Can somebody comment on whether or not Georgetown matches aid?
I received a 51k four-year merit scholarship from USC, and a 35k need-based grant from UChicago. Will Georgetown match the merit aid from USC? Or is Georgetown just more likely to match the need aid from UChicago? I consider USC and Georgetown to be peer institutions, and UChicago to be more prestigious than Georgetown, so I don’t think that will be an issue.
This is a hard decision for me because of the difference in cost between USC and Georgetown. Any advice is appreciated. Anybody who has had experience matching aid, please comment. Also, does anybody know whether Georgetown offers “side letters” (where they guarantee matched aid for all four years)?
Every college awards its own money according to its own formula. The same family can expect to get different aid packages at different schools. You should have ZERO expectations of a match.
IF you can get someone at Georgetown to agree to review your aid package, then perhaps the amount you’ve gotten from another school may be relevant.
But there are no guarantees that Georgetown will care what you got from USC. None. If you got a 35K need based package and your parents finances are straightforward (not divorced, don’t own a business, etc.) then the aid calculator from Georgetown ought to be reasonably accurate for you.
What did those number say?
and where did you get the crazy idea that financial aid is some sort of poker game?
@blossom Calm down. The idea of schools “matching” other schools financial aid to incentivize enrollment is neither unprecedented nor unheard of on these forums. Maybe Georgetown doesn’t do it, but I do know that there are schools out there that will raise your financial aid package to be comparable to that of a peer institution if you fax them the award letter from the peer institution.
I don’t have expectations of a match–which is WHY I asked “Will Georgetown match _____?” I understand that different schools make different financial aid calculations according to their EFC formulas. Perhaps it was unclear, but what I was asking is whether or not Georgetown has, in the past, matched aid and whether or not they’ve matched merit-based aid.
I understand there are no guarantees, and I’ll be speaking to the FA office as soon as I get a chance. All I was looking for is some insight with somebody who has had experience with this process.
I don’t know where YOU got the crazy idea that I think financial aid is “some sort of poker game”. The fact of the matter is the FA differs greatly from college to college and I was hoping somebody who’s been through this before could comment on it.
Thank you, regardless, for your advice. I will keep it in mind.
Have you run the net price calculator for Georgetown, and does it give you a number comparable to Chicago’s?
That’s step one.
None of us can tell you whether Georgetown will re-evaluate its offer to you. Has Georgetown re-evaluated offers to other students in the past? Yes. Have some of those evaluations resulted in more money? Yes.
But we don’t know what Georgetown will do for you… and IF they agree to take another look at your package, they won’t be “matching” anything or anyone. They WILL be going back over your numbers to see if they’ve misinterpreted some of your data, or if they can be more generous in light of their OWN financial aid policies.
Which is why I’ve asked what their net price calculators say. If they give you a number within spitting distance of what you got from Chicago, you’re in a good place. If they give you a number significantly lower (the calculator predicts you’ll get 18K in need based aid from Georgetown) then the likelihood that they will double that number to “match” Chicago is low.
Keep in mind that Chicago is now a FAFSA only school and Georgetown still uses the profile. So, off the bat they gave different methodologies of calculating your need. Did you read Georgetown policy in appeals or financial review
Georgetown only offers need based financial aid (they call their financial aid scholarships). So they will not care what you got in merit from USC, they are not going to “match it”. But you could have found this out from simply reading their financial aid page;
requesting additional aid
Most schools are upfront with the fact that they will consider an award letter from a peer school.
We know more than one person who asked for reconsideration of financial aid from Georgetown. In every case, the school gave them one or two thousand dollars more grant aid…but that was it. And in each case we know…the students went elsewhere because Georgetown remained unaffordable.
And in each case…the students had received more need based money from other meets full need schools. So you know what…that is where our friends enrolled.
It sounds like you have not gotten your need based aid award from GT yet. So wait and see.