My daughter was accepted to Belmont University and Loyola New Orleans both for music. She received gift aid of $15,000 from Belmont and so far $18,000 Academic and Artistic award from Loyola. I anticipate she will get additional $15,000 gift aid from Loyola.(takes forever) My daughter’s dream school is Belmont, but unless they give us at least $10,000 more she won’t be able to attend.
Can I use Loyola’s award to get more money from Belmont? I feel they are comparable schools. Both private.
Any one have any luck in appealing that can give me advice?
Yes, you can let Belmont know about Loyola’s awards. I would advise your daughter to very humbly let the admissions officer know that Belmont is her first choice school, her dream school and that she would be there in an instant, except for the financial situation. That she does have a financial package from a school that is affordable but would so much prefer to go to Belmont, and tell them about it. Once she does have the Loyola offer.
In my experience, it is possible, even probable that a school would up the award somewhat…but usually, and again this is just my experience, they do not match the other package. There is usually still a gap, and often loan funds are all that is left. Just letting you know so that your expectations not way up there. By all means, tell your DD to give it a try but to manage expectations.
Belmont’s award was only financial. She did not qualify for Merit. Loyola’s says it is Academic and Artistic. I am guessing more on the Artistic side. We are going to ask for $10,000, but if we can get half of that, I will likely try my best to make it work. Thanks!
If Belmont only gave you need aid and Loyola gave you merit, you are comparing apples to oranges.
Unfortunately, your daughter was not eligible for merit at Belmont
The best bet is to wait to see what need based aid you are getting from Loyola (if you are expecting 15k and you get it then you got the same amount of need based aid from both schools, making no basis for an appeal)
Does anyone know if Loyola New Orleans is known to honor appeals? Including room & board, our COA at College of Saint Rose would only be $18K but at Loyola it is $25K. My D very much prefers Loyola and they actually gave her slightly more scholarship money than St. Rose (COA difference is based on lower tuition rate at St. Rose.) I’ve heard of asking another school to match a scholarship but is it possible to ask a school to close the gap on COA when she already has a higher scholarship from them? I don’t expect a match (although that would be nice) but just some movement to close the gap. To be clear, she is still considering 6 schools total (most over the COA of Loyola) but seems to be leaning towards Loyola. Any insight is appreciated.
I’d focus on asking Loyola to review your award and pointing out any special circumstances such as lower income for 2018 than what is reflected on your FAFSA (used 2017 income), anything that happened at home (medical, fire, storm damage to your house), or just plain say that she likes Loyola best but it is unaffordable compared to other colleges. Ask if there are any other scholarships they know of that she could apply to like a Knights of Columbus award, an alum award, if she qualifies for more work study, etc.
@twoinanddone & @thumper1 Thank you both! I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask and we can explain some of our current financial constraints as well. My daughter has some new musical accomplishments which were added to her resume after she was awarded her merit from Loyola (she applied EA) so perhaps sharing those will also help our case.