<p>Is it possible to bargain for financial aid? Yale is giving me about $5000 more than Harvard, and that is a lot of money for my family. I would like to make my decision regardless of finances, but as of right now, I'm leaning towards Yale solely because of the $5000. </p>
<p>Is there anything I could do that wouldn't **** off Harvard?</p>
<p>Oh and I just wanted to say that the policy on outside awards suck! I worked hard for some of my scholarships, and for them to just take them away if they amount more than my self-help is unfair. It seems like no matter what, the cheapest price you can attend the school is the amount of your family contribution (which is ~$5000 less at Yale than Harvard for me). Isn't the point of scholarships to (help) pay for your college finances?</p>
<p>wait, how did they take away your scholarships?</p>
<p>from what i've read, harvard and yale says that if your outside awards amount is greater than your self-help amount, then they would deduct the amount that is greater from the Harvard scholarship they're giving. that was confusing! lol.</p>
<p>well, the truth is..at least you're not actually LOSING money</p>
<p>Yall are lucky. Duke's policy on outside scholarships is that they just deduct the amount from the need based aid that Duke gives and only after that do they deduct it from the family contribution.</p>
<p>no. the point of scholarships is not to help you pay for college. its part of the mythology that needs to go away but never will.</p>
<p>as far as a 5K difference is concerned.....such a difference makes me wonder if both schools got the same info. compare the info each school asked for for any differences.....and if harvard is missing something, you should give them the info....even if they didnt ask initially but yale did.</p>
<p>ultimately you shouldnt look at this as a bargaining game. its an information sharing game. the more info a school has the more it has room to make adjustments.</p>
<p>thanks. i'll ask harvard. =]</p>
<p>massguy - "no. the point of scholarships is not to help you pay for college. its part of the mythology that needs to go away but never will."</p>
<p>Then what's the point of scholarships?</p>
<p>the point of scholarships for students is:</p>
<ol>
<li>the honor of getting the scholarship.</li>
</ol>
<p>the point of scholarships for schools is: </p>
<ol>
<li>to make money.</li>
</ol>
<p>Now, I am not saying this was <em>always</em> the point. But it is today, and parents and student who are shocked to discover that the $500 they won for the local science fair won't lower their tuition bill need a wake-up call. I blame the schools more than anything for not making this clear.</p>
<p>A lot of small scholarship programs feel shafted by the policy too, to the point where they tell the student that "if your school wont lower your cost to go to college, then we aren't giving them the money."</p>
<p>The problem is, a scholarship is income. Income determines your need. Need determines the discount you will get from a school on tuition. So for a school, a scholarship is a way for them to justify not discounting your tuition as much. </p>
<p>In the end, families and students may think its unfair, but its more than fair for the top schools where need is the only consideration, not merit. If scholarships did lower the student/family contribution, it would become a merit competiton as to who actually can and cannot afford to go to the school, since the lucky recipients of a scholarship, with a lower EFC/ESC would be more likely to accept an offer to go. But top schools who are need blind and do not award merit scholarships only admit students they want at their institution, and they don't play favorites as to which students in that pool are ranked higher than others.</p>