<p>I would like to appeal American for my financial aid. It is my first choice school and I was wondering what would be the best way to try for more. Letter/ written, phone, should I contact them or my parents, etc.?</p>
<p>Any other suggestions?</p>
<p>I had a nice conversation with an admin about this. You should call to discuss it first. If it is need based call financial aid office. if merit based call admissions and ask to speak to the admission person for your state. Be nice! S/he will tell you where to send the appeal and will advise you on what might be a good reason for appeal v what will not be good reasons. Surprisingly…saying “I got a better offer from xxx college” will not help you at all. (at least according to this nice lady.)</p>
<p>thanks! just wondering, are you a student or a parent?</p>
<p>The financial aid department is pretty good about increasing aid if you’re nice about it. Also, if you got Federal Work Study and run through your funds by say, the end of March – they’re good about increasing it. I just ran out of my work study funds a few weeks ago and they doubled it with a simple polite email.</p>
<p>@sjoy…I am a parent. But she did tell me that any FA appeal should come from the student.</p>
<p>I am a parent and I called a few weeks ago and asked about an appeal for special circumstances (loss of job). I was told to send a letter detailing the situation with verification documents. They never said it should come from the student but now I see that on the web page 
They responded within approx 3 weeks. They gave us nothing more, even with two children in college. Although my daughter received a $20,000 academic award, it is impossible to attend without additional funds.<br>
Look here for some info:</p>
<p>[Loss</a> of Income | Office of Financial Aid | American University, Washington, DC](<a href=“http://www.american.edu/financialaid/lossincome.cfm]Loss”>Loss of Income | American University, Washington, DC)</p>
<p>Yes, I was also wondering what is American’s policy regarding appeals. As it stands, I’m split between two schools, one offering me superb financial aid but being relatively removed from a major city, and American U, offering me the city of D.C. but only a modest amount of financial aid.
Does anyone know how I can approach the appeal process? I don’t think I can document new reasons for more aid, but without an increase in aid, I know American is not a realistic option.</p>
<p>Link to a NYT article about asking for more financial aid from the business section April 6:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/06/business/AP-US-Negotiating-College-Aid.html?scp=2&sq=financial%20aid&st=cse[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/06/business/AP-US-Negotiating-College-Aid.html?scp=2&sq=financial%20aid&st=cse</a></p>
<p>I don’t know about how college aid works or how it works specifically at American… but I do know that you can get a significant increase in aid if you ask.</p>
<p>I think the first year I was offered aid was like …5th grade. Anyways, they only offered $1000, which was nice… but not really enough. It got increased a bit.</p>
<p>My 10th grade year was about $4000 offered if I can recall. It might have been more. But anyways, my mother called and spoke with the admissions office and I ended up getting bumped up to $7500. Whatever it was… it was a significant enough difference that made it possible for me to continue my education in a private school.</p>
<p>If you want to appeal for financial aid you should contact them (FA) directly. They will likely need additional information above and beyond what you submitted previously.</p>
<p>Anyone else doing this?
The woman I spoke with today in the FA dept. said they would base their decision on the FAFSA and the only possibility for increased aid would be through loans only. She did not ask for any details about our situation. We cannot afford any more loans, and this seemed a bit black and white to me. Do they ever reconsider a student’s merit award? I’d like to think they actually look at requests on a case-by-case basis.</p>