I have seen data suggesting that LMU has a relatively poor record of meeting FAFSA determined need, and is rather ungenerous with merit aid. My D has been fortunate in earning a variety of very good merit scholarships, including at colleges that rank comparably to LMU. LMU, however, offered nearly nothing: $2K. While we are fortunate to have some income available to cover college costs, there is no chance that we could cover LMU’s tuition plus room and board without substantial loans. Anyone have thoughts on why LMU is relatively stingy with aid compared to sister schools? We’ve pretty much been priced out of attending at this point, so this is mostly out of curiosity.
Have you tried having a sit down with the FA office? Since it’s a private uni they can pretty much charge whatever they want. If a person shows enough interest in the school by saying “Hey, this is my dream school but 2K in aid is just not enough, what can you do to help me?” It shows them you are serious about attending. Sometimes they might be able to budge a little. (Not always successful but worth a try). I know people that go to USC (which is actually pretty good about aid) that did this and ended up getting some more assistance than originally awarded. Like I said, doesn’t hurt to try.
My son was accepted to LMU, St. Louis University, St. Marys of Ca., Santa Clara and Washington University in St. Louis.
LMU, provided the least amount of money $26k.
Santa Clara, $50k, St. Mary, $38k SLU, $30k.
Washu $36k.
Its funny I heard SCU, was pretty stingy and they ended up with the most money.
Still waiting on other schools.
He is a 4.0 student and 32 ACT.
Some private schools don’t have the private funds to offer to students. LMU might be one of those schools.
When negotiating FA awards is it best to have my daughter call or send an email? So far Santa Clara has been the most generous of her schools, very similar to EGAH54’s post.
Could you please let me know if you start with an email or call the financial aid office in order to renegotiate.
@Tryingherbest how did things go with LMU Financial Aid. I’m thinking of having the same conversation.
I emailed the FA office with a screen shot of Santa Clara’s award that was $21,000 greater. It was a total bust. They responded that I could fill out a form if I had a job loss or other circumstances but that they can’t Make changes based on other offers. My hope was that they would have made an effort. Since this was my kids #1 choice we may have paid more for her to attend. I guess my daughter is gaining experience with the real world.
I have a dumb question, when people are talking about financial awards above, are those amounts for each year, or for all 4 years? So like the person who got 50K from Santa Clara, is that per year, and if it is isnt’t that pretty close to a full a ride? I went on a tour of LMU just a few days ago, and the guy said they had a record number of applicants this year, over 15K people for only about 1500 spots. If that is the case, that might explain partly that they can be more selective and less generous as far as merit aid? I don’t know, just a thought. It’s a really nice school and I like everything about it.
We didn’t apply to LMU at all, at least partly because when I spoke with FAid when we toured there, they said the student has to be in top 10% class rank to be considered for merit award. Due to medical issues, S was only in top 50% of his class. Fortunately other Us, including Santa Clara and USoCal gave him generous merit and he’s a happy EE grad of USC.
Us definitely determine how they will award merit and FAid. Each school can apply its own criteria–some will consider offers made by peers/competitors while others won’t.
@tryingherbest- If your daughter is serious about attending LMU and finances are the issue she should write a sincere heartfelt email to the financial aide office and the chair of the department she is admitted to. There maybe more money freed up as students decide where they are attending. My nephew received 17K of merit and has chosen not at attend LMU so that is 17K that is available for someone else. A lot depends on the department, as some have very little to no merit money and others have more. My nephew had ACT 30 grades were high but I do not know his gpa, he was accepted to ME. My daughter will be a senior there next year and loves it as an aside.
@suburbancat we are in the same boat. My D got the same $2000. I truly feel that she deserved to receive merit aide. She’s not in the top 10% of her class though, so I guess that was a factor (she’s in top 25%). Very involved in school, 5 AP’s 3.76 unweighted through Junior year. SAT just average. We tried the appeals route and had ZERO luck. The heartfelt message wasn’t going to do a thing! They basically told me that when they sent out the initial acceptances that they gave out more money than they had (knowing not everyone would accept their offer) and there was no money left. They said we could contact them after May 1st to double check but that they didn’t expect there to be anything. They did say that there would be other scholarship opportunities once my D was enrolled. They are a Jesuit school with no endowment and their funds are limited…that’s the bottom line. My D committed last week so we’re keeping our fingers crossing that she can get a scholarship next year.
@sewingmom I thought the same as you but since they gave out more money than they have, just because some kids decide to enroll elsewhere doesn’t mean there will be money left over…
This is an older thread, but LMU does have a 440 MILLION dollar endowment, just to correct an earlier post.
@suburbancat
Not sure if you’re still checking this. What was your EFC? I’d be interested to see what kind of aid package was offered to 0 EFC applicants.