<p>Hey all, I sorely need your help!</p>
<p>After a very disapppointing college decision week, in which I got waitlisted from 3 of my top schools and rejected from the other 2, I am left with only three schools -- NYU, Tufts, and TCNJ. </p>
<p>HOWEVER, I am NOT happy with my finaid at NYU or Tufts! </p>
<p>To summarize: Tufts' EFC for me is $10,000 more than the EFC generated by FAFSA. NYU somehow misplaced my FAFSA and they gave me NO need-based aid at all!!! (I got a $10,000 merit scholarship though, which is no where near enough). TCNJ will give me a full-ride plus a laptop (a sweet deal, I guess). </p>
<p>So can someone please explain how I can negotiate financial aid with those two colleges politely? I've already e-mailed NYU to notify them of the FAFSA mistake and they replied saying that they will review my award. </p>
<p>Questions About Etiquette:</p>
<p>1) Should I be negotiating via phone/in person/letter? Is an e-mail formal enough???</p>
<p>2) Should I be mentioning other schools? (e.g. "Well, another school is giving me a very generous merit scholarship...") </p>
<p>3) Should I mention stats/accomplishments in hopes that they will give me more merit aid? </p>
<p>Any other advice? If NYU and Tufts continue being so stingy, I'm afraid I simply cannot attend. </p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>I have never heard many people to be happy with aid from either NYU or Tufts.
You could try to renegotiate- but I wouldn't hold my breath</p>
<p>Hmm...just called up Tufts today and they admit that they most likely made a mistake on my finaid and they apologized and said they'd get back to me within the week. Now for NYU...</p>
<p>Any other advice?</p>
<p>As you're probably aware, some schools get additional information to add to the FAFSA data. They do this because they believe it yields an EFC that they feel is more accurate about what a family can really pay towards college (for example, considering home equity, or protecting other assets they think are important). That's probably what happened to you. You might be screwed, but maybe not. Can't hurt to ask.</p>
<p>If your NYU pacakge and your Tufts package differ on EFC, one diplomatic way to put it would be like this,</p>
<p>"I'm trying to decide between several very schools with similar costs. I'd expected that my EFC would be the same (or similar) for all the schools, so my final decision would be based on fit, rather than finances. However, that's not the case...my EFC is significantly higher at NYU. Can you help me understand why that is? Is there some additional information we can provide that might level the playing field?"</p>
<p>The pitch would be a little different if you're simply comparing NYU to a less expensive school or one that offered you a lot of merit money. But I think the important thing is to not frame it as "THEY gave me more money!" but rather, "I'm a student trying to make a fair decision, and something unexpected in financial aid is making that difficult."</p>
<p>Mentioning merit aid from another college can be done tastefully, but you don't want to seem rude or clueless. If College X gave you merit money, either one of two things is true. Either College X has a different student body (one in which you stand out more), or College X has deeper pockets for providing merit aid. The college you're negotiating with knows this.</p>
<p>I think email is fine, at least for an initial inquiry. They may want to follow up by phone or mail, and they may want to see your other aid packages. You can ask them that. Be cooperative and polite, you've got little to lose.</p>
<p>Thank you, hoedown!
(I am one of the most tactless ppl around...your post helped me!)</p>