J was accepted to Tulane and thrilled. We did not receive scholarship money. Stats are 3.7 (unweighted) 3.9 (weighted) and a 2010 SAT - 8 AP’s. Mom & Dad are having a very hard time swallowing the cost and was wondering if anyone has any experience with appealing the decision. Thanks in advance for sharing.
Is there any chance for financial aid? File all financial aid forms on time and provide all documentation. In the spring you should get your financial aid award letter. Or did J apply ED?
There is no ED at Tulane, @mommdc
Need based aid is totally separate from merit aid, so as mommdc says apply for that. Forms are due by Feb 15 and decisions come out mid to late March. As far as appealing the merit scholarship decision, Tulane has tightened up on that a lot. It really takes some significant change in stats to make it reasonable to ask. Since GPA’s are hard to move that much in one semester, it would take a jump in the SAT score, probably to 2100+, to get them to reconsider. Or a comparable ACT score, which is probably 31+.
Thanks for replying! No chance for financial aid and J applied EA. Any insight on appeal? J’s 1st semester grades improved while taking some tough AP courses…would that be worth reconsideration?
Thanks Fallenchemist for the insight, but no chance to take the test again. Open to any other ideas. Thank you!
Frankly I doubt it, but then again one can always fall back on the old truth: What do you have to lose? Absolutely nothing. So if J already has first semester grades and they show an uptick, and if there is no desire to try the SAT again or the ACT (understandable), then ask. Now I would wait until after the Winter break, since they are still busy with applications now and will be very tired immediately after. My only other advice is make sure the request is free of any trace of entitlement or complaining tone. If I were them and I received something like that I would figuratively trash it in my mind and literally give it an unfavorable response with little thought. I am sure you know what I am saying.
great suggestions and hoping for the best. I can’t saddle J with a student loan of that magnitude. Thanks and happy holidays 
And I would scream at you if you did. Those that have followed my posts for a time know that I don’t think any school, not HYPM or Tulane or any other, is worth massive debt. Obviously massive is a subjective word. These days, in my mind, no student should finish undergrad with more than $35,000 in debt, and that is the absolute outside. I really like to see it stay under $30,000, with the obvious side statement that nothing is better than zero, everything else being equal. But things usually aren’t completely equal, and there are advantages to certain schools for certain students. If the burden can be kept down to about a car payment size (a decent car, not a Rolls Royce) then I think that is a reasonable decision.
@fallenchemist, thank you for correcting my error.
We have been wondering the same thing. Tulane had been D’s first choice for a long time, but she didn’t get any scholarship money either. Its hard to read post after post of people getting $20K or more. If she got $20K then it would be definite that she would be going to Tulane. But without any money its hard to justify. She can go to other schools for so much less. We would not make her get loans to go, but we would have to take the money out of retirement savings and delay our retirement. There is a lot of discussion in my house right now about whether the extra cost is worth it. Its so hard when she actually managed to get accepted to her #1 choice, but may not go because of money. I think we will end up appealing. There really isn’t anything to lose by asking. They can only say no.
Be sure to apply for need based aid as well. A lot of families that say “Oh we have too much to qualify” are often surprised they get something. And sometimes it is in the form of grants, not loans that have to be paid back. Now I could be totally off and it might result in nothing, but no stone unturned!!