<p>I am requesting a review of my financial aid package at one school. If I have received a significantly better need-based package from another school, how should I bring this up politely and discreetly in the appeal letter? How should I word it? I don’t want to seem rude. </p>
<p>The second school is slightly lower ranked, but I think it is a peer school. I can PM the names to you if you want.</p>
<p>Just bring it up straight up. If the school is seriously competing for you against other schools, then they should have no trouble increasing their FA to entice you.</p>
<p>We did it not-so-discretely…</p>
<p>We reiterated that we felt strongly their school was the BEST fit for our daughter but were troubled by the discrepencies in cost compared to other offers. We pointed out that tuition, room and board at each of her top choices were similar (quoted the numbers without naming the schools) then simply closed with something like: </p>
<p>“Please consider this humble request for re-evaluation. We hope you find it is possible offer additional grants/scholarships to narrow the $XXXX per year difference we’re facing during our dicision process.”</p>
<p>So… The whole concept that financial aid is negotiable has been widely blown out of context, over generalized, and frankly, dangerously encouraged over the last decade.</p>
<p>More so today, many colleges and universities are adopting and falling in line with nationally recognized non-compete & ethical compliance policies regarding this very subject.</p>
<p>To expect a family to receive an offer of assistance from a school, to then negotiate for additional aid plays head games with students, is counterproductive, and counterintuitive… Not to mention, it turns administrators at reputable institutions into the higher education equivalent of a used car salesman.</p>
<p>I currently work at a university that for many years, in conjunction with hundreds of U.S. colleges and universities, has voluntarily chosen to freeze the aid offer of any student who revealed to a university representative an aid offer (or difference in net cost) from a competing university. In some cases, this means the student becomes ineligible to receive aid he/she qualifies to receive, but perhaps had not yet been packaged for.We always attempt to award a student the most aid he/she is eligible for the first time around.</p>
<p>My advice: find out a school’s individual policy. Ask an admissions counselor, “were i to share my aid offer with you from another school, could it be used in reconsideration of my current offer from your school for additional aid?” That is a legitimate and safe way to investigate an institutions ability to negotiate.</p>
<p>EduXpert, I have never heard of this. What is the name of this consortium? (We are also an academic family and had no problem asking school B if the would match school A’s offer. They did, no quibbling or real discussion involved.)</p>
<p>What school is this? Some schools out and out want to know if there is a difference in financial aid award. I would want to know if I were a financial aid counselor if I gave out a need package to a student and a peer school that supposedly uses the exact same methodology came up with a radically different number. I would want to make sure I did not make a mistake. Some schools openly will tell you that they will negotiate, such as Carnegie Mellon University.</p>
<p>Many schools just might be interested if some students that they truly want are hedging because of a difference in financial or merit aid. My son received a small merit award from his first choice school and wanted to go there but the the cost was still above the absolute maximum we were willing to pay, and he had an ivy league choice that was within the parameters. It was definitely of interest to admissions to hear that if the gap could be closed, he would attend their school. They asked for proof and then doubled his merit award.</p>
<p>Many schools are in fierce competition for students. Perhaps you work at a state school that is not or a highly selective private that has more than enough students wiling and able to pay. In such cases, you can afford to be lofty in refusing to listen appeals. But for some schools, the inclusion of another $2500 in grant and a couple thousand in work study might make the difference in netting some highly valued students. These schools have to practice enrollment management, and financial aid and scholarships play a large role in this. In such scenearios, I would have the heads of any arrogant admissions or financial aid officers that cost the school the type of student that they are seeking to get. </p>
<p>I’ve never heard of any school that has your policy. Which schools do? I want to verify that such policy exists.</p>
<p>in Post #4: " . . . to then negotiate for additional aid plays head games with students, is counterproductive, and counterintuitive… Not to mention, it turns administrators at reputable institutions into the higher education equivalent of a used car salesman."</p>
<p>“Disctretely” mention? Was real straightforward for us. </p>
<p>other schools on The Accepted List #were 5-15k net less than #1 school.</p>
<p>We (actually, wifely, who is our “Closer”) asked if School #1 could add merit aid. Turns out they have a formal financial aid re-evaluation process; we entered it, talked about the great fit of our kid with the school and asked school to help tip the decision to school #1. It worked. They were happy to close the deal.</p>
<p>Kid was fully on board, since we’d been clear that we could only go up to a certain amount of money.</p>
<p>Part of US culture includes being uncomfortable with dickering over money, which gives awesome advantages to list price sellers. </p>
<p>Bargaining is NOT a matter of manners that “puts” anyone in a social category; it’s a business interaction that recognizes mutual benefits: the college gets to fulfill their “yield” and I get to borrow less money for college :-)</p>
<p>I think it would be a mistake not mention a discrepancy in awards if it is what is making the decision for one school over another. There are many schools that are “rivals” for the same student pool. If a student has a preference for college A over B, but A’s package is a $10K difference and when all is put on the table, that’s what makes B the better choice, I think the student is doing a favor to A to let them know. </p>
<p>My son has two schools in that situation. $10k over 4 years would be the deal breaker. A third school that was not in the picture has usurped the first place spot with a $50K+ (over 4 years) merit award. I doubt either of the two schools will even come close to matching that even though i think the schools are all similar in rankings and type. If the difference were closer, and son truly preferred one of the schools, we would certainly call and let them know. </p>
<p>I guess this is a good question to ask those who are in financial aid and admissions. If a student clearly wants to go to your school over a similar school, would you want him/her to let you know that the obstacle is the difference in cost due to an award?</p>
<p>^Agreed. Better still, whether they (fa) WANT to know or not, wouldn’t one want to know that they had done everything in their power to facilitate the viability of going to the first-choice school? There is nothing unethical about honestly communicating need if it is done respectfully. </p>
<p>So, in response to the OP’s actual question, you could word it this way:</p>
<p>“XXX remains my first choice school but due to fiscal constraints within my family and a much more competitive offer from a peer school (name amount, if not the school re: confidentiality) we’re not certain XXX school remains a viable financial option. Are the any other opportunities for merit awards for which I might apply or a process for review of my need-based aid package in which I can engage prior to the May 1st deadline? Are there additional circumstances about our family’s financial situation which could assist in the reconsideration of my package? Please understand that I appreciate your generosity and the time and attention you have given our file. I did not want to decide in the favor of the second choice school without first investigating whether or not there were ways to make my attendance at X viable, and will appreciate any guidance you can supply.”</p>
<p>I am very skeptical of post #4 – to the extent that I think it is deliberate misinformation.</p>
<p>Some colleges will look at offers from competing schools, others won’t. If they won’t, they usually tell you so – sometimes on the financial aid page of their web site. You can always simply ask if there is a process for review or appeal, and what factors they will consider. </p>
<p>Any university that would “freeze” an award as punishment for “disclosure” of another college’s award would be acting extremely arbitrarily and unethically, because obviously for need based awards, there may be clear factors that one college has taken into consideration and another has missed. </p>
<p>I also believe that the claim in post #4 that “hundreds of U.S. colleges and universities [have] voluntarily chosen to freeze the aid offer of any student who revealed to a university representative an aid offer (or difference in net cost) from a competing university” would be a very clear anti-competitive practice in blatant violation of US anti-trust and anti-price-fixing laws. So I am skeptical not only because the practice described would be illegal, but also because if it were happening, I can’t believe that any current employee would be stupid enough to disclose that practice on a public internet board. See <a href=“http://www.nber.org/digest/nov00/w7754.html[/url]”>http://www.nber.org/digest/nov00/w7754.html</a></p>
<p>We made actual copies of the better financial aid offer from a competitive school and took that in person and gave it to the financial aid office at DDs number one choice school. There really is no point in being “discreet”. If you want the school to up your aid because of a competitive offer from elsewhere, you need to SHOW them that competitive offer, in my opinion. Even with that…some schools will NOT negotiate their aid offers and some will. YMMV.</p>
<p>If a private school A offers full tuition plus fees as a scholarship ($34K yr) plus a work study of 2.5 k and another competing school B offers a full ride (tuition, fees, room and board) is it appropriate to request an appeal? We have modest means but have saved and are not trying to be greedy. At the same time grad school is on the horizon. Any advice is appreciated. We really like school A better and feel room and board is doable with some loans. Our EFC is 5K.</p>
<p>^Don’t see any harm in asking and referencing the full ride, but if the schools are not exactly peers, that may carry little weight. If the environments and rigor are remotely comparable and the student is the type to thrive in any environment and knows they’ll want to go to grad school, it would make sense to avoid the loan burden if possible. (Eg. undergrad locale diminishes in significance if the student can be accepted at a good grad program.) Even the “direct and unsubs only” loans add up to a repayment schedule of about $280 a month over 10 years – not a horrific amount but daunting enough to grad school students!</p>
<p>I see EduXpert has been back and posted on the Christian Colleges forum (though not here). I wonder if the schools he works with would fall into that category.</p>
<p>That would be a Christian response would it not, to yank the aid if the kid mentions another college name? Sheesh.</p>
<p>cpt, I hope you didn’t take it that I was criticizing the Christian colleges; I had noticed that half of his posts were in that forum. 
</p>
<p>I was the one being facetious. I was wondering what group of colleges would be so mean spirited to do what the poster was saying. It seems ironic to me if it turned out that those schools are the Christian ones. So, no, I don’t think you were criticizing at all. I’m the one that needs the saucer of milk.</p>
<p>That’s what I imagined, but I didn’t want to take a chance. (And I admit, I’d had a thought along those same lines.)</p>
<p>I actually wish that poster would come back and verify that comment, if it can be verified. I’d like to hear the rationale – and the names of the schools so we could blacklist them ;)</p>
<p>Just tried to negotiate with the University of Kentucky. I guess I will just scratch them off the list. They were the highest tuition and gave the least merit aid, and they will not budge. My kid is a pretty good student to. He really wanted to go there, he applied way back in June 2010. I guess they have such high acedemic standards they don’t need us.</p>