<p>I just got, ahem, p*iss (oh, censorship) poor financial aid from Bennington (a gap of around $30,000). Anyone have any experience bargaining with them/any other advice?</p>
<p>Bumping this in hopes those with <em>personal experience</em> may chime in. Bennington looked amazing on my tour.</p>
<p>Those without, please no advice on go-to-community-college-young-man/take-a-gap year/give-up-your-dream-school/apply-to-plenty-of-scholarships-my-“D”-won-$200,000. Thanks :)</p>
<p>Very small endowment, not much to go around! </p>
<p>We have known kids in our school district to be accepted, but end up elsewhere due to lack of financial aid.</p>
<p>Thanks SLUMOM – do you know of anyone who’s dealt with the FinAid department there before turning down Bennington?</p>
<p>I was just told that I received a merit scholarship of $30,000 a year if I decide to attend. We were very surprised that I didn’t get any need-based aid, but when we talked to the fin aid office they said that they actually combined what they would have given me for need-based into the merit-based scholarship so that there will be no chance that it would change and become less money year to year- instead it is a fixed scholarship (which I thought was a very considerate idea).
Bennington is a safety for me but they told me that if I decide that it is where I want to go and I need more money then we could appeal for a bigger scholarship. I’ve heard from others that they do not give great financial aid, but I have been very happy with the gracious scholarship that they have offered.</p>
<p>Thanks for the comment, interesting. I received a little more overall aid, but only $12,500 of it in merit; the rest in need. That is considerate of them, though. From what I can gather online and from talking to them in person, they seem to at least try to work with you to let you attend. I’ll certainly update this thread with what happens.</p>