<p>S had two top choice schools. We appealed his initial aid packages to both. </p>
<h1>1 came through with a little bit more in merit aid, but not a lot. We never heard from School #2, which is considered a better school all around, but very urban and not quite as good a fit for S. We went ahead and sent the deposit for School #1.</h1>
<p>Tonight I checked one last time. Surprise. School #2 has increased his grant aid by a ton.</p>
<p>Does anyone think we have any chance at all of getting School #1 to increase his aid again, considering the deposit has already been sent? School #2 would cost $15,000/year less than School #1! It's very frustrating that this turns up on a Friday night, on the eve of the deadline! Any advice would be welcome.</p>
<p>I think it’s very unlikely, but worth making a phone call first thing Monday morning. Will the $15K/year change his decision? It’s too bad this happened on the eve of April 30th…good luck with the decision!</p>
<p>School #2 would cost $15,000/year less than School #1! It’s very frustrating that this turns up on a Friday night, on the eve of the deadline!</p>
<p>Wow…It makes you wonder if this was some kind of strategy on their part. Award the money late so you wouldn’t have time to ask another school to match it.</p>
<p>Since you still have the option to go to school #2, then it would seem like you could still ask school #1.</p>
<p>Who knows - maybe the last minute thing is a strategy – if so, it might work for them!</p>
<p>Also at that school, it took forever – more than three weeks from the time he was admitted, and weeks after other students had gotten their FA packages – for them to send his. By then he had further solidified his preference for School 1, which did give him moderate merit aid ($20,000 year), but no other grants, few loans, no work study, and an otherwise lousy FA package. We’ll be paying about twice our EFC.</p>
<p>For that amount of money he should probably just go to now-more-affordable, higher ranked School 2, but… it’s a very urban campus (no real campus), many wealthy students, city nightlife, and academically more competitive (maybe too competitive) . Just wish his first choice school could meet us halfway with a better package, but am afraid I tend to agree with sk8trmom – they’re probably going to say “tough luck.” It’s just hard to believe there can be such huge discrepancies in need-based aid.</p>
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<p>It is, isn’t it? Schools don’t really think of themselves as charities, by which I mean they don’t really try to make it affordable for everyone to attend. They use their non-federal financial aid to attract students that will make them look good. They have a limited amount of money and tons of needy students, so they spread it around in the best way to get the students they want most. So you might get more “need-based” aid from a school that loves your son but much less “need-based aid” from a school that only likes your son as a friend. And you might get even less from an out-of-state public who has committed its limited resources to in-state students and is only flirting with your son in the hopes of getting a free drink.</p>
<p>(The dating metaphor is pretty awkward, but you get what I mean, right?)</p>
<p>Sadly, yes, I get it!<br>
The weird thing is that S was almost surprised to get into the school that is now offering him so much aid (though at the last minute). I have a feeling they must have a much bigger budget to work with.</p>
<p>Probably. They might be more expensive, or have a larger endowment to spread around than the other one. Or they might have waited so long because some of the students that they had admitted didn’t enroll so they had more money freed up to give to the students who were on the fence.</p>