How do you compare GMU offer to others?

For regular decision, it says that merit and need based foundation scholarships are awarded after you commit to the school and pay your deposit. How do you make an informed comparison when all of the other schools included their foundation awards in the acceptance letter/award notification?

This is my daughter’s top choice school for their Forensic Psychology program with a minor in Criminology, along with their location allowing for possible internship with the FBI, but we have a gap that we don’t know how we are going to fill. All of the outside scholarships she has applied for won’t notify until after the decision/deposit deadline and GMU does the same with their foundation awards, unlike the other acceptance/award letters she has received. A part of me just wants to accept, pay the deposit and hope it all works out, but that isn’t really a smart thing to do. There are other offers on the table we know will work financially, but it would be sad to take a second or third choice and then end up having enough to make GMU work after we declined. Thoughts or advice?

What are the other schools/offers she is considering?

Right now the only other one she is seriously considering is Mary Washington since she could still take the commuter train to DC/Northern VA for internships and social outings. With her merit award and financial aid package there is no gap there, where there is about a $6,000 at GMU that we aren’t sure how to fund, if no scholarships come through.

Edited to add: But Mary Washington doesn’t offer Forensic Psychology, she would have to take a standard Psychology path.

If you contact the financial aid department/her advisor and express great interest in the school, but you need more money they may give you some assistance. I did that and got about $10k per year extra because I told them I really wanted to go there. GMU is an amazing school and though may be more money than Mary Washington will set her up for success in her career. There is a a lot of Mason alum who are willing to help and I got 3 internships from my connections/support at Mason. It is rapidly growing and in 5-10 years the degree is going to be worth a lot.