<p>Hey so I applied to U of M, got in, and I want to go there, but right now the financial aid office is only offering me the standard $5,500 loan that almost anybody can get. I'm in-state, but my parents are going to make about $90,000 this year, which is down from $102,000 last year. Unfortunately, I'm white too. I got a 32 on the ACT and had everything on my application (leadership, grades, etc.) but I didn't get any merit aid at all. Anyways, are there any special techniques for dealing with the financial aid office? If I don't get more aid then I won't be able to go.</p>
<p>Financial aid office likely won’t offer you more than that, they’ll expect your family to be able to deal with the tuition and if not, you’ll likely have to look for federal loans. With responsible planning, even with a sub six-figure income graduating with little to no debt is very feasible.</p>
<p>Actually, anybody CAN get that $5,500 loan a year because it’s the unsubsidized stafford loan, which isn’t need based. That’s likely all you’re going to get, unfortunately that’s just how it is. We make significantly less than your family and had a medical-related financial catastrophe in the year leading up to my acceptance, and they didn’t budge a bit for me. I doubt they will for you either. I encourage you to find a more inexpensive school so you don’t end up with massive student loans like I did-- it wasn’t worth it, at all, in the slightest, and in hindsight I’d prefer to have not gone to college at all than go to Michigan because of the expense. If you had the stats to get in at Michigan, surely you got scholarships somewhere?</p>
<p>Yeah, I have a presidential scholarship to Grand Valley. I suppose you’re right, graduating with crushing debt isn’t worth it.</p>
<p>Well this thread shows the dirty secret of the two Big Ten schools in Michigan. The secret is that they hardly give merit scholarships to anyone. Therefore, if your parents make a decent amount of money, then its loan time if you go to Michigan or Michigan State. Of course, I can see why U of M does this due to a large amount of top students and top in state students. However, it is somewhat surprising that MSU does not hand out more merit scholarships. </p>
<p>As for the OP, you could try and get into U of M or another top school for graduate school. GVSU is a good school in its own right.</p>
<p>Cry me a river. Your family is quite well off. Let the people who really need it get it.</p>
<p>gvnee89, MSU absolutely gives merit scholarships to those who deserve them, merit scholarships require just that though, merit. You will not get a merit scholarship to a school like Michigan state with a sub 3.9 GPA and sub 30 (or occasionally even higher) ACT, that puts you as an average attendee. Likewise, you will not obtain merit scholarships from UM because as a student YOU PROBABLY DON’T STAND OUT. This is a university with tens of thousands of students with stats just like you, so unless you have a >2300 and a 4.0, merit scholarships should not necessary be an expectation from a school like this. Schools like Harvard won’t even give these out in the first place, because there’s basically not a single person there who deserves it more than the next.</p>
<p>gv, like the poster above said, MSU hands out quite a bit of academic scholarships for top students. U of M attracts the cream of the crop so it’s quite difficult to give out merit to “top” students as most of them ARE top students. That’s why need-based aid is where is it for U of M.</p>