<p>....my mom lost her job in a merger. My dad's business has been hit hard by the market.</p>
<p>I'm still waiting on financial aid offers from two more colleges, but the college I'd really love to attend replied w/ their offer and it's not looking like it's going to work.</p>
<p>Is it better to approach the college in person, by phone, fax, e.mail? The college is about a 5-hour drive from home. I know my mom isn't crazy about the expense of a trip like that- in all honesty we can't afford it right now.</p>
<p>Don’t listen to Ricey!
Don’t do that, they don’t like that at all.
I read an article on how to ask for more, but I don’t know where that article is anymore.
I’ll let you know if I find it.</p>
<p>I’m not an expert on this. I can only relate the experience I had a year ago. My son was in a similar situation last year. You won’t have much leverage to negotiate until you get your other offers, but for now you can ask for clarification . I sent an email to the FA person that started like this,</p>
<p>“My son, xxx, received his financial aid award notification a little over a week ago and I had a few questions about it. xxx is our first child to go off to college and this is the first financial aid notification we have received, so I am not familiar with some of the material and terms presented.”</p>
<p>I then had three questions that probably wouldn’t apply to you. If the the school is your top choice, say so, and express the hope that the financial aid will allow you to attend. Also, if you want to magnify the gap between EFC and the need met by the FA package (excluding loans), multiply it by the 4 years you will attend. Say something like, “if I understand this correctly it looks like I would need to borrow at least $XX,000 over 4 years. Is that right?”</p>
<p>After sending my email I got an email response from the FA person AND my son got a call from the admissions counselor he had talked to. Basically, they did not want to lose a good candidate. That was the good news. The bad news was that they didn’t change the FA package. A few weeks later he got his other acceptances and FA packages. He then went back and said it wasn’t going to happen for him without more aid. Finally on April 30, a day before deposits were due, the school came up with about $2000 more, but that was not enough and he chose not to enroll. My son was disappointed, but ended up at a school with much better FA, and 3/4 of the way through his 1st year is loving it and can’t imagine being anywhere else.</p>
<p>Good luck. I hope some others can provide additional help.</p>
<p>Send them a letter detailing the situation. I just did this and was able to get an increased financial aid package. </p>
<p>The financial aid counselor at my high school actually sent me a letter that someone else had used (with personal info removed) to request a revised financial aid package at the school she now attends. Would you like to see how she did it? I can email it to you.</p>
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