<p>assumption: other colleges are quite comparable (in the same selectivity / geo league or college conference)</p>
<p>From other threads, it has pretty much been established that colleges can see to which other colleges you are sending your FAFSA.</p>
<p>When any college develops its FA package, does it look at those other colleges, to possibly ‘tweak’ the numbers that come out of their automated rules (presumably from computer programs)? Might they so tweak to buff the numbers up in order to make a more competitive package - at this point, vs later (when/if a parent might come comparing schools)?</p>
<p>I assume that the FAOs pretty much KNOW what the other comparable schools tend to offer for certain candidates. So I wonder if they might ‘put their best offer forward’?</p>
<p>–Or is it all completely automated, and any ‘tweaking’ would come later on the initiative of the prospective students?</p>
<p>another question on same subject:</p>
<p>What impact, if any, does having lots of colleges specified on the FAFSA have on any one college’s FA offer? Would the college think the applicant is not genuine in his or her proclamations of love for it as the ‘fairest college in the land’, and therefore give a stingier package? Or is the FAO completely indifferent to both the quantity and the content of the colleges cited on the FAFSA?</p>
<p>assume - average candidate with no super duper numbers</p>
<p>Every college operates independently but they generally attempt to make offers that are competitive with other schools who are hoping to attract the same students. There is very, very little tweaking done on the initiative of a prospective student. Everyone who needs aid has a bunch of schools on their FAFSA so it won’t be relevant to the schools. They can, however, tell whether your list of schools is appropriate given your stats and extrapolate whether they have any serious competition. And I feel compelled to repeat, there is very, very little tweaking done on the initiative of a prospective student. Some parents/students try each year but very few schools are receptive to the practice.</p>
<p>There is ‘tweaking’ in the sense of preferred packaging, where a school will give FA offers with more grants and less loans to students they really want to enroll. However, I’d guess that it is less due to the list of other schools they see on FAFSA and more due to other characteristics of the student that they desire.</p>
<p>While I’m sure each college has guidelines, I don’t believe FA is automated, as a matter of fact, colleges state that they use “professional judgement” in developing FA packages.</p>
<p>Assuming you applied RD, you can get into contact with the financial aid office and inform them of your interest of going…and their competitor’s aid package. They will probably try to match it unless they know they don’t have to and you’ll go either way.</p>
<p>(I should have been more specific.)
Well for an Ivy League university that they know the student wants to go to, they know that they don’t need to provide tons of FA for the student to go compared to a top-university that a student has less interest in. A top-university MAY try to match other similar university offers but…sometimes, it doesn’t work in your favor.</p>
<p>I don’t think this is true and I can only give an anecdote as to how it played out in our house.</p>
<p>An Ivy was my D’s first choice but she also got accepted to the top 2 LACs, one which gave her a better package than the ivy. We did contact the school and let them know that it was D’s first choice however, the LAC was the more financially feasible option for our family. Ivy met the package, never waivered and has given 4 years of consistent packages.</p>