tulip

Hi,

My son has been accepted at 9 small liberal arts colleges. Some offer a nice chunk of scholarship, some do not. If he prefers a school that did not offer aid, is it feasible to ask them to offer some $$$ to help sway him?

Has anyone ever done this?

ripken204

i would not just directly ask them for more money, i would try to bring it up that some other colleges are offering him alot more money and that he really wants to go to this school but that he just cant afford it when he has these other options.

if this school really wants him, then they will give you more money.

Kim Clark

Most schools say they don't like to "negotiate." But if you can phrase it in a way that doesn't make them feel like they are in a used car lot, you might succeed. Also, schools are more likely to bid up aid for students they feel are especially attractive (i.e. might raise their average test scores, or help a sports team win a championship or something.) But if your student doesn't bring anything really special to the school, they are much less likely to throw any extra money, since they will want to save that for students they really want. One way to phrase it might be to simply ask if a more generous school perhaps understood your family's finances a little better?
Here's an article I wrote laying out some strategies that have worked for other parents:
A Few Simple Steps and Some Tough Questions Can Help Families Tackle the Cost Of College - US News and World Report
And if you go to Financial Aid Letter - Letter Decoder and click on "action plans" you can find some step-by-step instructions. Good luck!

guitars101

Wow, thank Kim for the info. Very helpful. This can be so confusing for everyone, especially parents. We'd like to send out kids to the school of their dreams, but financially it may not be feasible, so where do you draw the line? How do you tell your kids that all their hard work didn't get them where they thought they would go?

ripken204

oops, before i meant to say "i wouldnt just directly ask for more money"

mathwizard314

I would definitely seek out money from your son's preferred school, if I were you. I was in a similar situation last year; one college offered me a sizable amount of financial aid and a similar school offered next to nothing. I ended up sending the other school the second school's offer, and they matched it. I think it helps if the schools are in a similar league (academically competitive, that is). Good luck!

expatengr

Finaid for a small liberal arts college specifically told me that they do not view an appeal of the merit offer negatively. I was even told to include offers from other colleges in the appeal, especially if the merit aid would sway the decision. Guess it may depend on the school. I was upfront with them and told them that I was not trying to bargain them down for the sake of obtaining the best deal, however the financial aspect was a reality for us in the decision process.

caressemh

Have your son write them a letter! I wrote a letter to my top choice school, saying how important it was that I receive scholarships in order to attend and that I was already having to pass up deadlines for scholarships (including a full ride) that I received at other schools just so I could hold out for them. Of course I worded it very nicely and stressed how hard I was willing to work to meet the tuition. And they turned around and gave me their top scholarship!

.... Which still didn't turn out to be nearly enough. Which makes me feel kind of guilty for asking. But hey at least I went for it! lol

Roger_Dooley

Definitely request a review of the award. In doing so, you should point out two things:
1) Circumstances that might not have been reflected in the forms (job changes, etc.)
2) Better awards from peer schools. A selective LAC probably won't care about the big award from your state university, but if a comparable LAC coughed up a better award, they may try to recalculate in a way to get their offer competitive.

At many schools, there's a fair amount of latitude in the process and you don't want to alienate the aid person by sounding like you are trying to get the best deal on a used minivan. Understand that the financial aid officer may well be making less annually than you do, live in a less desirable home or apartment, and in general be unsympathetic to how difficult it is for you to make ends meet. (If you are truly destitute, of course, that's a good case to make!) By focusing on specifics that may have been overlooked and the possibility that the student may attend another school purely for cost reasons (even though he loves this college), you can keep things from getting judgmental and maximize the chance of an enhanced award.

Roger_Dooley

I'd add that it's best to attempt this at just one or two schools that the student is most interested in attending. It's not an auction process, and if a school matches an award from another school at your request you should think about saying "yes". You don't have to agree on the spot, of course, but if the student isn't serious about attending that school why waste everyone's time?

It's unlikely that a college would do much better than match another school's offer. The usual phrase would be, "We don't want cost to be the determining factor in this important decision." Don't expect these schools to engage in a bidding war.

Accepted student visit days are often a good time to meet in person with a financial aid officer.

jjsoa1

While I can't find any hard evidence to show that schools will give you more aid, I was able to get a little more money from a school. I told them that I really wanted to attend and while they met family's financial contribution, I had a sibling in law school who needed financial help from my parents. They ended up offering me a little bit more in scholarship money and loans. I don't think it hurts to try.

Coopjust

Yeah, I would expect them to match another school if money became a barrier to going to my dream school, but it's not eBay...

hope4freeride

One of my residents who attended Wash U both for undergraduate and medical school told me he did call them politely asked if they had any additional money for merit aid and they gave him more without batting an eyelash. I don't know if all schools can do this, but by all means ask away. Good luck in your quest for more $

applesauce

Is there anything you can do if you don't qualify for financial aid and a school doesn't offer any merit scholarships? Because I like a particular school a lot but I can't justify paying $200,000 to attend when I'm getting big merit scholarships from other schools...

sybbie719

I agree with Roger, while most schools do not like the concept of "negotiating" many will consider a financial review especially if the following occurs (or has occured since you filed your paperwork)

there was a loss or reduction of income
there are unpaid & unreimbursed medical expenses
there was something you forgot to mention in your FA application .

I agree with Roger about you not wanting to alienate the aid person by sounding like you are trying to get the best deal on a used minivan. You will not get a lot of sympathy by telling your tale of woe that there is no money left for a family income $200,000 after paying taxes, mortgage, and a condo in NYC/NJ or pick your major city, etc when the average national family income is ~ 40k.

T the end of the day, it depends on the school. For example, Brown and Wesleyan are notorious for telling you that you may have to go where your money can take you.

Are you requesting a financial review of need based aid against merit based aid?

Did both schools use the same mechanism for calculating FA. Did one school use the FAFSA only while the ohter used the FAFSA + Profile/their own institutional aid form.

Does both schools commit to meeting 100% demonstrated need.

I would also look up your schools on the college board website to see where your package lies as far as the average package including percent grants/loans the school gives.

When requesting a financial review against a state school, you probably will will not get anywhere in the process because :

You should compare apples to apples if you want to negotiate aid, it needs to be 2 comprable private schools (comprable in terms of cost, selectivity, student profile, ranking, and maybe even that horrible p word -prestige). Duke, the ivies, elite lacs, etc. do not care if podunk U. is giving you a "free ride" because podunk is not a peer school. However, Duke will look at the comprable package that you recieved from Penn, etc.

Schools that give only need based aid do not negotiate against merit aid packages.

Private schools do not negotiate against public universities especially if that student is in state. As remember the purpose of public universities is to provide an affordable educational option for its residents.


When you compare $19,000 to $47,000 and you are asking for more money you are actually showing them that your that if money is an issue, why look at a school that is over 2x the cost. The school will most likely think that if money is an issue, you should be at your state U (Don't let this website fool you because most students are looking at more "selective" schools as the majority of the students in this country attend state universities).

You will really have an uphill battle asking for a financial review of the merit portion, against your list of schools that only give need based (where when it comes down to merit, most of the students would be eligible for merit money)

If the money is really going to be an issue, talk about it with your parents /children now with the worse case scenario if dream school does not change their aid offer (remember, merit money is a mechanism used to attract payers and a tool for schools who don't meet 100% need as their way of "discounting and not dependent on need)

Also take the time to look at the "fine print" of your merit money.

Is it automatically renewed each year though out your undergrad career?

Is the amount the same? Is there an opportunity for more? Will it be cut?

What is required to keep it? It it attached to a major or a GPA requirement?

If it is attached to a GPA requirement, is it a phase in period before reaching the GPA or does the requirement kick in from day one?

Would the GPA seem onerous, something like 3.75gpa to keep merit (remember college is not high school, so while you may have cruised to a 4.0, colleges do have weed out courses, life happens and it could be a little harder getting that 4.0).

If you don't make the gpa requirement is there a probationary period (one term) to bring the grades back up or is the merit money iimmediately taken?

These are all of the things you should know upfront before committing to merit money because any change could be major financial ramifications for you and your family.