My question is basically what the title says – for a variety of reasons, I didn’t appeal my aid during the decision-making process, and I’m not sure if it’s too late to. I’m going to a need-blind school that doesn’t offer merit aid. There was another need-blind school that offered me a slightly better package (about a $5000/year difference), and there are also some family medical expenses that weren’t really reflected on my FAFSA/CSS profiles. I was wondering if I can use these grounds to ask for a review.
(While it’s not like I’m damned if I can’t do this or that it’s completely unaffordable as it stands, my family isn’t exactly rich, so any extra money would be a boon for us.)
@SpringAwake15
You mention that you are attending a need blind school. All that means is that your school did not consider your ability to pay when they considered your application for admission. most colleges are need blind for admissions. This has nothing to do,with your eventual financial aid award.
Did your mean to say that you are attending a school that guarantees to meet full need for all accepted students?
If you have financial issues that were nit reflected on your financial aid application forms, sure you can ask for reconsideration of your award.
With regards to other college offers…I’m not sure how,that matters now,mince you chose this college. It’s not like you can say “I would love to,attend your college but can’t do so unless you can come closer to the offer I had from College B”.
@thumper1, yep, sorry, that’s what I meant; they guarantee full need. Thank you for the advice!
edit: and just to clarify, I know that the ship has unfortunately sailed on using other schools’ offers as a bargaining chip to drive down costs. I mentioned that more because I’m wondering if I do request a review, if I can mention that another school with a similar financial aid policy felt that I qualified for more aid than they offered. Basically, if I can use that as part of my explanation in requesting a review. If that makes since.
You can always appeal, even after you start. How successful you’ll be is the question. If you have some good reasons, like the medical bills, bring that up. I’d leave out that you got more money from another school because you knew that when you accepted this school. I don’t think it is a bad idea to say that you’ve crunched the real numbers now (airline tickets, supplies, etc., and it is going to cost a lot more than you thought. You also might ask if there are any outside scholarships they know of, any work study funds, etc. Let them know you are willing to work for it.