Recently, I was admitted to Carnegie Mellon University for Architecture. This was definitely my dream school, but as of late I have received no financial aid. Their tuition is a mind-boggling 75k, and with a 5-year degree, this multiplies to just shy of 375,000 dollars.
I am also considering other schools such as RPI and Pratt, who have offered a good amount of aid and have similarly ranked programs.
I really want to go to CMU, as its program is the perfect balance design & technical architecture, but the money situation just won’t allow it. Although my income bracket is fairly high, we don’t own a house and cannot pay 375,000. Is there a chance I can email them explaining my circumstances and hope for a more generous package? They can’t seriously expect me to spend that much on education at their institution.
@aVeryHappyChild – You should certainly try, but Pratt is a great option if they CMU doesn’t come through. Don’t be surprised if CMU doesn’t reply to you, though…
Twice we have appealed our financial aid, and twice we have received a more generous offer post-appeal. They always answered timely, as well.
@psycholing That’s awesome. How exactly did you go about contacting them and what did you say? Who do I appeal to?
@aVeryHappyChild As I recall, the first year (when he was a newly admitted student) we had to go through admissions for an appeal. The 2nd year we went through the normal financial aid office. For the appeal we wrote an explanation of some of our financial complications – e.g. the fact that we had another child with a disability, etc. It was important to write very clearly about how we may appear to have more money that we actually do. We also applied for and received outside scholarships, that did not detract from our CMU grant. All told my son has received close to full tuition the last two years, but does include merit money.