Asking for more money?

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I been recently accepted into all my colleges, and although all of them offered me some sort of merit aid, I was wondering I could ask them for more financial aid. I know that I won't qualify for any need-based FA (our EFC is around 56k a year...) My parents, who are only concerned with sending me to the cheapest school, only offer to pay the amount of St. John's tuition (it offered me full tuition, so it's only 10k a year). If I wanted to go to another school, I would have to pay the difference from 10k on my own means. I really want to go to Northeastern, but that would mean that I would have to pay a total of 80k on my own. If I tried explaining that situation with the FA offices, would they be willing to offer me more, or do I have qualify for need-based FA first?</p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

<p>No. If you want to go there, take the loans.</p>

<p>You won’t be able to take out such big loans by yourself (nor should you). You would need your parents to co-sign…and many/most parents won’t. </p>

<p>NEU is not worth big debt. Actually, no school is. NEU is a good school, but certainly not worth burdening your adult life with major debt.</p>

<p>You can only borrow the following amounts.</p>

<p>frosh 5500
soph 6500
jr 7500
sr 7500</p>

<p>How much has NEU offered you so far? Are your stats high enough that they might consider giving you more merit money?</p>

<p>What is your major?</p>

<p>mom2collegekids: My major is pharmacy (I got into the 6 year direct program). With these type of programs, I’m basically guaranteed a job as soon as I graduate . NEU has a scholarship for NMFs, but I was sick on the day of PSAT, so I didn’t do that well. My SAT (cumulative) is 2230: 740 CR, 800M, 690 writing. My GPA is 3.7 UW, 4.2 W, with 3 APs (2 pending) and 7 honors classes (I go to a top 40 high school that is highly competitive). I have 200+ hours of community service, have held a job for more than 2 years, and other ECs that show my commitment to whatever I do. I am on pretty good terms with my NEU regional admission counselor, since I communicate with her quite frequently. NEU has offered me 20k a year, for four years, but that still leaves about 30k a year to pay. Do you have any advice on how to approach the colleges in asking for more money? Thanks for your help!</p>

<p>It’s going to be quite difficult to convince colleges to give you more merit money just because your parents don’t want to pay more than $10,000/yr. for your education. I’m sure you can see that if colleges handed out more money in that type of case, every parent would set a similar limit. I honestly can’t think of any argument you could make unless you have achieved something new since you applied, something that would make you a more attractive candidate.</p>

<p>Your stats don’t matter for FA, only scholarships. With an EFC that high no school is going to give you FA because you ask. The fact that your parents won’t pay is irrelevant. </p>

<p>The max loans you can take out on your own is the Stafford amounts listed above. That is a lot of loans and you should not take out more than that anyway. </p>

<p>Your parents are right.</p>

<p>*NEU has offered me 20k a year, for four years, but that still leaves about 30k a year to pay. Do you have any advice on how to approach the colleges in asking for more money? Thanks for your help! *</p>

<p>Even if you could convince NEU to increase its merit offer, it’s very likely that they would only increase it by maybe a few thousand. That’s not going to get you where you need to be. </p>

<p>YOU can only borrow 5500 for frosh year. With your parents’ $10k contribution, that’s about $15k. Unless NEU will increase its scholarship by $15k, you’re going to be short of money. NEU is not going to give you “need-based” money…they need to save that for those with need. They may increase your merit since your stats are high, but they may not increase it enough.</p>

<p>you can ask for a huge increase in merit, but if they say, “no,” then NEU isn’t going to work out.</p>

<p>BTW…if your goal is pharmacy, then go to St. Johns. You’re going to have to borrow for those last few years anyway. Will your parents contribute $10k per year for the entire 6 years? Or just for 4 years? Either way, you’re going to need to borrow for those remaining years, won’t you?</p>

<p>I know that you’re disappointed, but if your parents gave you the $10k guideline before you were applying, then you should have targeted schools that would have given you full tuition for your stats. </p>

<p>Where else did you apply besides St. Johns and NEU?</p>

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<p>That’s not 100% true. My DS had very high stats and was able to get his fin aid offer bumped up a bit just by asking because he had a better offer from another school. It never hurts to ask – just sayin’.</p>

<p>However, they only bumped it up about $1000 plus threw in a free laptop, so it’s nothing like what this OP needs.</p>

<p>Did you call the financial aid office to ask for additional help, write a letter or e-mail?</p>