Merit Scholarships

glassharmonica
Sat, 23 Mar 2013 17:49:38 +0000

It is different for every school, and some do not accept appeals. What I did was to call and/or email the financial aid office and ask what their appeals process is. For some schools, it is a formalized process: they have an appeals form and instructions for you to follow. For other schools, you are on your own. I recommend giving them as much paper evidence as possible. I actually got letters from banks concerning loans, etc. I also wrote a detailed narrative and an outline/TOC to make the packet easy to follow. Maybe this was overkill; maybe they did not read it, but they did not complain, either. I went for as much transparency as possible, including telling them what scholarship aid our other kids had and what our tuition bills are. In other words, I gave them a very clear and organized stack of papers. And then faxed and hand-delivered copies.

Remember, when you appeal, you need to ask for a realistic amount. How to pick “realistic”? You could ask for the same amount awarded by a comparable or “more selective” (academically, in the case of a university, as the FA department will probably not care about theater.) The point of financial aid is (alas!) not to make it easy, only possible. If you have a good income and credit, you will be expected to borrow against your future with in a reasonable limit. Only a very few can pay for private college out of current funds or savings. I understand this now better than I did years ago: no one asked me to have four kids and then to send them all to college; this is our choice and we need to pay for it. We don’t have piles of cash, but we have earning power and credit, and it is reasonable that we be expected to use it for this education that we have chosen-- just as if we had instead chosen to spend it on a housing, autos, vacations, etc.

In some cases (this is more common in music conservatories, but can happen for theater programs) it may be possible to ask the department to advocate for your child to the FA department. If that seems like a possibility, of course it should be your son or daughter who approaches the faculty with whom she or he has an ongoing correspondence. Contrast this with the communications with the FA department, which should be done by the parent. IMO, the only department of the college of university we parents should speak with is Financial Aid.

I think it is also important to genuinely express that this is your child’s first choice school, and that only finances prevent an immediate acceptance. It can take until April 30 to get and answer, so hold on tight. I still remember where I was when I found out that D4’s appeal had been accepted and that she would be able to attend her first choice program. I was in the middle of a ride-through car wash, and my cell phone with a call telling us to check her financial aid portal to “view” her revised statement.

Acting720-- your appeal idea seems entirely reasonable-- to ask them to meet his best merit offer. Good luck to you!