<p>Got the worst FA package of all my schools from Carnegie Mellon. What a disappointment. Tons of loans and a gap, plus biggest work-study. (This is in addition what I need to earn in the summer to contribute my portion to EFC...)</p>
<p>Received double the grant aid from another highly ranked school.</p>
<p>Parents will file an appeal, and we are wondering if anyone has appealed CMU financial aid in the last few years, and what the results were. I will be heartbroken if I can't attend there.</p>
<p>If you were successful can you tell me how many other schools' FA letters did you submit, and approx. how much increase did you receive in grants? Did they continue the increase in grant aid for all subsequent years, or did you have to appeal each year?</p>
<p>we were told during a tour at RPI it works best if you have an offer from one of the peer institutions: Carnegie</a> Mellon - Institutional Research & Analysis
But be careful comparing merit and need. D got all merit at RPI, and need based at CMU. CMU upped it a bit when we showed them the RPI offer but the merit at RPI was guaranteed all 4 years. When our EFC went up after a sibling graduated, the need all disappeared at CMU. Which I understand but if she had gone to RPI as merit it would have still been there.</p>
<p>Hi, sorry to rob the topic, but when you mean your parents will file an appeal, do you mean they would send via snail mail an request? Or would they simply call? I'm not sure how to request an appeal.</p>
<p>be sure that you read the CMU's financial aid philosophy. CMU plays a very intelligent game but you can still come out ahead if your cards were played correctly. There are two moves left, one for you and one for CMU.</p>
<p>You will not be heartbroken. You will move on to something else.</p>
<p>There is a financial aid appeal form that you use to appeal the award and you include copies of financial aid awards from other institutions with the appeal form--the form is on the admissions web site. The appeal form can be either mailed or faxed, but the instructions say that faxing is preferred. I believe the deadline for appealing aid awards is April 18th.</p>
<p>Our son sent in a financial aid appeal last spring after his Carnegie Mellon financial aid package turned out to be disappointing compared to those of other schools he was accepted to. He sent in copies of his financial aid offers from RPI, Georgia Tech and Lehigh as part of his appeal. Within a couple weeks he heard back from Carnegie Mellon that they would not be adjusting his financial aid. He chose to go to RPI and is very happy there. He did not feel the extra $10,000 a year out of pocket cost at CMU would be justified as he knew he would get a great engineering education at RPI.</p>
<p>My mom sent them a letter for my sister (class of '09) and they gave her an extra couple thousand; I'm not sure of the exact amount. She had a couple awards from other schools but nothing all that substantial.</p>
<p>The instructions come with your snail mail financial aid information. There is a sheet you complete and you fax it in with copies of your other awards. We wrote a letter as well, and included it in the fax.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone's input. Our main question is if they increase the award for Freshman year, what will happen in future years? If they revert back to their initial award, you then have then committed to the school. What commitment do they make to keep subsequent awards at the same level? (assuming EFC stays relatively similar)</p>
<p>You really have to wait until they respond. No sense in making wild assumptions until then. I imagine whatever positive response that they give you, you will probably still call them to solve your insecurities.</p>
<p>A suggestion, Be prepared that CMU will not comeup to the level of your other colleges' awards. At this level of Schooling, the college picks you, not that you pick the college. The School has no obligations to do anything other than to provide you the opportunity to learn and grow.</p>
<p>^^^ They did not give a deadline for the appeals, although in my letter it stated that if you do appeal not to expect a reply before the 18th. If you didn't receive your FA letter yet, I think you should call them on Monday. Have you checked online? (Where am I in the process?...). I saw it online a day before I received my letter. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Boston2008, we appealed and received an increase. That same amount (I think it was just called Carnegie Mellon grant) appeared in the same amount each year. Actually for all 5 years, since he completed a master's too. They won't give you the increase then cut it back the next year.</p>
<p>Like 2331clk, ours got reconsideration when shown other scholarships. S got some money from CMU from zip, but he also gave up additional $10,000/yr to go to CMU. Do not expect CMU to match another school's offer. </p>
<p>I will add that I think he would've attended CMU even without the grant. We are 100% full pay so we were prepared. But having $50,000 cash after graduation is also nice, or he could have spent an extra $15,000/year for fun if he had only attended the school that gave him the most money.</p>
<p>i compared my package from RPI and Carnegie Mellon, as RPI seems to be the peer institution.. and its quite similar.. except i have merit in RPI.. so i don't think that would be good..
what about Brown? Can I show them the award from Brown or is Brown not a peer institution and will not have much effect on it?
and How do you exactly appeal? do you just send them an email?</p>
<p>Willis, Perhaps my above post is a bit harsh. Follow the CMU "financial aid" links to where it describes CMU's philosophy on FA and how you go about the process. Hopefully you have already made your inquiry.</p>
<p>As for email, you are taking a big chance on filters, an inattentive person to recognize your email and forward it to someone else. I personally dump all emails not recognizable and let the filters do the rest. </p>
<p>CMU plays a very intelligent game in getting a great student body. "enrollment management."</p>