How do you get schools to compete with fin aid?

Paying for College
1

<p>College acceptances/financial aid packages are just around the corner and I wanted to get some advice from anyone who may know about this.</p>

<p>EXAMPLE
Student has EFC of 30k
School A, B, C accept student (each school costs 45k)
Need for student is 15k and all schools meet 100% of need</p>

<p>School A offers 10k grants, 5k loans
School B offers 14k grants, 1k loans
School C offers 8k grants, 7k loans</p>

<p>If student's top choice is C or A, how would student work to get them to match B? Do you tell a school what other schools offered you? Do you agree to go if they can give you some amount?</p>

<p>FOCUS: Once financial aid packages come in the mail, how do you approach getting schools to give you more $?</p>

2

<p>Good topic. Any suggestion? Please!</p>

3

<p>they all are meeting 100% of need.
The way the package looks often depends on how valuable they view the student.
IF the school "gapped", and it was different than another schools offer, you could make sure that they were considering the same information.
But to packages that are all for $15,000? You may have a hard time dickering over the amount of the grants, because that is like dickering over merit aid.
You could always say- " we have set a limit of $___ amt of loans, and school B would enable us to do that, even though he really would prefer to attend school C"
Its worth a shot anyway, but don't hold your breath.</p>

4

<p>Sorry, I don't quite understand. You mean I have to let A school knows what B school offer?</p>

5

<p>yes
How else are you going to do it?
They are meeting need. You can't argue about merit aid, which a grant essentially is, the only way you can get them to reconsider, IMO is if you acknowledge that they are meeting 100% of need, but let them know that a comparable school is offering more in grants, and that you would really prefer to attend their school, but the package is a much better fit for your finances
However, I don't expect that all the schools will find the exact same need. Schools tweak, and disallow something and allow others, private schools do anyway. This is just info that I have gathered from teh boards. We didn't appeal or try to appeal and her top choice school was in a different class than her other options</p>

6

<p>Thanks! Face to face or just letter?</p>

7

<p>You may get no where. It depends on the IM that the schools use. For example, DD got $6k from one school (that school uses the Profile and FAFSA) and almost $12K from another that only uses the FAFSA...both are institutional grants. Both are private schools and are very similar. The Profile school is very clear. They do NOT negotiate finaid unless there is an extenuating circumstance that was not able to be reflected on the forms...e.g. extreme medical expenses, loss of a job, or some other catastrophic event.</p>

8

<p>If you want to try I suggest writing something along the lines by student- I really like to go to your school but my parents are insisting on school B because I will graduate with almost no loans. Do you think there is possiblity to review my award? Then possiblly add some recent development in school work, maybe recent awards, recognitions, grades going up by the end of year, etc. or how much student will add up to school, etc. - something to better general picture of this student.
Be prepared to send or most likely fax school B letter to school #1.
At worst they will tell you that it was your final offer.</p>

9

<p>Here's what I sent last year; it worked for me at Chicago and Johns Hopkins (both of which are very stingy).</p>

<p>I was recently admitted to the [name of college] class of 2010, and I am writing to appeal my financial aid. Last year my family only made a total income of $[insert amount]. According to my [name of college] financial aid, my parents’ contribution is $[insert amount]. My family simply cannot afford to spend [insert #]% of its income on my college education. [name of college] expects my family to pay a great deal more than our efc, which was roughly what we could handle. For comparison purposes, my family is expected to contribute $X at [insert college], $Y at [insert college], and $Z at [insert college]. [name of college] is by far my top choice, and I would very, very much hate to reject my offer of admissions. I plan to study [insert random major], and [name of college] is among the literal handful of colleges to offer it. However, unless my financial aid is reassessed, my family simply cannot afford a [name of college] education. I plan to go to graduate [or medical or law] school; many loans are not an option. If possible, I would sincerely like my financial aid to be reassessed or any other possible sources of aid suggested. Thank you.</p>

10

<p>I agree with the above posters that language is everything. You never get a college to "compete" with another college and you don't get them to "negotiate" aid. Most important learn as much as you can about the process at the schools that you are interested in.</p>

<p>. I personally would not use OP's approach of what school a, b, and c offerd) as admission officers, Financial aid offers and those who work in enrollment management are very savvy when it comes to looking at "their competition", who choses their school over school A, B or C so the approach could come back to bite you. No one wants to feel that they are in a bidding war over students. If you need a review, I would only send on package per school; school a & b, or c and a (or what ever combination works for you). Schools want to know that you are coming for the education. Although money is a factor, if it is really that big of a factor, some will tell you to go where your money can take you.</p>

<p>While one does not use the words "negotiate" I am going to use the word to state some important points...</p>

<p>1.Know the financial aid policy of the schools that you are dealing with.</p>

<p>Many schools are part of the 568 Presidents' Group Member Institutions do agree not to get into a bidding war with the other member institutions over students</p>

<p><a href="http://568group.org/docs/568statute.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://568group.org/docs/568statute.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>member institutions</p>

<p><a href="http://568group.org/membership/members.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://568group.org/membership/members.html&lt;/a>
Some schools are up front with the fact that they do preferential packaging (Muhlenberg, BU -when it comes to giving out merit money). Some schools purposly give you an admit-deny, they admit you then give you a package that is so out there you cannot afford to attend.</p>

<p>Some schools (wesleyan and brown come to mind) are very upfront with the fact that they do not negotiate aid any you must really have some extenuating financial situation in order to get a financial review.</p>

<p>Read the fine print that comes with your award letter. </p>

<p>In our house we were very fortunate because D's first choice (which did not give the overall best package) stated in their FA brochure that they sent with the award letter that you could request a financial review even if it meant sending in another school's offer. We did request a review sent in School B's offer. We also knew that when it came to losing students- while school B did lose students to HYP, it was a 50/50 split when it came to chosing school A over school B (and vice versa). The Director of Admissions and FA even stated it in the school's daily newspaper. So read those school newspapers, they are a weath of information. When we contacted Current college D told them that it was her first choice, but school b was the more economically feasible option for our family and stated why. She faxed over school B's offer letter and a few days later they sent a letter meeting the offer (by the same token D also knew that if we could not get the $$ that she would be attending school B).</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Know how and where you stand as far as the applicant pool. If the school sees you as some one "worth" negotiating for ( I don't know what constitutes worth but often it has to do with where you are in regards to the school's institutional mission) you could end up with more money.</p></li>
<li><p>IF you have a package from a school that is based on merit money, it is very unlikely that you will be able to negotiate a a comprable package from a school that has a need blind approach to FA. Most need based schools are very explicit about the fact that they don't consider merit money when comparing packages.</p></li>
</ol>