She should wait until spring after all of the RD results are in.
As @janjmom mom stated, merit money is a function of admissions not financial aid and she should be contacting admissions. Daughter should only be contacting them if this is truly her number one first choice and she will definitely attend.
I think that the parent should take a back seat for the moment.
The one person who may be the true advocate for your daughter will most likely be the guidance counselor, especially if s/he has a relationship with the regional admissions person at the college (which is the person who should be contacted not general admissions). The GC can talk about upward trends and reiterate to the college how student matches up to the school.
They will also most likely get the frank feedback from the regional admissions rep and will/can dispel any concerns that the school may have regarding your daughter’s commitment to the school.
@ClarinetDad16 the other front runner school is considered a “peer school” on the graphic that I saw here on CC (it was a few years old) and they are very similar in size and demographics. The other school is “ranked” a bit higher although I would say they are in the same ranking range.
@sybbie719 I also appreciate the advice about timing. My H and I talked this morning and we think that we will all go back for a visit. That D17 is so upset and is not letting this one go is an indication of how highly she thought that she fit with this school—highlighted by the fact that she talked it out with her GC who she has had not interactions with outside of her college search. I do think that we may inquire about having her GC make the first contact. She was the one that first indicated that there might be an error and also that the school was eager to appeal to kids from our region.
If the low award was due to mistake or perceived low enrollment chances, contacts by the GC and the student and another visit would all be helpful and lay some groundwork.
But when it comes time to actually try to close the deal, the kid really needs to strongly and truthfully communicate that an increased award will assure enrollment.
If it is merit, it is the admissions office, not FA. My daughter asked me to handle all the financial aid stuff as she was too confused to do it. She did not know the NPC amounts, she didn’t know my income or taxes or how much her sister’s school cost, how much I contributed to a 401k. I called the FA office and they referred me to admissions.
I called and said I didn’t understand why the NPC said she’d get $X, and the offer was $5k per year lower. Oh, using the wrong scores to calculate merit aid. Easy fix, didn’t have to promise to go to that school, didn’t have to compare it to other offers.
It depends on the school. Years ago, my daughter’s offer of a merit award from one school arrived from the university’s “President of Enrollment Management” – I gave them credit for their transparency in stating their agenda. The award was not sufficient but the school was a backup so we never followed up after my DD was admitted to her top choices schools.
@novicemom23kids – the fact that your daughter thought she was such a close fit with the school might be why she was given a lowball offer. She may be perceived as the type who will enroll anyway without much incentive and/or the school could be prioritizing its aid dollars to diversify by attracting different types of students. From the schools point of view your daughter fits within a category – one that may be certainly filled by other students if she decides not to enroll.
In other words, when kids seek a good fit, they want a school that offers what they want and seems to have a lot of students who are like them. But colleges are asking a very different question – “what does this student bring to us that the others don’t?”. So the big money offers may very well go to students who seem like poor fits – the whole point is that the college is spending money to entice a student who otherwise is unlikely to attend.
Visiting again right now might send the wrong message as far as money goes – it is telling the school that despite the low offer, you are still interested. I say “you” because you are the source of the funds - so when you “all” (dad, mom, daughter) go back for a visit, it’s a pretty strong indication that your daughter’s desire to attend might outweigh financial concerns. If in fact you have the ability and willingness to pay regardless - that’s fine – but if you really want a more generous award, you have to send the message loud and clear that your daughter has other options and will not be attending unless the school can match (or come close) to whatever is the best offer you have from a peer level institution. (You are allowed to bluff and give in anyway – but you at least need to play the part of being ready to walk away).
Wait until spring and get all offers in hand. In the meantime, if the GC is willing to make the call suggested by @sybbie719 suggested, have her do that. The GC will be able to make a pitch for your daughter and also may get some more insight into what has gone into the decision as to the current offer.
Lots of good advice already. Last year, we approached my son’s top choices that gave merit money, and most of them increased it. Yes, wait until RD season and approach admissions. Also, it’s a good negotiating stance to have something in hand: either some additional hardship that makes the scholarship more crucial, new awards or honors which add to the allure of your candidate, or competing offers (though I would never share exactly who or how much). We found that the safety school wouldn’t budge, but the couple more prestigious options were able to “find” money. I think we were lucky, but also my son had some nice spring awards in his major to report which gave them an excuse.
A school that offers merit money for enrollment management is also accustomed to phone calls from accepted prospective students’ parents, seeking more merit money, conversation done with specific regional admin staff person who administered student’s application review. I was surprised by how open LAC admin reps were to us in regards to merit money discussions at on-campus open house school visits, proffering probable award amounts before any applications were even prepared. And yes, I did call 1st choice school after acceptance letter, to confirm merit award intentions, and was very pleasantly surprised (relieved) when adjusted confirmation letter was immediately delivered. If you don’t ask, then nothing will be done. But if you do ask, you’ll know you at least tried. When college costs are so prohibitive, all opportunities should be checked.
Again, I would NOT wait until decision time. Scholarships used for enrollment management are not infinite and schools do run out!
Please don’t think that come April there will be some declinations and therefore suddenly more money to give away. Enrollment mgmt folks use software models that tell them how much they can “over offer” to get the later results that they want.
@mom2collegekids what if my daughter has not yet visited? I am not in a position to negotiate yet. She received generous merit aid from a very expensive school that we can’t afford unless we get more aid. But it is her top choice school. The school does not meet 100% need-based aid so I don’t expect any need based aid will be coming when I receive the financial aid package next month or the month after next. However based on my EFC of $28K I think I would be able to get a better package from a comparable school (since I will have two kids in college next fall). I was thinking of waiting until after she visits in march --this way if the school does not meet or exceed her expectations it’s a nonissue and we don’t need to pursue this any further. And if, as I expext, she will love the school i can say she will attend if the school is able to offer x amount more. I am thinking that by March I might be able to attach some need based offers from other comparable schools (which meet 100% need) that exceed the merit aid offer of this school she loves. So if I wait till march I might be in a better position to try and make this top choice school affordable for us. What do you think? Or, alternatively, should I reach out now as a placeholder to let the admissions office know we will need more aid to attend and say I will contact them again after our visit?
@novicemom23kids have you asked your daughter if the merit for this school was as high as her other top school, would she choose this school? The vibe I am getting from your post (“she won’t let this go”) is that she’s annoyed that her friends got more money than her…not that she loves this school so much and wants to go there but its too expensive.
If you revisit, you need to go with the mentality of “is this my #1 school”. If so, then work the admissions office. I would do this sooner rather than later (visit, decide, and call)
If I recall, there was something weird that happened with your kid’s school and they decided to rank at the last minute? She has a great ACT though, right? I’m trying to remember the details!!
For Pitt, you need to fill out the Cost Analysis worksheet. Do you have the link? I think you have to show the bottom line cost of attendance is lower at another comparable school. In the past, it looks like they don’t budget when people show offers from Temple or Alabama.
We were told early on in the process, like middle school age, to befriend your desired colleges enrollment counselors. We took the advice to heart and in the process were also connected with people in the financial aid department. Communication is everything! My personal experience, and I’m a newbie too, is that well mannered, gracious communication garners you counselors that don’t mind answering any and all questions. Now I will say that a lot depends on the size of the school as well. Larger schools don’t have the time to give you personal attention and they may not respond to many of your questions. Smaller schools on the other hand seem to be open to discussing things as long as you are polite and express to them your daughter’s deep interest in the school. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Just express gratitude for what has been offered so far. But I would think a parent would be best suited for this kind of call. That seems like too much to put on an inexperienced teen. Whether it works remains to be seen in our case as well! Good luck to you!
@artsy16. And furthermore, how do you even know what colleges your child will want when they are in middle school. Most middle schoolers aren’t deciding on which colleges they want to attend. Most middle schoolers can’t even name colleges other than the ones that are local or that are in big sports contests on tv. I have no idea how you would get a list of schools out of your middle schooler.
@ClarinetDad16 and @me29034 I’m sorry if that came out wrong. When they were in middle school I started compiling a list of schools in the area. And then started just writing down the names of the different advisors. We homeschool and knew that we were going to be dual enrolling for some of our college credits. So at that point I wanted to familiarize ourselves with the system, rather than narrowing down a school of attendance. I asked the counselors what things those colleges look for in high school seniors especially when offering scholarships. As the years progressed my son started to express interest in different schools and different majors. So I contacted the counselors at those schools, mentioned my sons interest and told them what classes he was taking, what activities he was involved in and if there was anything they would suggest in order to make him more desirable to those schools and any scholarships they would offer. They were very helpful. We planned many of our academics and extracurriculars around advice they offered. Now like I said I think this only worked well with smaller schools and I didn’t bombard them but they really didn’t seem to mind. Many said that’s what they are there for. And I think it took the edge off of discussing some financial issues.
@carachel2 - This school is not Pitt. D17 was accepted to Pitt (instate) and did have issues with her school going back to rankings after not ranking for a few years. This did cause her to miss out on any merit there even though her test scores and GPA would get her merit $ if her schoo did not rank.That was frustrating but she moved on and has taken Pitt off of the list for other reasons. Interestingly enough, they were willing to negotiate on merit and directed us to request an appeal from the scholarship committee since her ranking out of the top 5% would not get her an automatic merit review.
D will be talking with her GC this week and hopefully she will do some inquiring. Beyond that, she is interested in revisiting the other 2 schools at the top of her list that have offered better financial package to determine if this school would still be #1. If after revisiting the others she still feels that this school is her front runner we will have her ask about the possibility for more merit money since she will not be able to attend without it.