allow students to apply to a new "first choice" school after they find out in mid- to late December they have been unsuccessful in their early decision or early action application to their original first choice. It is intended as another chance for applicants to show commitment, and another tool for the school to protect its admission yield. History It was in answer to criticisms of early decision that, starting in 2004, Yale and Stanford switched from early decision to single-choice early action. Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Virginia announced in the Fall of 2006 that they would no longer offer early action or early decision programs, which they claim favor the affluent, and moved to a single deadline instead. The University of Florida followed suit the following year. However, the University of Virginia, followed by both Harvard and Princeton, reinstated their single-choice early action program to promote diversity and provide opportunities for students looking for such an option in 2011. Binding commitment Early decision is a binding decision, meaning that students must withdraw applications to other schools if accepted. It is not legally binding, but there is a commitment involved with penalties for withdrawing for spurious reasons. Advisers suggest that this method is only for students who are absolutely certain about wanting to attend a specific school. If financial aid is a concern or if a family is "shopping for the best deal", then it is usually advised to apply early action or regular decision instead. The one stipulated situation under which a student may back out of the agreement is if the financial aid offer is insufficient. A student who backs out for other reasons may be "blacklisted" by the early decision college, which may contact the student's high school guidance office, and prevent it from sending transcripts to other colleges, and high schools generally comply with such requests. In addition, the jilted college may contact other colleges about the withdrawal, and the other colleges would likely revoke their offers of acceptance as well. Critics of the program argue that binding an applicant, especially one that is typically seventeen or eighteen years old, to a single institution is unnecessarily restrictive. Impact on financial aid When admitted as an early decision applicant, with no other acceptances in hand, a student's bargaining position is weaker because the student cannot compare offers from different colleges. Since the applicant is declaring