<p>So I’m a NM semi-finalist, likely a finalist as i haven’t recieved a rejection letter. I’ve gotten the usual scholarship offers from UT Dallas, Oklahoma, ASU, some from Idaho schools, and Westminster.</p>
<p>The school I’d rather go to is University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They offer full tuition plus 2K a year for NM. Since their offer isn’t quite as good as some of the other schools, my dad told me that once I’m accepted I can email and say something along the lines of “while your school is my top choice, I really need the financial aid, and I’ve gotten X offer from Oklahoma. Is there anything you can do for me to increase the scholarship?” or such. He said that his work friend’s daughter who was also national merit did the same thing. My dad couldn’t remember if the school’s actually gave her anything more though.</p>
<p>Have any of you heard of doing this? Do you think it would actually work?</p>
<p>Not sure if it would work. But perhaps it won’t hurt. Maybe try rewording the “really need the financial aid” part so they don’t reply that FAFSA covers financial need. </p>
<p>Another idea would be to ask if there are opportunities for additional scholarships or work-study in your situation. (In some schools, only students qualify for work-study if there is financial aid. But at one school we visited there were tourguide and tutor positition available even w/o “need”).</p>
<p>Phone is much better than email. You can email first to set up a time to talk if your schedule is limited. My suggestion would be to emphasize that this school is your top choice and you should indicate the specific reasons that hopefully relate to what you will contribute to the school. You’ve received bigger offers elsewhere and you are wondering if there is any other merit scholarships or work options that you could apply for.</p>
<p>I agree with NOT saying “financial aid.” That is a whole different issue. Scholarships come out of a different budget. FA is determined by FAFSA and schools have a different budget for that. If you use the words FA, then they will say to submit a FAFSA and then they’ll determine if you have need.</p>
<p>If the schools that gave you better merit scholarships are equal in ranking, then go ahead and try. Be prepared to fax your offers to UNebraska so that they can see what you’ve been offered. (I only have an old USNEWs so I don’t know if UOk, and UNe are closer in rank now.)</p>
<p>UNe may not have a budget to increase your scholarship, and they may fear that other NMFs will be angry if they learn that you were given a bigger scholarship than they were. </p>
<p>There are only a few mid-tier national universities (UOk, Alabama, Auburn) that give mega scholarships to NMF (tuition, housing, etc), so it’s unknown whether this will work. </p>
<p>I asked a couple of high school college counselors about this and their comment was that the university may say “if need the money so much then go there”. I hope the more experienced CC people will reply but it seems it is a risk.</p>
<p>It is true that sometimes the scholarship dept response is…“If that school is offering you more money, then go there.” </p>
<p>But, there’s no risk involved. It’s not like they would withdraw their initial scholarship offer. A student still can decide to accept the lower offer and go to their top choice school. </p>
<p>This isn’t like a job offer where you’ve now annoyed your future boss. The scholarship people have no input into the rest of your college life. It doesn’t matter if they say for you to go elsewhere for more money. You can still accept their lower offer.</p>
<p>That said…there have been times when NMF students with full rides have talked to top schools about their big offers from mid-tiers, and the top schools will kindly tell them, “you’ll get a fine eduction at X school. Save your money and go there. Come to us for grad school.” But, again, it’s the student’s choice where he/she ends up going.</p>