Matching Aid

<p>Hi, I'm considering transferring from a top 20 LAC to a lesser known school. I receive wonderful financial aid here, and the school I'm applying isn't quite as well known for their finaid. If they don't offer me as much as here, would it be appropriate to mail them my finaid statement and see if they will match it?</p>

<p>Also, if they offer a merit scholarship, I'm not sure I would be able to keep it as they require a 3.35 GPA, would it be possible to ask to see what my aid would be if I lost it?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>You give up negociating power as a transfer student, more often than not. You could ask about what your aid would look like without a scholarship, but they would wonder why you're already asking.</p>

<p>I agree with Isleboy that you give up all of your negotating power after freshman year. If you attend a school that currently has more money than the school that you are looking to transfer to, don't expect to get the same level of aid.</p>

<p>You are looking to leave Vassar which meets 100% if your demonstrated need (75% grant aid/25% loans avg need base scholarship ~24k) to attend</p>

<p>Ohio Wesleyan which meets 85% of your demonstrated need (from the GAP alone you will have to come up with almost $6k of unmet need) who packages their aid 79% grants/21% loans and average need based grant aid of 15,595</p>

<p>Looks like if you choose to leave the new school will cost more than the old school and I doubt if new school will want to make up the difference.</p>

<p>thanks for the advice</p>

<p>I've realized there are a lot of factors that will go into it that I can't control</p>

<p>a) FAFSA EFC is much higher than what Vassar's EFC is, turns out the schools have their own formulas...so maybe OWU's will come out better than Vassar's, but maybe worse, I don't know</p>

<p>b) OWU's stats say 85% average amount of need met, which doesn't mean that that is for every applicant. that's an average, so some finaid packages may be higher, and others lower</p>

<p>so I will just wait, and hope. if it's meant to be, it's meant to be.</p>

<p>Just make sure you have a plan B, as OWU does not guarentee to meed your need, while your current college does. For the latter, there is no gapping, while at the former, there is. </p>

<p>I have a friend who is applying to OWU, but also other colleges that guarentee to meet his need, because the reality is that he will probably get gapped at OWU and a few other schools. He's waiting to compare aid packages at all his schools, before he makes a final determination of where he will go in the fall, even if it means going to another college.</p>