How to request for more aid?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Carnegie Mellon University
1

<p>Hi. I got accepted by CMU and it's my top choice. Unfortunately, I did not get a lot of aid. I got 9k in grants, leaving about 53k left to pay.</p>

<p>My parents' combined income is around 90k and according to CMU, my institutional EFC is around 45k. (How is that even possible!)</p>

<p>Right now, my COA per year is more than what one of my parents make! My parents talked to me and they said that if I go to CMU, they might have to spend parts their retirement savings.</p>

<p>I did not get any aid from anywhere else [ UIUC (OOS), UMich (OOS), UMass (in-state) ], so CMU actually gave me the most aid. But that means I can't appeal and send them any offers.</p>

<p>Could you guys give me any advice? Should i phonecall their office of admissions and ask for more aid?</p>

<p>Thank you so much.</p>

2

<p>They will probably tell you to apply for loans and help you look for them, as well as encourage you to look for scholarships, but they will probably not change your package unless you do fin aid package matching with other colleges, (which is not gonna work in your case). So start applying for scholarships and looking for loans.
Both my parents lost their jobs and I couldn’t work, CMU’s suggestion: “oh you can take out more student loans, we have that option”</p>

3

<p>Selena: Did that happen with your parents’ jobs after you were already enrolled at CMU? I thought they would give you more need based aid if that happened in subsequent years?</p>

4

<p>^ Yes it happened before we applied for the next year’s aid</p>