A quick for anyone who has received a FA offer. To what extent are they negotiable…I mean do schools expect a negotiation?
In our case, the school gave a us quite a bit of time to think about it which suggests they are expecting some push back.
I am assuming it varies case by case.
Yes, financial aid is negotiable. I know an individual who managed to knock off a significant amount of money off of their initial tuition bill.
While it may be negotiable in some instances, schools do NOT expect you to negotiate.
I know of one family who did negotiate and were able to get additional support however, their financial situation had changed significantly from when they had submitted their information.
I do not think that schools “expect” you to negotiate. And from what I understand, they cringe at the idea of anyone calling it a “negotiation.”
If you need to appeal to explain why you really need more money to make it work for your child to attend, then there is absolutely a process at most schools.
However, if the hope is just to “get a good deal” (or “negotiate”), then I think that will not be super well-received. You’re not buying a used car. :). Remember that behind these FA dollars are families who are generously donating their hard-earned money to the school. Their generosity should be honored, in my opinion.
I agree. FA money is meant for the families that genuinely need it.
I should have been clearer. If the application for FA says, we can afford X and the school becomes back with Y, this is not the case of trying to squeeze the school for something you can afford.
We submitted our FA and what we can afford in good faith so the school coming back with a different amount opens the door to a discussion.
Remember that schools have a bucket of funds and they are trying to managed that allocation between the candidates applying and trying to get the threshold at which the parents can live with.
It would be much different if our request for a FA amount was X and the school gave us X and then we tried to get more.
People have such a negative connotation of the term negotiation. In fact, negotiation is defined at a dialogue between two or more people or parties intended to reach a beneficial outcome. Both parties win.
@Canuckdad
I should have been clearer – I wasn’t suggesting you were trying to squeeze anyone. I was trying to answer very generally the question about whether schools “expect to negotiate.” And I would say the answer is no.
I do not think they are giving a lowball offer expecting families to come back with a counteroffer.
That said, they do want families to accept the offer and will often work with the families to make it doable/affordable. (hence the appeal process).
It doesn’t hurt to ask, worst they say is no.
Most schools use a formula to determine need and don’t welcome negotiation. However, if something in their formula didn’t accurately reflect your situation, you can appeal your award and ask for a review.
I once heard of a family doing this because the school didn’t consider the country club membership a necessity while the family did – the rest of the family used it and they would need to pay the initiation fee again to rejoin. The school did not change its determination, calling that a choice. I mention this rather extreme example because you will, in all likelihood, need to be extremely transparent with the school and you should be prepared for the possibility that some of your necessities may instead be perceived as niceties.
If, of course, your situation has been misread, they will be happy to hear you out and quite possibly provide more FA. I have definitely heard of this happening with some regularity.
You may want to keep in the back of your mind as a guiding thought “If I met the donor who donated my scholarship, would they feel affirmed in the school’s decision?” The FA folks are aware that there are people on both sides of an FA decision-- the student’s family and the donor.
Agree with this.
Also, if a school offers Y when family has requested X, or has shown they can only afford X, families sometimes decide whether it is feasible to make up the difference. Families can strategize whether to reach out to other family members, cut household expenses, incur more debt, sell assets, etc.
That is our approach, We are willing to walk away from the school otherwise.
good luck
I should note Canadian schools are a little different than U.S schools when it comes to aid etc…
When you fill the financial aid request for most US schools you can actually see what the “service” provider computes as what you can afford.
In Canada, the service provicer only provides a report to the school and you have no way of accessing it. So, you never know to what extent the school has shaved off the amount coming from the independent source.
We have no country club membership, no second home, no luxury cars. Basically, retirement savings and our home with two older kids in univeristy already…not much juice left to squeeze from the lemon.
Also, whereas US schools include many ancillary costs in tuition, this is not the case for many Canadian schools. There are many more hidden and ancillary costs not part of tuition.
Interesting, this thread made me go back and look at the SSS website. I had never looked at what they sent to the schools saying that we should be able to contribute. The school actually gave more than what SSS calculated!
Actually Not all schools use SSS in US. TADs can be used as well and it doesn’t tell parents the expected contribution.
Just wanted to update because I didn’t have the actually details when I started this thread…and just assumed our FA was lower when in fact the tuition base rate was higher than expected.
In our case, the real issue is the school in question has two tuition rates…one to internationals (non-North American) and one to North American entering in grade 9. The difference is significant and was meant mainly incentivize domestic students to boarding schools at a much more affordable rate. Because our son is entering grade 11, they want to charge us the non-North American rate. So this does not even affect the FA amount.
The reality is the reason they have a spot for our son…is an opening was created…by someone who was paying the lower rate and in theory, our son would just be filling the opening.
If they charged us the lower tuition fee, we would actually take less of FA which then could be offered to another student!
We’ve raised the logic with an associate in admissions and they are just locked in, that because our son is not entering in grade 9…we can’t do anything even though he is taking the spot of someone at the lower rate. The next step is to go to the director of admissions.
I assume you mean he “is” entering in grade 11?
This sounds weak on the part of the school. Hopefully those in higher positions of authority make the right call. Good luck.
Sorry. You are right…because my son is not entering grade 9, he can’t get the lower amount.
I am sure it comes down the school having different pockets of funds/operating budgets…and some have more authority than others to move the funds around.