DD has decided on #1 choice but as luck would have it she has a better offer from #2. We are writing the appeal letter and will send over weekend.
I was wondering if she had committed earlier would we have gotten more aid? And more to the point, should she go ahead and accept now before the appeal?
Would a commitment make it more likely or less likely to get an increase in aid from the appeal? My husband says absolutely do not accept yet. ( All the while my DD is totally stressed out.) Since we already have 100K+ in college loans for previous children (and will have 3 in college in the fall) we are doing everything we can to save money because this school actually allows monthly payments. If we could get maybe 5k more it would be hard but doable without more loans. Who knows though, we may be at our maximum school loans?
Thoughts, experiences, advice?
Get your financial aid package first. Don’t commit until you know the numbers.
You have 100k in loans already, with 3 kids in college this fall? Yikes. I could never imagine doing that, my heart couldn’t take the strain. I’m not sure how accepting an offer before an appeal would help in any way, but I can’t say that from direct experience. Good luck.
I would think that committing would make it less likely to get an increase in aid - after all, the school knows that you’re planning on attending anyway. I would go for the angle of telling the school they’re DD’s top choice, but it’s difficult to commit because of the financial issues and the compelling offer from #2. Tell them that if they up their FA to $_____, DD will for sure be attending in the fall.
My DD and I decided to go with your and his advice. It is just so hard for her to wait. But the appeals committee meets next Wed and they said we would know later next week if we could get more. After looking over posts all over the Internet, it seems most people at the least get an extra $2k at this school with an appeal and that is $2k we won’t have to borrow.
That sounds good.
Most people on CC don’t want 100,000 in loans, but since you borrowed for the 2 older siblings, it would be difficult not to do the same for the third.
I hope you pointed out that you will have additional kids in school at some point, and that you already have 100k in loans, if the loans are in your name. My guess is part of loans is in other students’ names. Good luck.
Don’t commit before final aid numbers are presented in writing. Call school 1’s aid office and nicely ask if they can match school 2’s aid/FC. We did, with positive results. Should work, so long as school 1’s not hyper-selective.
OP, would you be willing to share the schools – here or in a PM?
Schools are Furman versus Berry College. DD got a good bit more %wise from Furman. Berry actually has a much larger endowment if that matters.
Just so we are clear, she wants to go to Berry.
I think it’s good that they are at least considering your request. There are no guarantees here, even with a large endowment (a large endowment doesn’t necessarily mean a large enough financial aid budget to match other school’s grant budgets, and it’s my understanding that financial aid offices try not to lowball applicants to begin with). If you can get the amount that you’re seeking you might be able to avoid adding to your loan balance especially with a monthly payment plan. In future years your daughter may even be able to manage her college costs more either through job/internship income or making less expensive choices in living arrangements if that’s possible.