Hi! I received my EA acceptance, but I can’t find the info about merit aid on my acceptance or my gibson portal. Can someone help me out or show me where to find it?
First off, congratulations on getting accepted into Tulane! When I received my EA acceptance, my merit aid was included in my acceptance letter and was soon posted to my Gibson Portal ( I received the leadership award for 5k a year). I would double check your Gibson portal maybe? If there is none, I would just email your admissions counselor. Maybe they will include your merit aid in your total financial package in the spring, but I’m not sure. Does anybody know a way to possibly increase merit aid? I was kind of hoping to get a little more then 5k a year and Tulane is one of my top choices…
@mattyicee i’ve heard that if you email them (not entirely sure who “them” is… probably the financial aid department, though) and say anything along the lines of “I got x amount from other school, so you should match that” or “i will definitely attend tulane provided you increase my merit aid award” then they might offer something more generous. definitely say it more eloquently/politely than me, but also be to the point and assertive. if you assure them that you WILL attend provided you receive a better offer, then i think they should cough somethin up. worth a shot!
Tulane admissons office does not negotiate merit aid. Last year I inquired into that. But perhaps the financial aid office might provide additional need-based aid based on the information and documentation you provide.
Thanks for the response! I’m a little confused because based on their admissions materials (pamphlets, presentations, etc) my ACT score and gpa should have given me at least some merit aid. Tulane is also my top choice and I really hope we’re able to get as much aid as possible so we can attend 
@purple2018 Did you call admissions and ask them about it? They are very nice and helpful.
I just sent them an email. I figure I won’t get much response since it’s still kind of the holidays.
@purple2018 I bet they are back to work tomorrow. I would just call them. Can you imagine how many thousands of e-mails they have received this week?
Good advice! Thanks for your help 
@EDHDAD I got a very vague email response from their office interns explaining that “this year’s applicant pool was extremely competitive, and not all of our highly qualified admitted students were offered merit aid”. The intern office did not address my Gibson portal questions at all, probably just assuming I was upset at not getting merit aid and not seeing that I had a legitimate technical issue. I have emailed my regional rep in hopes of getting an actual answer. Thanks again for your advice!
What is your issue with the portal? Are you making sure you click on the 2018-19 tab. You can check to make sure they have your FAFSA and CSS Profile info there.
At most schools only the top 20% or less of the accepted students get merit aid. I think that Tulane probably does a little better than 20%, but I’m willing to bet a lot more students do not get any merit aid than do. Tulane also does pretty well with providing need based aid, but I’m imagining that if you are upper middle class and your student does not get merit aid that the cost to attend is prohibitive for most. Schools also give different amounts of merit aid to different programs so it’s not realistic to compare the grades and scores of one student to another to expect an outcome for aid. Some of the programs that are the most competitive and thus require the best grades and scores to get in are the ones that give less aid because they are so in demand they don’t have to.