Anyone have luck appealing financial aid or merit money?

Appalled? The FA offers are based on thier calculation of need. If your parents do well, unless there are some other extenuating circumstances, they may not qualify for need based aid. Its a mixed blessing.

If your parents “do very well,” why would you expect someone else to pay for your college education?

Go ahead and appeal, and right away. And then you need to make a decision based upon what you can afford. All their hard work was NOT for nothing! Otherwise they wouldn’t have gotten those merit awards at some very good schools, and you’d be looking at paying nearly full price for those schools, versus living at home and attending the local branch of the state college system.

They can still attend the very best graduate schools, and still become editor of the New York T,imes or clerk for supreme court justices.

BTW, my kid is very happy at UMass Amherst honors college, but kid is majoring in their arguably highest-ranked “boutique” program - Linguistics. The honors college campus is beautiful and quiet. The food is amazing. They gave credit for every AP and college course kid had ever taken, which meant kid was a junior by end of first semester.

We are OOS for UMass. Kid was awarded max merit for OOS. We tried very hard to get more, got the backing of the department in our request, still got no more merit aid. Kid says they know another family that tried the same, also did not succeed in getting more merit.

@parentologist You are so right. My girls have been so fortunate to have gotten anything anywhere and to have gotten in some great schools. I am still relatively new to New England (s you would know if you read the comments where I fully inserted my foot into my mouth and offended a few people who put me right in my place and then some), and I just recently started looking at UMass Amherst…it is GORGEOUS! What a great school/campus/location! And I heard linguistics is #2 in the country right behind MIT. We would qualify for the reciprocal tuition break there if either of my girls wanted to major in that or something not offered at URI. I’m hoping they want to go up this long weekend instead of BU admitted students day…$150,000 a year for the next four years for the two of them at BU is AB-SURD! Thanks for the extra info on Umass! By the way, what is the max OOS merit?

was 14 K/yr last yr

@twinmom71, something to keep in the back of your mind is that your S May well wish to attend the same or similar U as twins in 4 years, so be sure there are assets for his U as well.

One data point—we did appeal S’s merit aid award and showed the merit award he got from a competitor U. The U claimed it didn’t match merit aid but was willing to increase S’s merit aid by $2500/yr for 4 years.

D decided to apply to that same U as a transfer. She was accepted and full-pay. We didn’t have the heart to tell her she couldn’t attend the same U her brother was happily attending. It was rough when both were attending st the same time plus we were paying our mortgage and very high cost of living.

which is a little more than the new england discount - it’s a better deal if you can get max OOS merit.

@parentologist…we did get the $14k. Can you then get the NE discount as well? I am not sure if the majors will work but just wondering. I can of course call the school. Thanks!

No, you cannot stack the 14 K on top of the NE discount. That’s the most I’ve ever heard of anyone getting for merit aid OOS. Did they get commonwealth honors college?

We have felt that with the honors college and strong program in Linguistics, it’s a perfect fit. Kid is really very happy there. Plus they gave a LOT of credit for APs and college classes kid took in senior year, so that kid entered with over a year of credit. Kid is chewing through classes at such a rate that theoretically could finish in two years total - but of course will stay at least three, probably four. Just will probably graduate with at least a major and two minors, maybe even double major and a minor.

As for the majors issue, remember that they have access to the 5 college consortium. But my kid is so busy, doesn’t have time to take the bus to the other campuses, except maybe Amherst, which is really close by. Not currently an issue, but may be an issue next year, when an advanced class kid wants is only offered at Smith or Holyoke. A car would help, but not feasible.

Yes @parentologist…both got into the honors college. We are hoping to head up Friday for a peak around. I know it’s a holiday weekend but running out of time!

We only live a little over an hour away, and my kid is not coming home for the holiday because kid is SO busy. Took 6 hard classes, totally swamped. Make sure you get a look inside an honors freshman dorm - Oak is one of them. And go eat at one of the big dining halls on campus because the food is really, really good. Feels like being at a cruise ship buffet, only a lot healthier. There’s an excellent gym right next to the honors college. If you call admissions tomorrow, perhaps you can have them go sit in on a class or two in their intended majors. And they can probably get you a tour of the campus and an honors dorm. If you’re active in a particular religion, you might want to have them pay a visit to the campus center for that religion.

I think that my kid would have been better off at an Ivy that had good linguistics, such as Penn, because kid’s intellectual level is a better match with those at an Ivy or such. But the reality was that we could not afford it, yet we knew we would not get financial aid. Kid is not snooty, but says that wishes more of the students around were superbright. . But kid has found a group of very smart like-minded nerds, mostly in the honors college (which has some 3000 students). They all pretty much have similar stories - belonged at an Ivy, chose to attend UMass honors because of money, and/or didn’t get into an Ivy.

For us, the choice was so obvious that I didn’t even let kid apply to the private schools. I think a lot of upper middle class families are in the same boat. The competition to get into the honors college is going up every year.