Merit scholarships - will schools match other offers?

Paying for College
1

<p>Merit scholarships - will schools match other offers?</p>

<p>If I get a merit scholarship offer of $5,000/yr at school A and $10,000 at a similar school B, will school A match the school B offer? </p>

<p>Has anyone had any luck trying this? If you really want to go to school A, will writing a letter to the school and including a copy of school B's offer go anywhere? </p>

<p>Any advice from students/parents who have tried this would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

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<p>YOu can certainly ask. BUT merit award eligibility is based on each school’s criteria for awarding merit aid. Even though the schools might be “similar” their criteria for awarding merit aid could be very different.</p>

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<p>Yes, it can happen. However the schools have to be rival schools or schools that are considered “better” than school A. My son did this and it wasn’t even a matter of merit money but the total costs were lower at Cornell (state part) and they decided they would love to have a student who turned down ivy to go there.</p>

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<p>As stated before, it never hurts to ask and it does work in the students favor if the schools are truly comparable and particularly if they compete for the same pool of students.</p>