We are in the bucket of financially fortunate to not qualify for financial aid but not enough where price doesn’t matter. Child got accepted EA to a selective college (not Ivy but T20) without an offer of merit. A friend of ours with a current college freshman (also in a selective school but not the same school) said they were in the same situation and reached out to the college, asked if they could be considered for financial assistance and received a small amount (I’ve read similar stories online but never believed it). Is it worth calling a school and asking? Yes, we knew the price tag coming in and my feeling is the college will laugh at us but spouse keeps saying it doesn’t hurt to ask. Has anyone done this and have any advice to share on who to contact at the college (friend started with Admissions office) or if this is even something we should attempt. Child received money offers from lesser selective schools and I know that means nothing to a higher selective school. Also has acceptances from other T20 schools but again, none with merit (not surprised). Child has younger siblings all in private schools and in a few years, we’ll have 3 in college with another still to follow so like most, we are looking for any help. And yes, I get it, private high schools, kids close together, choices of school are not anyone else’s problems but mine, just looking to see if others had any experience with approaching a college with this question. Thanks.
I think this is the answer you need - ask them. They have experiernce.
Can you ask - the answer is yes, of course you can.
Are you sure that:
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The college in question offers merit
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If so, that they’ve already announced merit?
What you have to decide about budget is - not can you afford a school because based on your comments you can.
The question is - do you want to afford these colleges?
If not, you still have time to apply to substitutional schools that do offer significant merit to many…or all.
I am a full pay but not willing to pay full family - so my kids’ lists were specifically built with that idea in mind.
Good luck.
You can ask.
I have no personal experience in UG, but in grad school, I have personally walked in to FA office and walked out with a few thousands extra in school funded grants. Not in my first year, but in my second, eating was becoming problematic and FAO felt sorry for me.
Another grad program, one of my classmate who at the end of semester was the top grade, she went to the Dean and said she was transferring because another school offered her money. Dean matched her offer and she ended up with a full ride for the next 2 1/2 years.
There is no question once you are in, school doesn’t want you to leave for money reasons because attrition rate is being tracked.
Then again (I hear rumors and this is purely from people’s word of mouth and can be made up and totally wrong) that UG admission also depends on students’ ability to pay. If they have buy students, they would have been more selective. Going back on what you may have put on an application is generally frown upon. Again, this is all hearsay.
I look at this through a risk reward lens. They can only say no, but you will be no worse for off for asking. Sounds like if you don’t ask you will always wonder.
Congratulations as it clearly sounds like you prioritize education sending your kids to private HS. At my kids private HS m, they offered financial aid when siblings went off to college. Just a thought.
Does the school offer merit? Many do not. So if they only offer financial aid, I would not ask.
Can you ask? Yes. Will it make a difference? Unknown. Will it harm your child’s chances/reputation at the school? No, not if done politely.
That said, others have made some good points.
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Does the school offer merit aid? This aggregator can give you a quick answer as to the average merit award (if any) and what percentage of students without need received any: Merit Aid by Institution – College Transitions.
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I would only start discussing getting additional assistance if it is your kid’s top choice and your family is willing and able to commit to paying the remainder. If you’re asking just to ask and and your son doesn’t plan to commit, or you don’t plan to to pay if they only offer $1-5k/year, then I wouldn’t ask. Additionally, if there are any other applications (or merit aid opportunities) at similarly selective schools, I would wait until you have all offers in hand and then your kid could say, you’re my favorite school but Competitor A has offered me $x, which is meaningful to my family. Is there anything that you can do to help?
Good luck.
I agree this is most likely to be effective you can say something like, “I have been offered admission by A at a cost of $X less, but if you can match I will come here.” And they might not match, or might only partially match, but I don’t think it is considered inappropriate to ask.
It IS considered inappropriate at a college which only offers need based aid if one has not applied for need based aid. So understanding what the college’s financial aid policy is needs to come first before the ask.
This will only work consider if they consider “A” to be a peer institution.
Yes, sorry, I agree with that.
I’m actually not quite sure this is correct, or maybe it depends on what you mean by “peer”. They have to believe it is credible you might choose the other college if they do not offer anything, but if $X is big enough, I am not sure they have to be strict peers for that to be credible.
But for sure, absent a formal matching policy, they might just say no.
I believe that the only T20 schools that award merit are Rice, Vanderbilt, Duke and Notre Dame and these schools offer merit to very, very few students. Plus, apart from Notre Dame, those are ED schools that don’t offer EA.
Well, if you tell Vanderbilt that Rice is offering you $X and you’ll go there instead, they’ll consider your case. On the other hand if you tell them you got a great deal from ‘Bama they’ll wish you luck and move on.
Maybe, including because lower costs from state universities would be a near universal.
But then where does Vanderbilt, or any other college, draw that line? Like, what if it was Wake Forest?
I’m not sure which T20 list the OP is using, but WUSTL would be another. Not an EA school, though.
School does offer merit but not to many and not much to those they offer it to. We don’t know if merit has been awarded so that’s a great question to start with. We can’t go to the school with the other offer because it is not a peer school. This is child’s top choice and I was wrong, it’s a T25 or T30 school (I got different answers from google, don’t know if that matters but doubt it, still a highly sought after school). Thanks for the great suggestions.
It very much doesn’t.
Generally, it doesn’t sound like your prospects are very good, but I still don’t see the downside to asking.
I agree, like the 8 ball says “Outlook Not So Good” lol
They have a view on who their peers are. That may or may not align with a magazine ranking.
I guess my point is you can ask, and let them draw the line where they see fit.