<p>I apologize if this thread exists already, but this new format makes it difficult to search, IMO. Wondering if anyone has any positive experience in challenging an initial FA award decision? Any thoughts, suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>To clarify, we received an FA award that we feel is not sufficient enough based on our PFS and other information provided (I know everyone probably feels that way!). I just wanted to see if anyone has been successful in getting their initial awards increased and, if so, some advice on how best to go about it. Thanks!</p>
<p>CroissantMiser: I’m sorry that you were offered less than what you need. As you implied, this happens to many families. I hope that you understand that you will be appealing, rather than challenging, the FA decision. Not sure if your wording corresponds to the way you are thinking about this. It’s important to remember, as you approach this, that FA is a gift, not an entitlement. I do hope that things work out for your family.</p>
<p>When we were going through this DD had a bunch of acceptances with a range of 0 to 50% FA. One school (a well known “wealthy” school) had offered no FA but when we advised that she wouldn’t be attending due to receiving FA elsewhere the AO (who was a big fan of my kid) asked for a copy of the FA letters with school names blacked out and said they would reconsider. It wasn’t DD’s first choice school but I think it was definitely appeal-able. YMMV based on the school’s budget and other less tangible factors.</p>
<p>Cameo…i wasn’t meaning to offend with the word choice of “challenging” vs. “appealing.” I understand it is a gift and i’m not being disrespectful of the generousity. I’m only reaching out to see if any veterans have successfully “appealed” their initial rewards and, if so, what worked for them. </p>
<p>Croissant! I might have overreacted. I’m a bit hypersensitive to FA issues these days. Thanks for clarifying. All best wishes.</p>
<p>No worries…I completely understand. This is my first time down this road as a parent and i really appreciate all the support on this site. It has helped a great deal. I’m probably being greedy by asking for more help!</p>
<p>To return to the original query, yes. We appealed a FA decision to one school at which GG was accepted (the year before last), and sent supplementary information that the school reviewed and they did increase their award (it was not the school GG ultimately chose, btw). Many schools are willing to review the award if the family is willing to provide more information, including a detailed family budget. If it feels invasive, well… it is. But it is also fair if you are asking a school for tens of thousands of dollars <strong>a year</strong> in FA. </p>
<p>Not all schools will review offers, and there are parents on this board who can also share their experiences in “digging deeper” to cover the cost of their children’s prep school education. Which is not to say you should, were the FA office unwilling to review your appeal—just that you could.</p>
<p>^^ Let me get this straight. You had the school re-calculate their FA award to you, and then you didn’t go!!! WOW…</p>
<p>Yes. We had the good fortune to have options. And in order to decide between the top two, each of which was a “first choice,” if you will, we needed to know whether we could afford to think about it in terms of choice. We were not just playing games. We were <em>strongly</em> considering both and we made it clear to the one we asked about adjusting. The gap was small, but it was significant enough for us as a middle class family to feel it was worth asking. And we DID have other options. </p>
<p>I would not recommend such an approach to anyone who just wanted, for example, to see how far they could push it. But it sounds like the original poster had an acceptance with FA… just not enough to attend. So it is worth jumping through the hoops if they want to (or want their child to) attend a particular school.</p>
<p>That said, many schools will NOT adjust their offers, but WILL work with parents to figure out how they can do it. Sometimes, sacrifices must be made. There are a number of threads on the CC boards that address this. I recommend the OP, and anyone else who comes across this, do a search on the various FA threads.</p>
<p>I didn’t intend this post to get personal and I’m certainly aware of sacrifices that we could make as a family, etc. This was merely an inquiry to see if there were any success stories out there as far as “appealing” a FA award and getting it increased, that is all. It wasn’t meant to cast aspersions in any direction nor to imply that we are an “ungrateful” family…quite the contrary! </p>
<p>This board has proven to be a valuable resource as a newbie to this process and all I wanted was some tangible, grounded feedback on the practicality of my post. I completely understand that it’s a sensitive topic, especially now, so if I offended anyone, I apologize–but please understand that we are NOT ungrateful in any way and understand we are fortunate to have an admission and a FA offer on the table.</p>
<p>@CroissantMiser, hey, I don’t think anyone thinks you are ungrateful! You are trying to do the best by your child and explore every option. I was actually replying to the (in my view) somewhat snide comment by Jersey386. It was not helpful in furthering the conversation. </p>
<p>There is absolutely nothing wrong with advocating on behalf of your student and your family. Yes, bs is a privilege. But schools also want strong students. And you were accepted with <strong>some</strong> FA, so the school recognizes that need exists. Whether they didn’t give as much as you think you need because they don’t have enough more to give, or they don’t think you need as much as you think (or know) you need, can only be answered by contacting the school. </p>
<p>It occurs to me that this might also be helpful. In addition to the two schools that offered “enough” FA and the one that offered “almost enough” (and that we successfully appealed), there was one school that offered “not nearly enough” FA, and, because we had other options, we didn’t pursue much further. I did, however, call the FA office at that school, explain that their FA offer was basically the reverse of all our others (in ratio of what we would pay vs. what the school would cover), and ask how they calculated. The reply was helpful, if not satisfactory, and it did not take into account local economic factors. FWIW, it was also the school with the lowest endowment, and a smaller percentage of students on FA.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.I encourage you (and anyone else in the same situation) to ask, if it is a school that your child really wants to attend. Be prepared with facts and figures, and extenuating circumstances that might not have fit into the neat boxes of the PFS. I also think people need to understand that it’s a coin toss whether any individual school will be able to come up with more money - there are just too many factors to guess. </p>
<p>Best of luck and let us know how it goes.</p>
<p>I think it all comes down to being respectful of the fact that whether the school gives you $2k or $20k, they are paying your child to attend, and no one owes anyone a BS education. ( @CroissantMiser, I think it’s pretty clear to everyone that you fall into this category, so I don’t think any defensiveness is directed at you).</p>
<p>But I think those of so who are so very dependent on the FA piece do get our backs up (at least I will admit to being super defensive). I have seen too many people (both on these boards and IRL) completely and mistakenly equate what they are willing to pay with what they are able to pay. </p>
<p>If the PFS says you can pay 30k and remain in the black, but you only ‘wanted’ to spend 20k, and then you get your FA package and it’s all but 30k…would you honestly call the school and say, “can you keep that money from being available to another FA applicant so that I can keep taking that extra vacation each year”? Because that’s essentially what you’re asking. I think it’s important to have some awareness of that. </p>
<p>I think for any of us whose kid might be that other FA kid (and who are very willingly eating pasta and cereal 5 days a week in order to make the BS dream happen), we’re a little snippy about hearing that story and being sympathetic to it. </p>
<p>But I agree with @girlgeekmom that this is COMPLETELY different from a situation where you appeal your FA to say, “here’s what you can’t tell by looking at my PFS, and therefore we really can’t afford it without more aid.” I think it’s perfectly valid to have those conversations with FA offices. </p>
<p>I suspect that for FA officers, the most powerful piece of information that resonates is an FA offer from another school.</p>
<p>Anything else is highly subjective, difficult to verify, and doesnt provide the complete picture (Sure, I am taking care of my ailing parents, but what I am not telling you is that my wealthy brother who lives overseas covers all their medical bills)</p>
<p>Just read a pretty illuminating article in another post from today New York Times money section on FA at boarding and day schools. Principals in admissions and FA offices discuss nuts and bolts of what they consider. Might be helpful to OP.</p>
<p>Yes was just going to suggest the same - it is at the end of the “ramblings” thread in “parents” They interview the FA director at Tabor and he says the one absolute no-no is to ask them to match another school’s offer which was something I hadn’t heard before, and surprised me a little. (although I can imagine how some parents could try to create a bidding war which would be really awful and ungracious - I know it would happen here in NJ! )However both FA directors interviewed seem to suggest that conversations regarding awards are common. </p>
<p>We were in last year’s cycle and also were not offered any FA -as many of you are discovering, there are many more kids accepted who need aid than there is aid to give out and we had no hook to push us into the right pile. I attended several FA information sessions at different schools and I think every school said that if the award was problematic they wanted to hear from families. There are no promises that the award will change, but I am sure the school would like to know that the goalie they really wanted is unable to enroll due to FA on the off chance that the goalie that got a fullride is off to Taft and they now really need your “backup” goalie - at least if money does become available schools will know that you are still eager for a spot and what you need to make it possible to attend. </p>
<p>Apologies to @Jersey386 in advance in case I’m misunderstood- Jersey poke is not intended to be directed at you at all - we live in NJ too and I didn’t even make that connection with your user name till post post </p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s input. It’s greatly appreciated. As mentioned previously, incredibly appreciative that we were accepted somewhere and given some FA, but based on the budget i formulated in preparation for this day, it would be an incredibly tough cover at the proposed out of pocket. I understand “ramen noodle budgets, etc” too, believe me…we will figure it out and i will certainly take the prevailing advice of preparing a case for increased aid that is thoughtful, respectful, honest and fair and then let the chips fall where they may!</p>
<p>Not ramen noodles, but farmers’ markets and beans and rice! 
</p>
<p>Just kidding. </p>
<p>kind of…</p>
<p>Beans OR rice! </p>