Asking for more merit aid...

Paying for College
1

<p>I received applied for merit aid at my state's flagship school, Louisiana State University, well before the deadline, and received a letter detailing my scholarships a week ago. I received a scholarship that came out to only $4,000 per year, with the opportunity to do a special work study and get another $6,000 over four years.</p>

<p>Here are my stats:
32 ACT / 3.8 GPA
Some of my best extracurriculars:
Small business owner, debate president, 2-year internship, hospital volunteer</p>

<p>I talked to my guidance counselor, and she thought it was odd that I got so little. A friend of mine with a 29 ACT and similar GPA got $12,000 a year.</p>

<p>I plan on contacting LSU's scholarship office to see what happened, but what is the most polite way to do so? I don't want to make it seem like I'm demanding aid, or be rude and say "Why did I only get this when so-and-so got X," but I think I was cut short here. I am sure many students make this type of call around this time of the year.</p>

2

<p>There may be other factors as to why the other student got more, but here's a good approach...</p>

<p>Dear .......</p>

<p>Thank you very much for your award of $XXXX. I look forward to attending LSU next fall, and the scholarship will help.</p>

<p>However, I am a little bit confused. As this is a merit based scholarship, I assumed this was awarded on ACT scores and GPA. But I found that a friend of mine with a lower ACT score and lower GPA received three times the merit scholarship I received.</p>

<p>Can you please help me out here? How was my award calculated? Is there a way this could be improved?</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the advice. I talked to a few other students, and all of them got significantly more than me, yet don't have anything else like sports or better extracurriculars that would account for the difference. LSU does not ask for recommendations or an essay, so those don't play into the equation.</p>