My husband and I are probably upper middle class. My son just got accepted to an Ivy League school. When I did the net calculator to see if we would even qualify for any financial aid, it basically said “no.” The school to which he was accepted is only need-based only financial aid - no merit awards. If he gets a merit scholarship from another school that is substantial, is it worth going back to the Ivy to ask for reconsideration? Or will they laugh and just say they have a huge wait list and it’s fine if he turns it down? They seem to really want him. They are flying him out for a weekend from the West Coast. Is it just a courtship and they want my full-tuition boy and want me to decide that any price is worth admission to an Ivy League school? Or if they really are interested in him and what he has to offer, do you think there is any chance of them reconsidering and throwing some money at him?
The answer is both yes and no. Officially the answer is no, unofficially I have heard rumors of people getting merit aid if they were highly sought after but it was many years ago and I do not know that is true.
What you might be able to do is to see how close you are to getting aid (play with the NPC and see how much income you need to remove, if there is a younger sibling see if putting him in college changes anything) and if you are close they may do some creative math if they really want him, again just conjecture, not based on fact.
When you go, mention that you have a full ride or whatever from school X. Note that while they may be interested in a peer school, I doubt they will care if he has a free ride from Arizona State. What can they do for you? See what they say. Is he a URM? Intel winner? Why do you think they want him? It is not for the full tuition since they could fill their class with full pay students if they wanted.
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^^ what BobWallace says is absolutely true.
Ivy’s dont offer merit scholarships. And there is no “negotiating” with them regarding merit scholarships from other colleges.
Now , if your DS does receive an acceptance and a better FA from another Ivy or “peer” college, it IS worth sending a letter of appeal to the FA office for reconsideration.
Every ivy admit likely has an acceptance or two with merit from some other school (likely his safety and some other school).
Ivy schools KNOW THAT all of their acceptees are likely holding merit offers from other schools. Their position is: If you want the lower cost, go to one of those schools. If you don’t want to pay the amount that we’ve calculated, then there are 10 other students who will.
The Ivies offer need-based aid only. They do not offer merit awards. If you believe the college miscalculated your son’s eligibility for need-based aid, contact them. If you think he’s entitled to merit aid, then send him to a college that offers it.
@SeekingPam - this is nonsense. The only “peer” schools of an Ivy are other ivies, or Ivy-caliber schools such as Stanford. None of these schools offer merit aid, much less a “full ride.”
The parent mentions that this student is being flown in for a visit. Is this student a URM? If not, the “fly in” seems unusual.
Not necessarily, most Ivies will reimburse/defray the cost of travel for admitted student days for any student who attends, whether or not they are a URM
I’ve never heard about anyone getting their offer rescinded for asking questions - so why not? Nothing to lose…
As mom2collegekids said, virtually every kid admitted to a school like that could be attending elsewhere for free, so you will not get merit money. However, they may be able to reassess need based support if it is close. This is true for all eight Ivies.
Having said that, I can also assure you that they are not pretending to be interested to get your tuition money. They honestly believe that your son makes a beneficial addition to their class, or the will not admit you.
While it is a lot of money, the market price of a seat at any Ivies is much greater than the tuition price. They could give that place to a student with wealthy parents for millions of dollars in donations in addition to the tuition.
Whether it is worth it is for you and your son is a different question and difficult to say. Much of that depends on the your sons interests and major. You will have to make that decision.
“The only “peer” schools of an Ivy are other ivies, or Ivy-caliber schools such as Stanford. None of these schools offer merit aid, much less a “full ride.””
The one peer school that offers a few merit scholarships is Duke, but they are very limited. Basically they are trying to attract a student that is otherwise going to be a top student at an Ivy, Stanford, or MIT.
@dodgersmom UChicago gives merit money, they are very open about it. They were ranked #4 in USNWR last year, tied with Stanford and Columbia. I think MIT and CalTech may as well but am not certain. Duke gives the Robertson and some others. WUSTL has a couple of free rides and while they may not be a HYP. they are certainly at least at Cornell’s level. Vanderbilt and Rice also have some free rides, that is just off the top of my head.
I have never heard of schools offering to reimburse EVERYONE for their travel costs without the family asking first or being lower income or a URM. This kid is desireable in some way.
MIT does not give merit aid. Ivy League colleges don’t give a crap if you get a merit scholarship from colleges you list.
Esmerelda- you have two options.
Option A- turn down this college because it’s not affordable and pick one of your son’s other schools.
Option B- put together a nice letter with a chart showing that despite the financial aid formula indicating that you don’t qualify for aid, there are some mitigating factors that don’t show up on the form (another child with disabilities who has non-medical needs (speech therapy? OT?) which take a significant chunk of your take-home pay, or some other mitigating factor.
Then wait and see. If the school agrees that your “paper” finances are not an accurate snapshot of your ability to pay, you may get some need based aid.
But you will not get a merit award from a needs-only school. I’m sure they want your son, but if you get money from them it will be because they’ve taken a harder look at your finances and decided that you’ve got some hardship which prevents you from being full pay.
But keep your expectations in check.
"This kid is desireable in some way. "
This kid is a good student and was admitted. THAT is the extent of his “desirability” to the school.
Dont delude yourself- there are hundreds of other kids on Ivy wait lists that are just as “desirable” and would jump at the chance to take his place.
Back in the day, DS was also admitted to 2 Ivys, Chicago, Wash U, Vanderbilt, etc etc and also received a full tuition scholarship at a very good , but non peer U.
We tried the “negotiating” game with the Ivys - mentioning the merit scholarship.
.They wouldn’t budge.
And they won’t now.
Did they offer to fly your kid to the east coast for free?
^are you addressing me?
if so the answer is we did not ask.
DS and I visited Brown [ which he had seen before] and Dartmouth[ which he had not seen] during accepted students days. He did not apply to any other Ivys. He was and still is an anti-elitist type of kid, partly as a result of so many of his class mates applying to HYPS.
At both schools we also made appts with the FA office to discuss what they were offering vrs what he had been awarded by other colleges. Then we had a quiet plane ride home while we both contemplated his options.
You are saying this to say what? My D (who applied I think the same cycle as S of @menloparkmom) got accepted to every single school that she applied to and all of them offered to get her to their campus on their dime.
Flying students in to admitted students days is nothing unusual. Dartmouth will to this day fly in every student admitted through RD who gets $1 in financial aid and even if you get $0, they will still fly you in if you ask.
Does that mean that they are going to match merit money? No, and like @menloparkmom , I say this from my first hand experience with my own kid who also had merit and need based packages; they were willing to match other Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Duke (need based only), Notre Dame (need based only), Wash U (need based only), Williams, Amherst and Swat, etc. So that is what I did; when D told me her first choice school, I requested a financial review, sent the package (and the package I sent wasn’t even the best package she received, just the peer school that was her #2 choice and she was more than happy to attend) and it was met, including no-loans when the school did not have a no-loan policy at that time.
You can beg the Ivies forever for merit aid…and you won’t get a dime of it.
But maybe there is a reason for them to reconsider your need based aid.
Of course…if you didn’t get ANY need based aid at all…your incime is likely in the $180,000-$200,000 a year range…and that isn’t going to qualify you for need based aid.
And the Ivy school isn’t going to give two hoots about a merit award from any other school.