| Just as you said... the bottom line is the bottom line. The colleges use the money at their disposal whether it be need or merit to attract the students to their school that they desire.
If the colleges use need & merit to attract students, then you should use need & merit to negotiate.
As to the free vs. self-help, generally the a school with more free money will give you more leverage over a school with more self-help. You can sometimes use one school's abundance of free money to change a self-help laden package from a first choice school. |