Looking for tips! Son received the founders scholarship at Syracuse. He received better packages from other schools and would like to negotiate…any advice?
I have helped a few students get better pkgs. What is the situation?
What are the schools and what did they award? Are they all peer privates?
How much did S award?
Which school is the favorite school?
BTW…don’t use the word “negotiate”.
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Wondering if anyone has any success with the financial aid office appealing for extra tuition assistance. My son received the founders scholarship which I understand is the most scholarship money they offer ($12,000). We are very grateful but I have heard at other schools you can try an negotiate a little but more. **He received much more money at other schools but Syracuse is his top choice. ** We are headin up today for own the dome...any suggestions!??
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Son accepted to all three. No money at UF, 10,000 at UMass and 12,000 at Syracuse. Anyone have any thoughts if it doesn’t come down to dollars, which we have considered?
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The above doesn’t square with what your wrote in your first post, please clarify.
What were the better pkgs and what schools were they from?
He received 20,000 from Ithaca College, $10,000 from UMASS Isenberg which is rated nationally better then Whitman and the OOS starting price is almost $14000 less.
So are you hoping to use the Ithaca offer as your leverage?
Syracuse does not claim to meet 100% demonstrated need.
They will not care what a public in or OOS school has given you.
Is your $20k from Ithaca need based aid or merit $$.
Are you eligible for need based aid?
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He received 20,000 from Ithaca College, $10,000 from UMASS Isenberg which is rated nationally better then Whitman and the OOS starting price is almost $14000 less.
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Son received the founders scholarship at Syracuse. He received better packages from other schools and would like to negotiate…any advice?
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They absolutely look at interest. My son was admitted to Whitman in first wave. We visited, he interviewed, we went to the financial aid program at Lubin House in NYC. he has a great GPA, Excellent ECs, 730 Math SAT, but 530 in reading/writing…he was accepted with founders scholarship so yes, interest helps!
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Your son’s M+CR is a 730 + 530? a 1260?
S isn’t going to care that UMass is cheaper, it’s a public, even if it’s OOS.
Ithaca likely gave your son a bigger award because his stats are “higher” for that school. Your son’s stats aren’t high for S. A 1260 is about an ACT 28. That would be quite average for Syracuse. For a school to bump of its merit, it would have to believe that the student can somehow “help” the school…usually be helping with its middle quartile numbers, but a 1260 doesn’t help S. If your child were a URM or from a state that sends few to the school, then maybe the school would want to bump his merit.
Schools KNOW that a student can get larger merit at lower ranked schools. That’s a given.
I’m from this neck of the woods…and I believe Syracuse and Ithaca are just about the same in terms of selectivity.
Since I trust @thumper1 to know the area, then it looks like Ithaca could be considered to be a peer school. If so, then definitely use that.
However, be gracious when you ask, thank them for the current offer. Explain that S is the first choice and your son would LOVE to enroll, but at this point it’s not affordable. Then gently mention what Ithaca has offered.
When DD was accepted to college, her number three choice gave her more money than her number one. We went and talked to financial aid on her accepted student visit. She made it very clear that the school was her number one choice. They did not increase her grant/scholarship money…but oddly were able to add a Perkins Loan, and Work Study. That made it work for us.
Five schools of varying rank offered my son merit aid of 12-19K per year; none were publics. Syracuse, one of his top choices offered zero merit aid. We talked to both admissions and FA, to see if it would be possible to reconsider his package. We were asked to send documentation of all of his merit awards from other schools for review to a mailbox (no name), which we did. When I did not hear back, I wrote again to assure they had received the documents. An unsigned reply came back saying that they had looked at the documents and no additional merit award could be given. And it ended with “Sorry for the inconvenience.”
Sadly, not only did this disappoint us from a financial standpoint, but it also seriously made us reconsider the school as a whole. Courtesy and professionalism goes both ways.
Congrats to your son on receiving the Founders Scholarship. And at Syracuse if he chooses to attend.
I have been successful twice. I used the same approach both times: (I have two sons so I use “he”)
“My son is an accepted student. He is very qualified because_____________. He loves your school but I’m not sure that we can swing the family contribution. He has also been accepted at____(comparable college/university) which has offered _______ which would leave us with ____________ contribution. As much as he loves your school, it looks like we will have to choose the other school. He wants to attend your school because ______________. Is there any way that you can offer more aid?”
OP, you have great advice from mom2collegekids. She’s given me something to think about…
I agree, @mom2collegekids has been right about my college search. She knows her stuff.