Is it a good idea to ask for more money from a university? I believe a little of this was discussed somewhere on CC. A friend of mine was trying to decide on 3 schools ( Michigan, Iowa St, and U of Minnesota). Her daughter received nice merit scholarships from all 3 but Michigan is about $15,000 more to attend a year and that’s where she wants to attend for engineering. No financial aid as parents make too much and parents will pay for $8500. She was going to ask for the remainder since that is her number 1 choice. I also thought it would be good to have her daughter write and ask instead of an email. I recommended them to ask on CC but they did not want to but I am curious to what CC thinks. I am also curious how often this might happen and schools do offer a little more.
Iowa St and Minnesota are not peer schools with Michigan, so the expectation that the three should cost your friend’s D the same amount is erroneous. Are they in-state for Michigan? If not, they are most likely going to pay more.
If they aren’t eligible for FA, their EFC will be COA minus the merit aid. Parents don’t get to decide what they will pay; the schools will tell them. The notion that if the parents pay $8500, the school will offer to pay the rest is false. Schools don’t have unlimited funds to disburse. If the parents don’t want to pay the extra $15K, their daughter needs to choose between Iowa St and MN.
Is she OOS for UMich? If so, then UMich costs about $58k OOS. It is even higher for eng’g students particularly once they have 55 credits (including AP).
(I’m guessing that they’re OOS for Mich since they’re your friends and you’re not a Mich resident.)
How much was the merit?
If the merit was about $25k and the parents will only pay $8500, then she still needs about $15k (minus any loans & WS).
They can try, but UMich isn’t a peer school, and they’ve already awarded her significant merit when many other top students were not.
She should just email the Director of Admissions. That is the person who would likely make the decision.
Michigan is a far, far superior university to either of the other ones. For engineering, the $15K is probably worth it. Have they applied for financial aid? Michigan has significantly improved its FA for OOS students. I was offered almost a full ride.
OOS. All 3 schools have some connection with a relative. I thought too that if she already has a good merit package, they would not award any more but doesn’t hurt to see. Also, paying $15,000 extra to go to Michigan, would be worth taking out a loan, if that is the school she really wants to go to. So, it’ll be interesting. Thanks for the feedback.
@klingon97 UMich for eng’g is not worth an extra $60k total over Iowa St or UMinn-TC. …certainly NOT worth it if the $60k involves taking out loans.
It can be a mistake to let that decision rest on a 17/18 year old. They really have no concept of the impact from paying that back. Plus, many get weeded out of eng’g. Then what?
I cant imagine how annoyed I’d be if I borrowed $60k for a school, only to find that my fellow new-hires from “lesser” schools are being paid the same, and they don’t have big loans.
Plus, the parents may not agree to cosigning those loans.
Point is that Michigan graduates get better offers than those from “lesser” schools.
It really does not matter if it is engineering. As long as it is an ABET accredited school and the student graduates with decent grades, they will get a job
My company which hires nationally does NOT pay UMich grads more for the same position.
Companies don’t pay you more for the name of your undergrad @klingon97
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Michigan has significantly improved its FA for OOS students. I was offered almost a full ride.
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The OP needs to realize that you’re a high school student.
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But be prepared to go with another option. Student loan debt is a huge problem in America. To the extent that you can avoid it, do so! <<<
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Interesting that in another thread you seem to understand the negative impact of debt…but for some reason, not in this thread.
As a graduate of both Michigan and Michigan State (and thus have engineering friends as well as others from both as well as a few others), I can tell you that this is unequivocally bupkis.
DH hires engineers and I can guarantee you that all new grads are hired within a certain pay range regardless of whether they graduate from Michigan or our local small university.
^^^^
exactly. And hiring is often regional.
My family consists of many hiring engineers and CS folks. They pay people the same no matter where they went. They hire from big names and small names. They hire the person…not the school name!
Engineering is one of those amazing majors where the name of the college matters VERY LITTLE. Each of the colleges that OP’s friend is considering will be flooded with recruiters…the same ones that will flood U Mich. The job will pay the same regardless of the name of the college on the diploma. All that matters is that the program be ABET accredited, and that the college attract decent recruiters, which these all will. So, nice try @klingon97, but overpaying for an engineering degree almost never makes sense when there are other, cheaper ABET accredited options.
@NerdyChica should read post #14
Dear mom - I do understand the effects of debt but not all debt is bad. The reality is that many parents understand the value of investing in their children’s future and chose to borrow. My aid package doesn’t contain loans but with other siblings my parents took out Plus loans and then repaid them rapidly.
As for hiring the person and not the school, the reality is that many employers prefer brand + person. From placement statistics, there aren’t that many unemployed engineers from Columbia or Harvard, and quite a few of them in consultancy firms.
@mom2collegekids: I understand debt, which is why it makes sense to go to any Ivy or top-tier university that is all grants and no loans. Not everyone however has that option.
@klingon97 wrote
Unlike u, a kid, who has never worked a real job, I have worked in engineering for more than a quarter century-- longer than you have been alive. And I don’t know a single grad from UMich, but I know a lot of grads from so called “lesser” State U’s. And these engineering grads who were “denied a first class education” are really suffering with 6 and 7-figure incomes.
Parents should weigh the value of the more expensive option before reflexively borrowing more. If an attraction option exists that doesn’t necessitate excessive borrowing, then take it! A child’s loan that the parent has to cosign is also the parent’s loan.
@OP
Don’t drink the Koolaid that professional success and life’s happiness can only be derived from a handful of schools that manage to get a high score on some arbitrary ranking for selling magazines.
If $60k is a financial stretch for the family, then $60k more for a UMich engineering degree over schools w fine engineering programs like Minn & Iowa is not worth it.
@klingon97 wrote:
While recruiters do hire engineers from Harvard, they actually prefer to do their recruiting at Big State U.
FYI, WSJ poll of job recruiters:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&rct=j&q=penn%20state%20tops%20recruiter%20ranking&ved=0ahUKEwjJy8aN8fTLAhWFGo4KHSbJBMEQFggbMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2FSB10001424052748704358904575477643369663352&usg=AFQjCNEMGzVU_N6TIp41Z4b0WlhHRcTxCA