<p>School A offers a nice sized merit scholarship (half tuition+), and even honors college program.</p>
<p>School B offers no merit scholarship, and no honors college.</p>
<p>Both definitely have the same type of student with the same sat midrange and gpa.
Just wondering if School B comes out to cost far more b/c there is no merit scholarship, but the sticker prices are equal, can one "negotiate" (I know-evil word) with school B in terms of getting the costs to be somewhat more equal, if they understand that without it, you could never choose them. School B's financial aid package does not approach School A's offer (based on the merit aid). School B will not offer a "merit scholarship" through the admissions office. They obviously determine who has earned a merit scholarship very differently, and I won't even bother debating that.</p>
<p>Yes you can politely ask School B to reconsider their aid package, suggesting maybe you need to clarify something for them that you were unclear about, since Comparable School A must have seen something School B didn't. This isn't the N-word, but merely making sure all the facts are clear for School B's analysis.</p>
<p>dt123, thanks. I can see how you can do this if the difference is financial aid determined by institutional methodology, but if the difference is b/c of merit aid (none at school B, and half tuition + at school A) can something still be done? I figured if they are both fafsa schools, then financial aid has to be based on federal methodology, with nothing determined using institutional methodology. I think the only way B could offer more money is through "merit aid". Is this accurate? I get the feeling that School A weighs sat scores much more heavily than school B. School B has a sat minimum, but really looks at the gpa. Does a school like B try to add merit aid to make them financially somewhat competitive in such a case, even though they did not think the student earned it in the first place, or would they rather lose the student to the other school? The difference over 4 years is well over $50,000.</p>
<p>If I understand the question correctly, ( two merit aid granting Fafsa only schools and a student who "qualifies" for merit aid at one and not the other, will the school B negotiate to match the merit aid granted or awarded by its competitor school A?), I'd say it is very unlikely. Sorry. (But I'd try it anyway.Somebody has to be first, right?)</p>
<p>Don't confuse merit aid with need based aid. Fafsa and IM have nothing to do with awarding merit aid (actually they do ,under the table or surreptitiously IMO, but not in this particular instance).</p>
<p>Schools are very jealous about the merit aid awarded and the reasons they award it (be it minimum requirements of SAT/ACT, GPA, rank, whatever). Arguing about why the standards are what they are will get you nowhere. If the question had been phrased to ask about need aid or between competing merit award levels I'd say "Yes. I have heard of that happening.", more for the former than the latter. But when a student gets zero at one school and half tuition+ at another? I haven't heard of any successful negotiations in that particular instance BUT if merit aid is essential for attendance, what do you lose by asking?</p>
<p>I'd give it shot, but in the way suggested on the board-"I'd really like to attend B as y'all are my first choice but A has awarded me X, and it's just not feasible for my family financially. Can anything be done?" </p>
<p>Thanks Curmudgeon. Would you contact the financial aid office or the admissions office in such a case? I ask b/c admissions is the office that determines merit aid. I would think the financial aid office's hands are tied, but I could be wrong. I would wait until all merit and financail aid offers are in, as we are still waiting for some. So far merit aid was offered at 3 schools. S is not set on any one school, which is great. We really are in a position to compare offers. I prefer school B, but not that much that I am willing to spend over 50,000 more. Additionally, there are other choices, besides A and B which we will need to consider once all merit and financial aid is awarded. BTW, what do you mean by schools being jealous of merit aid awards?</p>
<p>Northeastmom ~ please to let us know how it turns out. I'm trying to do something different right now, and I'd like to hear how any dollar-related discussions are going for others. I'm not getting a lot of traction on my issue, but it's a different one from yours. It just seems like the admission office doesn't listen too well...</p>
<p>Oops, yeah, I see now OP was talking about merit aid not need aid. Not much room to n******** an award like that. Kind of like an actor negotiating for an Academy Award that someone else got.</p>
<p>You can still check though that they had the correct information for consideration. I did that once for an honors program that I thought DS2 would surely qualify for but hadn't. Called an admissions officer in the dept. and said would you mind double-checking that he does not make the cut? I could hear keyboard sounds in the background and then the comeback, yeah he did not qualify. So that was that.</p>
<p>dt123's experience has been repeated already a couple times that I'm aware of already this cycle. </p>
<p>What I so illiterately tried to say was that schools that grant merit aid think their way rewards what they want to reward in an applicant and the fact that another school wants to reward something else is unlikely to sway them.</p>
<p>Curmudgeon and dt123, this makes sense to me. Obviously different criteria is being looked at for the merit awards. This is a good reason to apply to more rather than less school.</p>
<p>While it is important to look at merit from the front end (what school A is offering vs what school B is offering) it think that it is also extremely important to find about the fine print behind each of the merit offers to see if it is something you can live with. Let your sense of paranoia run wild. List every possible scenario and see if your questions will be sufficiently answered.</p>
<p>Does the scholarship have to be renewed each year or is the money given automatically each year?</p>
<p>Is it renewable for the same amount of money each year?</p>
<p>What are the gpa requirements to keep the scholarship?</p>
<p>Is it based on semester, or by year?</p>
<p>IS the GPA requirement a phase in process (2.75 first term, 3.0 after the end of the first year and gradually going up)? </p>
<p>Is the GPA requirement lowered for a "hard core" major (ex. engineering)</p>
<p>Considering your son's major, dothe 2 of you think this wil be an onerous GPA to maintain?</p>
<p>What kind of saftey net is in place should your son have a difficult semester?</p>
<p>Is there a minimum amount of credits that the student must register for?</p>
<p>What happens if he drops a class?</p>
<p>If son does not meet GPA requirement, is the scholarship lost immediately?</p>
<p>Should scholarship be lost is there a provision for scholarship to be renewed upon raising the GPA?</p>
<p>Is the scholarship conditional on being in specific major?</p>
<p>Thanks Sybbie, that is very good advice. I have wondered if these scholarship requirements are attainable for most students, or are there as a lure that last for one semester. A friend of mine has a D who received one and the gpa required is 3.5 as a freshman!! Her D actually was able to meet the 3.5, but it was close!</p>