I agree with those who say “be polite” and with thumper1’s advice too. I’d let them know that the school is the kid’s first choice (if it really is) and that your family is “really trying to make it work for her/him”. Ask for their advice/help. Don’t complain about how expensive their school is. I have twins who are currently freshmen in college and maybe we were just lucky, but these tactics worked for us.
My daughter was accepted to a top 10 school with a bit of need based FA. I called the FA office and found out that merit aid stacked on top of FA (yay!). I then called admissions and let them know that they were her first choice, we had twins, and we really wanted to make it work for DD. I asked if there was anything she could do to receive merit aid. They suggested having her email her regional AC, which she did, again saying that the school was her top choice, she had a twin brother, etc. Since it was early in the processs (she had applied EA), she didn’t have other offers to tout. Her RAC replied that he had “resubmitted her file” to the scholarship committee. A few weeks later in December she was notified that she received a $10K/year merit scholarship! Nothing in her “file” had changed other than she had expressed interest. In addition, before she enrolled, we appealed our FA application in late March with new info from our recently finished 2017 tax return (our original FAFSA used 2016 taxes), including slightly reduced income and pretty high medical expenses. The school bumped up our FA a few K.
For my DS, I think letting them know that “this is my first choice school” may also have helped. He was a finalist for an OOS public full COA scholarship. Although a high stats kid, interviewing is definitely not his forte nor did he have the kind of EC leadership resume that others probably had. We knew that many of the other finalists were still waiting on Ivy decision day (my DS had no interest in Ivies). After his interview, he emailed his interviewers and the scholarship administrator and told them that if they offered him the scholarship, he would definitely take it. He got it!
Perhaps we were just lucky or my kids had something they were looking for, but I’m convinced that expressing interest is important and can get a kid that “second look”.
Yes, important to be respectful in conversations. Under guidelines, if not, they’re allowed to terminate the conversation. This isn’t a fight. It’s a process. You’re asking and they answer. Yes, no, maybe. The rational approach is to inform yourself as best you can. All along. Be realistic and have plans B ane C.
As both Chatham and ? Lehigh (NPC) think you can pay >60K total, you might not have actual need at Pitt, for example. Was Chathams money need based FA or merit?
I’m guessing that the twins each have an ACT 32 from single sittings (merit awards don’t usually use superscores)
This is what they’d get from University of Alabama if they apply by the Dec deadline (the school’s app is super easy.)
Presidential
A student with a 32-36 ACT or 1420-1600 SAT score and at least a 3.5 GPA will be selected as a Presidential Scholar and will receive $104,000 over four years ($26,000 per year). Students graduating with remaining scholarship semester(s) may use these monies toward graduate school and/or law school study at UA.
This could be their financial safety as the net cost for each twin would be about $17k per twin.
Ok, I can understand your feelings. So how much are you willing to spend each year on each hardworking twin so that they don’t have to go to a school like you went to?