expected: If your family is facing the situation of the cost exceeding your expectations, we have a few tips to help you navigate the situation:
Gather the documents from your initial research. Specifically, you should pull out the Net Price Calculator (NPC) estimates from the fall and the results from the FAFSA aid estimators you ran. You should also make sure you have a copy of the school’s “meets needs” financial aid policy, if the school has such a policy. Is there a gap between the cost you expected and the actual cost? If so, your student should communicate with the admissions officer and financial aid office at the ED school to find out the process for review of the aid package.
Some families might not see a gap between expected cost and actual cost, but they have changed circumstances. For example, perhaps a parent became unemployed. In this situation, the student should also speak directly to the admissions officer and financial aid office to make sure they understand the process for review.
Most schools will have a specific review process, with specific forms and tight and firm deadlines. Schools will want to see copies of the Net Price Calculator estimates that the family was relying on, in addition to other information.
Students can request an extension of the deadline to accept their offer of admission while this review is underway, and it is up to the school to approve or deny that request. If an extension is granted, it means that the school won’t expect the student to withdraw other pending applications.
In these cases, there are two possible outcomes - one is that the school revised the financial package based on the new information or changed circumstances, and the other is that the school will release the student from the binding ED Agreement, which will allow the student to accept other offers and/or submit additional applications to other schools.
Note that the bullet points above address need-based financial aid and not merit aid. This is because many schools that offer ED are also low acceptance rate schools, and those schools typically do not offer merit aid. Of course there are exceptions, and a number of schools that offer ED do offer merit aid. If your student expects more merit aid from a school, they should follow the same process as above – review the Net Price Calculator estimates from the fall (which factor in grades and test scores) and see if there is a gap between the expected cost and the actual cost. The best course of action in this situation is to have an open conversation with the admissions officer and ask for a review and for recommendations. A student making this request should provide NPC results and other documentation to demonstrate why they had an expectation of a higher merit award. As with the need-based aid review process outlined above, students can ask for a deadline extension from the school while this process is underway, and it is up to the school to approve or grant that request.
A worst case outcome in these cases is usually that the student is released from the binding ED Agreement. This can be heartbreaking and disappointing, but is not the end of the world. Students and families should keep in mind that admissions and financial aid offices are there to help, and that open communication is critical when going through this process.
