<p>Ok, so I am getting all kinds of wacky Fin Aid offers.</p>
<p>Hartwick college- 3000 in grants. work study 1800,
10000 merit, 3500 in fed loans</p>
<p>Clark U- 3500 in fed loans</p>
<p>Providence- 1000 grant, 3500 fed loans</p>
<p>Hobart and william smith- 20,000 in grants, 1800 work study, 3,000 in fed loans</p>
<p>Is there something wrong with that? Why did I get so much more at Hobart than I did at Providence, and Clark?
Aren’t they all in the same general ball park? </p>
<p>Should I try and negotiate with providence, which was my top choice?</p>
<p>Grants generally reflect the degree to which a college wants a particular student. Your schools may be “in the same general ball park” but each is looking for different applicant qualities to round out its class.</p>
<p>It’s still weird to me, Hobart was one of my reaches, and they gave me the most aid. I could see if it was Hartwick that gave me the most. </p>
<p>What do you think is the best way to ask my top choice if I could get more money. Should I say Hobart gave me so much and you didn’t give me anything or what?</p>
<p>“What do you think is the best way to ask my top choice if I could get more money. Should I say Hobart gave me so much and you didn’t give me anything or what?”</p>
<p>Financial aid officers know that everyone wants more money and most have a higher offer at a school they deem less desirable. Your best bet is to spend a couple of hours on the Hobart website and find reasons to love it.</p>
<p>Providence College says specifically, up front:
</p>
<p>Providence didn’t meet your demonstrated need. Hobart decided to come closer.</p>
<p>There’s no harm in calling Providence, but keep Hobart out of it; Providence won’t care. And unless you can show some change in circumstances from the time you applied, or something like an unforeseen expense or job loss that wasn’t reflected on the financial aid forms, don’t expect much to change.</p>
<p>dank, did you receive the 20,000 from Hobart in the form of merit aid, or was it truly a financial aid grant? I only ask because I think that they award nearly 1/4 of their freshmen about that much in merit aid.</p>
<p>Financial aid at one school has nothing to do with financial aid at another. The fact that the schools are “similar” is irrelevant. They may be similar in academics, but apparently not in financial aid. </p>
<p>Read the thread Happymom, some of the packages were far apart, but not nearly as far as 20k to 1k in grants. </p>
<p>I think it is bull that I did not at least get work study. I am going to have my parents call the aid office and see what’s up. I know not every school gives the same amount, but come on, that’s a huge difference. It’s worth a shot.</p>
<p>Is there a way to guarantee being an RA. If I could do that for two or three years it would help a lot. Free room and board(I think?) would help a lot.</p>
<p>Re: the differences in aid amounts…that is the way it is with the private schools. Remember, they are giving you THEIR money…(in addition to any federal money you may be getting). The school determines need based on any formula they choose to use…and the formulas vary from place to place.</p>
<p>HWS gave you more for a combination of reasons: they computed your need as higher, they felt that you would be a good addition to their incoming class, they have more institutional resources to allocate, they meet a higher %age of need than the others, because they wanted to.</p>
<p>Also…Isn’t Providence a Catholic college? In my limited experience, the financial aid grants from the Catholic colleges is limited.</p>