Colleges that negotiate? Examples?

My mother in law just called me and said she saw a financial adviser on television who said families can negotiate their college costs with the college financial aid offices or admissions. I know that’s not true of the schools on S19’s list. It did make me curious though. What schools do this type of thing? Has anyone done this?

I worked at a public university, and there was NO negotiating. Well, people did negotiate - but it was one sided, because we had rules for how aid was awarded. We didn’t bend them for squeaky wheels, because we had to follow the rules.

Private schools will sometimes negotiate … if they want/need the student. It doesn’t hurt to ask. We did it when D was considering a school. In that case, we felt very justified in asking, because we had been to a scholarship event where the admissions staff made promises that did not materialize. We got an additional grant, and you’d better believe I got it in writing.

Unfortunately, the negotiation thing has gotten out of control. Everyone and his brother is asking for a tuition discount. It makes it really hard on schools. I get it, though - why wouldn’t you ask, if everyone else is & some are getting a discount for asking.

Sometimes a PEER school will try to come close to another peer school’s net cost. This won’t work for situations like instate low cost vs OOS or private high cost.

Usually you need to indicate that this is #1 school and if then can get costs down to an affordable cost your child will enroll. However, be honest about that. No one wants to jump thru hoops to get the signatures for a better pkg only to have the student decline the pkg. Very bad form.

@mom2collegekids but I’m pretty sure that’s not always the case. For example, Carleton will not give merit even if the student can show that they received some from Grinnell. So, I’m actually wondering which schools really do this? Lower ranked LACs like a Knox? Big state schools? State directionals?

Many of the Ivy League schools and the like will review your need based financial aid offer from another Ivy or the like. In other words…if Harvard accepts you and you have a better need based offer from Yale, Harvard might make an adjustment to your need based aid.

@kelsmom Well, we won’t ask because the schools on S19’s list are almost all top 20 schools and they make it cler that they do not negotiate and all but two do not give merit. We are full pay with a very high EFC. We made his list with eyes wide open and we know what it will cost us. I just don’t like when these financial guys talk about how people can call and try to “name their price” with financial aid or admissions offices. I mean, that cannot be true for most schools.

I never said that all will do this. Obviously the example you gave is case in point.

I said, SOMETIMES.

No one here can say specifically which schools do this because it can be student dependent. For instance, flagshipA that gives merit, may give a smaller award than flagshipB. So maybe if after showing FlagshipA the better merit, Flagship A may be able to justify the increase because the student may help with diversity numbers…or…maybe that student had spectacular stats.

I know someone with very high stats who missed one school’s merit deadline, but got a large award from another peer school. Once the first school saw the other school’s award they justified giving merit to poach that high stats student.

Maybe, maybe not. Many directional have little money to give away.

@mom2collegekids so are you saying that families can get a negotiated rate if the school can get their price down to the family’s EFC? So…that doesn’t work with families with large EFCs. If that’s true, that’s interesting. Yet, I know a lot of families who received their financial aid package, tried to get more grants instead of loans, and were told no.

Hm. So it seems that most families with successful negotiations have financial need.

I’ve successfully done it with private universities and LACs. I prefer not to give details, but can certainly suggest steps is someone wants to try it.

@intparent can you say if it’s merit you negotiated or need-based aid?

^^
Sometimes it is need based aid. At least one or two ivy schools say that if another ivy gave more aid, to let them know and they’ll match it.

Homerdog - not sure why that bothers you. My friend negotiated a “better deal” for her D at Purdue. It was her top choice, but a comparable school in state was more affordable- Purdue is OOS. Purdue didn’t make up the difference, but offerered her a little more.

When S17 was deciding between two schools, I appealed our need-based aid packages at both. It was a lengthy and invasive process, but it was well worth it. One school dramatically lowered our EFC while the other was not really interested in helping. You can tell by my sweater which school was helpful.

@Leigh22 The negotiating does not bother me. It bothers me that this guy on TV told people that one can negotiate but that is not really true for most families. My mother in law was really sucked in and was so excited to tell me that we could just call S19’s schools if he’s admitted and ask for more money. LOL.

That is interesting that Purdue offered your friend a little more help.

@STEM2017 had your situation changed since you filed FAFSA? Or was there a story to tell that the schools could not see in all of the initial paperwork?

@homerdog Change in financial situation. It was the first year of the “two year lookback for FAFSA” and my 2015 tax returns were MUCH MUCH different (higher) than my current year tax returns. I appealed using the most recent tax docs.

That’s interesting about Purdue. The Purdue web site specifically states that they do not negotiate merit or consider merit appeals. I wonder if the negotiation was concerning non-merit aid?

The situation @STEM2017 is describing is a little different. He had a change in financial circumstances…and a basis for a college to review his financial need.

That is very different than taking an offer from college A, and showing it to college B…and expecting the school with the lower offer to raise it to meet the higher one…with NO financial change to your situation.

There are some colleges that will REVIEW your need based financial aid reward from a peer school…and MIGHT give you increased need based aid…MIGHT. But the amount might not be huge even if they increase it.

And if they DO increase it…are you prepared to do the same song and dance for all four years?

I think the thing that bothers the OP is that the speaker seemed to imply that this was a common practice and could net you a lot more money…and that simply is NOT true. It’s just not.