<p>Yeah, Princess’Dad, I think it really depends on what schools you’re looking at. We applied to ones that were all in the same “league” and yet got very different responses to our request for FA (from $0 to full need). We’re still waiting on a few, so a final decision on our part hasn’t been made, but if it were between a school my son loved that offered no aid and a school that was just okay for him, but threw tons of money at us, it would be a very tough call.</p>
<p>I don’t personally think there’s anything wrong with trying to negotiate for FA, and we were actually invited by one school to do so, even though it really isn’t our style at all. Now if we’d been turned down by all of them, I’m not sure what we would have done, but I don’t think we would have financed full tuition. There are no guarantees that anybody’s child will get into an Ivy League school and no guarantee that those schools will continue to make that generous “free tuition” offer indefinitely. </p>
<p>Years ago, my alma mater (which routinely ranks in the top 20 in the US News rankings) used to offer, as part of its employee benefits package, the choice between free tuition for an employee’s children – if that child qualified through the regular admissions process – or a tuition credit (worth considerably less) that could be applied to any school the child attended. It was a huge gamble, even for employees who were also alumni, to take the full tuition option. Very hard to predict how your child will fare so far in the future.</p>
<p>And doschicos, that would bother me immensely, as well, if the award was “need-based” and not a scholarship for some other purpose. It will be curious to see if that school offers the family FA again after they declare that $90k car as one of their assets! (Perhaps you should photograph the family in the new car and send a copy to the BS. j/k–sort of!)</p>