Hello. What is the procedure of appealing a financial aid decision given that another school gave me more money? What kind of information would I need to include in the letter to the financial aid office?
First…the name of the other school. Second, the amount they gave you vs the amount you received from the target school. Third, a scan of the actual financial aid award from the other school.
But before you do all of this…are you comparing apples to apples? If your state flagship gave you a full tuition merit award, but Cornell gave you only need based aid and a lot less…you probably won’t get too far because Cornell doesn’t give merit awards…and your flagship is not likely viewed as a peer school.
Is the other school a peer school? if the other school is not considered a peer school, it does not matter what you got.
Is one your home state public university vis an OOS public university/ If yes, it will not matter.
DId you get a financial aid award based solely on need or is there also merit $$ included.
Does the other school only give need based aid? IF yes, it does not matter what you got in merit money.
Is there something that you think the school did not take into consideration: loss of job of one of your parents? One of your parents passed since the time you applied for college? Large unreimbursed medical expenses? If it is simply that your parents don’t want to pay the EFC, that is not the basis for a financial review.
The schools I’m referring g to are Stanford and Harvard. Stanford has the parents’ contribution at $9000, Harvard has it at $0. If it matters, I am an international student.
You posted this a few years ago. If you are a green card holder, and live in the U.S. You are a domestic applicant, I believe…not international. Are you a green card holder? Please clarify? Or are you sharing this account with someone else?
My guess is that home equity has something to do with this award. Does your family own a home?
Stanford determined your financial need before,they made an admissions decision.,they are need aware for international students.
Harvard, I believe, is need blind for all accepted students…and has much more generous need based aid policies than Stanford.
But give it a whirl. You will need to provide Stanford with a copy of the Harvard award. In your communications, you want to state that Stanford is your number one choice,mand you are prepared to commit to attending if they can match or come very close to matching the Harvard award.
If you are not prepared to make that commitment statement in your letter for reconsideration, then go to Harvard.
Did either school actually give you an award letter yet?
@thumper1 No I do not have a green card, I’m 100% international. I think I asked that for a friend. Yes, my family does own a home but I doubt it’s at such a value to affect the aid award that much.
@sybbie719 I have an actual award from Stanford and an estimate from Harvard that I received in December. I receive Harvard’s official letter early next week but I hear estimates usually do not vat from actual awards.
I think you should wait until you have Harvard’s actual award in hand
Agree with Sybbie. Until you have an actual award from Harvard, you have nothing to present to Stanford.
@sybbie719 and @thumper1 I know that I can’t present Stanford with an estimate from Harvard and that I’d have to show them the official letter. My line of thought however was that I should find out everything that I need to do from now so that when I get Harvard’s official offer next week Wednesday, I could send off the appeal ASAP to Stanford.
You may find that your actual offer from Harvard isn’t higher…
At this point, you don’t know.
@thumper1 Don’t people’s estimates only change in the actual decision if some major event happened such as a parent getting a new job? The exact information that I submitted on commonapp in October is what was on all the forms that I had to submit in February. I understand that the actual award could actually vary, but do you believe that there is a high chance that it will?
There is no way to know your actual award until you receive it.
The common app is your admissions application, not your financial aid application.
The information on your CSS Profile will be what is used to determine your Harvard need based aid award.
Yes I meant the CSS profile and not the commonapp @Thumper1 I apologize for the error.
Go4…are you saying that your estimates for 2014 income and taxes paid done in October are penny for penny accurate to your actual filed 2014 tax form?
@thumper1 Yes that is correct. There is a wage freeze in my country ( has been for a few years).
Does your family own real estate? Your residence…or any other real estate?
@thumper1 Okay, Harvard’s official offer came in and yes, it remained the same. And yes, my family does own a 2nd residence but I don’t think it is worth that much to cause a boost of nearly $10,000/year in cost.
@sybbie719 I have all official award letters in hand now. What is the next step?
If your family has a second home, many schools consider all of the equity in that second home as available for college costs…because it is a choice to own a second piece of real estate.
Are you saying you think you should get need based aid so that your family can continue to own a second home?
The college is probably thinking that this second home is discretionary…and can be sold to fund college costs.
The second residence would only need have equity just less than $200,000 to add $10,000 to your family contribution…even if they only assessed at 5.6% like the FAFSA does. So really, that is likely the thing that is adding this $10,000 to your family contribution.