<p>My D got accepted to Rice and she is thrilled, as it is her first choice college. I know we shouldn't have gotten our hopes up, but we were really hoping for a merit-based scholarship. She has a 2310 SAT and a 4.2 GPA, plus a paid summer job, volunteer jobs, academic awards, sports, a bunch of 5s on AP exams, etc. But I know competition is tough for merit scholarships, and she didn't get one from Rice. My question is, can we request that she be re-looked at for a scholarship? Like many middle class families, where both parents work, we aren't going to get much in the way of need-based aid, but Rice is still expensive for us. It's going to be tough to write out those full-price checks. If it is possible to appeal, should I mention that she has received an engineering scholarship from UT-Austin and a pretty substantial scholarship from Harvey Mudd? I don't want to appear greedy or crass, but it would sure help make Rice more in line with our finances if they would consider matching her scholarship offer from Harvey Mudd, for example. Is there anything I can do at this point? And if so, what do I say in the letter, and who do I send it to? I've tried calling the admissions office, but no one has returned my calls. Thanks so much for any advice.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Absolutely! Just asking the school to re-examine your kid’s paperwork just because she is a great kid won’t likely get you far. But if you give them a reason to look their decision over–special financial circumstances, a better financial package from a comparable school, she really wants to go there if only she could get a better package, etc.–then you’ve got a chance.</p>
<p>You should be contacting the financial aid office, not admissions. Check on the financial aid site here at CC for threads having to do with appealing financial aid decisions. I think you’d follow the same strategies.</p>
<p>Good luck…</p>
<p>You can always ask but I caution you to not get your daughter’s hopes up. I know two families who had children accepted to Rice with stats similar to your daughter who appealed regarding merit aid and both were turned down. </p>
<p>Rice has a reputation for being very stingy with merit aid for Texas students, it seems to me they use their merit aid more to bring in kids from other states.</p>
<p>Good point, PMK…</p>
<p>I’ve never known a school to increase a “merit” award (but you can always try). They find more “need” all the time.</p>
<p>You can always ask; probably best to frame it as Rice being D’s first choice, if affordable she will attend. Hard to believe citing the UT-Austin award will be helpful - - private schools don’t consider the publics to be peer institutions, not to mention that trying to match in-state tuition that has been discounted by a merit award would be financial suicide.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for the advice. I have drafted a letter and will sleep on it for a couple days. I realize the chances of this working are slim to none, but it can’t hurt to ask. I know people who have negotiated to get merit scholarships at the graduate and professional school level, but it’s probably not possible at the undergrad level. As far as what to mention in the letter, I’m still working on that. It is actually harder to get into her engineering speciality at UT than it is to get into Rice, so I thought that might help, but NYC is right in that Rice doesn’t consider UT to be the competition. </p>
<p>As I’ve been working through this, I’ve been thinking more about the value of various colleges in general. I realize I need to ask this another forum, but if we’re going to go the private school route and figure out how to afford Rice, should I just bite the bullet and figure out how to send her to Columbia or Cornell? The difference at this point between Rice and an Ivy is about $10,000 per year. If I’m willing to find a way to pay full price for Rice (and that’s still a big “if” at this point), should I just go for it and send her to Columbia?</p>
<p>Well, where does she want to go, and how much skin in the game is she willing to have?</p>
<p>(And for her engineering specialty, if that’s what she is sure she wants to do, are Columbia, Cornell, or Rice really better than UT?)</p>
<p>Hi:</p>
<p>My son’s number one choice right now is Rice but, because I am an idiot and somehow forgot to list Rice on the fafsa with the other THIRTEEN schools, I am now waiting for a financial award letter. I did the fafsa back in January! I am assuming that he did not receive merit aid because they didn’t mention with his acceptance. Our EFC is 40 and while the government thinks we could pay this, it will be very hard.</p>
<p>I was disappointed because my son received between 20k and 14k at other institutions but nothing at Rice. My only hope is that they are generous with their formula on need? Carleton was kind and got us down to around 35k but I am not sure how or why. It is appreciated though and his second choice. Case gave him 30k but my son seems lukewarm about it.</p>
<p>We live in mass and are flying there for owl days shortly. Perhaps I should camp out on the financial aid office steps. :)</p>
<p>You definitely should appeal…what is the harm??</p>
<p>No one (including the government) expects you to pay the EFC out of current income. It is supposed to come out of past savings or future savings (which are discounted for inflation).</p>
<p>Yep, that is the question, where does she want to go and what is she willing to do to get there? We still need to make a couple college visits this month, and then she will have to decide. We fully expect that she will contribute to her educational costs, wherever she goes (and that’s the way she wants it to be, too). </p>
<p>As far as Engineering, UT-Austin is phenomonal. No practical person, and certainly no sensible engineer-to-be, would turn down the chance to go there. But . . . she’s thinking ahead to grad school and maybe med school. Colleges such as Harvey Mudd, Rice, Cornell, and especially Columbia could open doors for her and shape her in ways that staying in Austin and going to UT might not be able to do. Is that worth the price? Too bad we don’t have a crystal ball to look five, ten, twenty years into the future and figure out the answer to that question.</p>
<p>And so I keep going back to the numbers (sorry, it’s the engineer in me talking now). If I’m willing to make the jump from in-state tuition at UT to full price at Rice, why not make a slightly bigger jump to Columbia? On the other hand, if Rice’s cost came down a little due to a merit scholarship, would that then make Rice the better option? I don’t expect Rice to cost the same as UT, but if it was more in the middle, say between the cost of UT and an Ivy, would it then be a better financial fit in my mind? Of course, all of the financial numbers don’t matter until we finish up college visits and see where we stand then. But time is getting short and the finances will soon become the last remaining, big question.</p>
<p>You can always appeal. How successful the appeal turns out to be is up in the air. At a school where your student is considered a prime catch, your chances are better. Good luck. No harm trying.</p>
<p>My recollection of Owl Days was that the Financial Aid Office was set up to handle lots of parental appointments while the kids were off doing their fun things. Perhaps there’s a process by which you can make an appointment now?</p>
<p>My son graduated from Rice majoring in BioE two years ago. He could have gone to Columbia too but chose Rice. We paid full retail price too. My son’s experience is Rice has very good UG research program but perhaps somewhat lacking in summer intern opportunities which I think Columbia has an advantage due to its location. I must say though it could have been due to son’s slacking off but I cannot help but wonder “what if”. He graduated with a GPA of >3.7 but is now struggling to find a real job (he works as a temp now). I don’t like the fact that Rice strategically prices the COA at $5000 cheaper than peer schools and claims it a bargain. It is misleading since cost of living is so much cheaper in Houston. Just a thought.</p>
<p>I would recommend lining all of your ducks in a row.</p>
<p>Regarding the GPA:</p>
<p>Is the 4.2 based on a 4.33 gpa?</p>
<p>Is it a weighted or unweighted GPA? If weighted, how heavily?</p>
<p>If your daughter has received Merit aid from Harvey Mudd, send the letter. If the letter also states the criteria for your daughter earning the award, that would be better.</p>
<p>I do not think sending documentation from UT-Austin is going to help your cause because as others have mentioned, it is not considered a peer school and since your daughter is in-state, Rice is already going to know that it is a more financially feasible option for your family.</p>
<p>I would also have your GC speak to your regional admissions rep (the person who read your daughters application and presented her to committee) to provide some insight since most merit money to incoming freshmen is most likely based on the recommendations from admissions (because the school has met some sort of criteria in comparison to the rest of the incoming class).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Do you have enough money to help her with grad or med school? We told our son we had X amount of dollars and he could spend it all on undergrad or pick a less expensive undergrad and use the rest of it for grad school. He chose a full-tuition scholarship for undergrad and we will help him with grad school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Going to UT Austin will in no way hold her back. She’ll have to be more self-motivated but that is a quality she’ll need to develop to seriously consider med school.</p>
<p>“But . . . she’s thinking ahead to grad school and maybe med school. Colleges such as Harvey Mudd, Rice, Cornell, and especially Columbia could open doors for her and shape her in ways that staying in Austin and going to UT might not be able to do.”</p>
<p>I highly doubt it. Med school is very much GPA and MCAT based. In theory at any rate, she is likely to have a significantly higher GPA at UT. In addition, if she is truly a top student, she is more likely to have good research opportunities at UT. (The “shaping” is an intangible, and going away to school is almost always a growth experience.)</p>
<p>As you note, the engineering possibilities at UT are wonderful. And every graduate school knows that. </p>
<p>Ask yourself another question: might you be on the hook for engineering graduate school. With the savings from UT, you might be able to help with a year-and-a-half of med school, or a two-year engineering program. Otherwise, there is just debt on top of more debt.</p>
<p>No question in my mind that you can get a great education at any of these schools, and for the liberal arts major, heading to Columbia or Cornell (or Rice) would be a wonderful opportunity. But if she is really set on engineering, I’m not clear on the “value-added”.</p>