<p>Has anyone ever been successful with bargaining for more money from an Ivy in order to afford matriculation?</p>
<p><3 to anyone who replies...</p>
<p>I am a huge proponent of negotiating... um, excuse me, I just had a lapse of conciousness... I mean appealing. But don't expect much out of the Ivy's w/o serious extenuating circumstances.</p>
<p>We had a chat with Harvard. I just emailed the FA officer and gently suggested that since they were several thousand dollars off of the other Ivy offers, that maybe it was possible they had missed some piece of information in our apps. I included a couple of the better offers, while telling him I was aware that they don't 'negotiate' aid. He was very nice about it and said he would be glad to present to the committee again. It came back about $3000 better.</p>
<p>bandit</p>
<p>Great!</p>
<p>It seems like attitude was a key factor in your success!</p>
<p>The key is not to "negotiate" but to ask for a financial review of your package which is what we did at Dartmouth. They even stated in the information that came with the FA package that you could request a FA review, even if it meant sending in someone else's package (which we did). we thanked them for their package and while Dartmouth was D's first choice the other package was the more financially feasible option for our family (explained our financial situation) and asked if they would consider a review. They did and met the package offered by the other school.</p>
<p>Amongst the Ivies, the ones that pretty much tow the line when it comes to their packages, are Brown, Columbia and Cornell (especially if you are looking to negotiate the package you received from one of the land grant schools which is already reduced for NYS residents). Brown and Columbia are pretty straight forward in the fact that they don't negotiate aid, so at Brown, it is going to take some pretty extenuating cirucumstances (something they missed) in order to get an appeal.</p>
<p>It is also going to depend on whose offer you send and how "desirable" the school finds your student (how your student aligns with their institutional mission),and where they are as far as filling their class. A school that has a pretty high yeild, may not negotiate aid unless the student is presenting pretty good hook, that they are trying to hold on to (supply and demand). </p>
<p>They have a pretty good idea of what schools student's give them up for and what their chances are when a student is accepted by school A, B, and C, the likelihood that a student is choosing them.</p>
<p>Hmm... I stand pleasantly corrected. Good to know.</p>