Do private LACs reconsider merit aid?

Paying for College
1

<p>Our conundrum is that our D has three schools she's considering, only 1 of which has offered merit aid; I'll call it X College. Their merit aid offer brings the college into the relative COA of the other 2 schools, but the other 2 schools have generally better reputations (that we've been able to discern).</p>

<p>She is just now completing a 1 week visit of all 3 schools for the first time, and it is evident that she likes the lesser known school with the token merit aid. She enjoyed the classes, found the people easy to be with, thought the campus and food were great, and was favorably impressed with the research opportunities. My husband is value sensitive, so he's asking the question "if all 3 are about the same cost, why should she go to the one which few have heard of?"</p>

<p>My tack was to see if the college my D prefers has additional merit aid "freed up" by applicants starting to make decisions, as X College appears to be her favorite after campus overnight visits, but our COA is higher since she'll be travelling coast to coast. I am trying to overcome my husband's resistance to paying close to top dollar for a college he's never heard of.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for some input from the community.</p>

2

<p>It doesn't hurt to ask. As long as you're reasonably polite and have some stance to present to them you might as well give it a shot - it seems that she definitely feels at home at this school.</p>

<p>I think this probably varies from school to school, but I've often heard that any money other kids "turn down" either goes into a pot for next year's students or in some cases, schools know that not everyone is going to accept/choose their school so they build in a cushion (or opposite) for the $$$ - in othere words they may actually offer overall, more $$ than they actually have to give knowing that a certain % of kids won't accept. (sorry it that's confusing).</p>

<p>But again, you never know - if her heart is telling you "yes", I'd at least be inclined to ask - you can choose whatever tack you choose - personally I vote for being honest- and really stress that their school seems like a great fit but is $$ wise not easy for your family to reach.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>