Please share strategies and successes regarding negotiating merit

[KaylaMidwest]

@kelsmom

What really bugged me, though - and it was an increasingly common ask by the time I left - were students who said they couldn’t afford it without a relatively large ask for dollars, I said that we couldn’t do it, and then they came, anyway. That DID make me feel as if OTHERS considered me a used car salesman. If you can’t or won’t come without a certain increase, make the ask & see what happens. But be honest.

I don’t know. That could have involved a hit to a retirement fund, a private loan or some other large financial risk. I don’t think it necessarily means a student is lying and the parents are sitting on a gold mine. It’s not a super uncommon scenario that people don’t understand the finances until relatively late in the process and feel like they need to make something work after encouraging their kids to reach for the stars.