<p>Ok so I know I should have started doing this earlier but there are still a couple of weeks left until May 1 and I am having a terrible time picking between schools, but I have mainly narrowed it down to two. About 4 in the running though. </p>
<p>School A is a big southern state school and it will be cheaper (maybe, $3-4k less) than my in-state public (with scholarships added together and all that). Has a decent programs and a number 1 ranked program that I have already been accepted into. </p>
<p>School B is my in-state public and it is a solid but not amazing Big Ten school. Good reputation in what I want to study, sends some of the top top students to NYC and Chicago. </p>
<p>School C I am not really considering as much anymore(but it's still in the mix!), but might try to use it as leverage. I was very, very close to getting a full tuition scholarship, so I might ask them to reconsider my file for the purpose of leveraging that at school A or B. </p>
<p>But full tuition would likely be my best offer, so that would be might tempting. </p>
<p>B is ranked highest, followed by C and A brings up the rear ranked last (but it can hold its own with my major)</p>
<p>So, I plan on faxing/scanning and emailing all of my scholarships and awards (from about 6 schools) to school A, B and C. I plan on asking them to reconsider my file and I might send a quick update about what I have been doing. My GC sent my 1st semester grades after I received my scholarship decisions and my grades went up so that might help me. </p>
<p>Any other advice or tips that worked for you? Plan on having my dad send out the emails, since money is going to be factor and my parents are giving me a set amount for college. </p>
<p>probably not going to matter as as far as school A and School B are concerned because School C (Tulane) is a private school (except for a few students at the very top of the pool, public schools simply don’t have that kind of $$ to give)</p>
<p>Ahh, it seems like you two were looking into my post history. </p>
<p>School D was going to be Tulane haha. I didn’t really have the stats to get full tuition at Tulane, but they still gave me $20k, so I might include them. But I might just leave Tulane out for reasons that you mentioned. </p>
<p>But school A, B and C are all fairly comparable for me cost wise.</p>
<p>Without scholarships:</p>
<p>School A has a sticker price of about 36k OOS.
School B will run me about $23k in-state
School C costs about $30k OOS</p>
<p>A gave me a scholarship to make the COA ~18k
B gave me a scholarship to make COA ~21k
C gave me a scholarship to make COA ~17k</p>
<p>D(Tulane) gave me a scholarship to make COA…~35k</p>
<p>So A, B, and C all cost fairly the same. B and C cost virtually the same, and A is slighty higher, but it also a better overall school. </p>
<p>So…hope I didn’t confuse anyone with all of the ABCs haha.</p>
<p>I don’t get why people are so uptight with keeping their schools a secret. You can’t expect us to give you targeted information when you don’t even tell us the names of the schools. This is the Internet and everything you post is already anonymous.</p>
<p>The only way they will be able to identify you would be if you leaked a lot of information. Telling us the name of 3 colleges =! leaking a lot of information.</p>
<p>But I plan on faxing the award letters to all of my colleges and they will be able to find out who I am if they connect the dots. Like say I post the names of A, B, C, D and send school A school B, C and D’s award letter. They would know exactly who I am after reading this (if of course they read this…I feel like I am going crazy)</p>
<p>I bet a lot of adcoms read CC; maybe just their schools’s subforum, but who knows. Being a little bit paranoid, but I don’t know </p>
<p>Not sure how they would take a kid just trying to get more money. Which I guess is what I am going to ask anyway, but in a nice polite email lol.</p>
<p>OK, I don’t think it matters what the schools are. I do think it is perfectly acceptable for you to write a polite letter or email to the financial aid office of each school, and say (honestly) that you are undecided as to school and that the decision may come down to finances, and you want to know whether there is any possibility for your award to be reviewed or increased – including a copy of the competing awards. </p>
<p>One more note – as you review the awards, don’t forget to look at possible breakdowns between grants / loans / work study. It is very possible that the school that requires the least money out of pocket to attend actually would cost more in the long run, if it expecting you to take out larger loans. So you may find that the cost differential looks a little different if you think of loans as part of your costs rather than as part of your aid.</p>
<p>I won’t be lying to them, I truly am undecided at this point. I do have a favorite in my mind, but I am not completely sold on them, so the money would help a lot. Like they said, money talks. </p>
<p>All of my awards have been scholarships or grants, well ones that I count anyway. I am lucky that my parents said they will pay $15-20k a year, the rest is up to me. My in-state school gave me an unsub loan and I’m not going to take it. </p>
<p>I think a couple of my schools will be willing to tango with me, hopefully the OOS ones. Though if my in-state schools wants to throw more money at me, I will welcome it. </p>
<p>Should I have my dad send the email? Maybe add credibility to to it since it deals with finances? </p>
<p>Good catch…I confused myself. You are right, just using the school names would be a lot easier lol</p>
<p>Second quote is correct. </p>
<p>First quote should read they are all about the same price range when you add in the scholarships, A and C being about the same and B being a higher price, but also a higher/ranked more prestige, la te da. </p>
<p>I don’t think it matters whether it comes from you or your dad. If these are merit awards they definitely DO have leeway to try to match another school-- it is actually a little more flexible than need-based aid because the whole point of merit money is to offer an enticement to top students who apply. That doesn’t mean they will actually increase the award – it just means that there is no harm in asking.</p>
<p>Your best best would be to ask for a financial review between schools A and C to see if school A will raise their scholarship. </p>
<p>Proportionally School C has given you the most money (your scholarship covers 56% of the cost) even though $ wise it looks as if you have gotten more $ from school A (which is ~ 50% of the cost).</p>
<p>If school A could raise your scholarship ~ 2200 then proportionally they would cost approximately the same.</p>
<p>If A has the #1 program for what you want, I don’t see the big issue over a few bucks, but no harm in asking.</p>
<p>Anyway…how much are your parents giving you?</p>
<p>How much will you have to borrow?</p>
<p>What about the “other” (non-academic) factors for each school. Those can matter more than a few thousand. If one school is a commuter/suitcase school and you’ll be lonely on weekends, then that school should be off the list.</p>
<p>But, if you’re just using the other schools as leverage, when you have no intention of attending, then that’s different. </p>
<p>Are these schools similarly ranked?</p>
<p>What is your ACT/SAT? I’m guessing your ACT is about a 30/31 (or equivalent SAT). </p>
<p>Be sure to mention to your favorite school that if it increases your offer that you will immediately commit. Schools don’t like going thru all of this for nothing. </p>
<p>I’m going to PM you.</p>
<p>If “School A” is the school that I’m thinking about, then years 2, 3, & 4 can easily cost less. The first year is higher because of its high mandatory frosh meal plan. Also, those nicer dorms are pricey and often kids find cheaper digs for later years.</p>
I consider that to be dishonest. You’d like School C to increase its offer solely so you can use it to get better numbers from competing schools. It sounds like the only reason it is “still in the mix” is to be used as leverage.</p>