<p>My S interviewed for a full ride scholarship at a small LAC in our state and absolutely fell in love the the school. Unfortunately, he didn't get the scholarship and was given a smaller scholarship and zero need-based aid except some loans. There is no way we will be able to afford it unless we can come up with another $7-10K. A current student told him to try speaking to the school and trying to get them to give us more money but I wanted some advice on how to do that. Since he didn't qualify for any need-based money at all, is it even worth calling the financial aid office? Is it better to speak to his Admissions Counselor hoping for more Merit Aid? Should he be the one to call/write or should I?</p>
<p>What is the best way to attempt this?</p>
<p>Good question, I would also like to know</p>
<p>If you don’t have need as defined by FAFSA and/or Profile then I would talk to the admissions office. They may send you to financial aid, but personally I’d start with admissions. If you have financial need, and especially if you have extenuating circumstances like a medical crisis etc. then it probably doesn’t matter which one you start with. </p>
<p>What is his alternative college and price? They won’t ‘compete’ against his state school prices. But if he will commit to go if given 7k in merit, you might talk to them about it.</p>
<p>So far his only affordable options are the State schools where he has full rides. all of the other schools have come back with some merit aid but not enough. We are still waiting for a few more.</p>
<p>Full ride at his state school or full tuition? And how many? How large are the state schools? Do those schols have his major? And the smaller LAC, just how small? If he changes his major will they have other acceptable majors? If the school comes up with the $7K how much will you then have to pay?</p>
<p>At the state school(s) do you have an remaining contribution or is it $0?</p>
<p>I always cautioned my children about “falling in love” with a college. There is no perfect school. Rather there are pros and cons to each school. His ability to objectively evaluate each school will help in not only choosing which school, but which classes, which ECs, which major. A “rose-colored glasses” choice can lead to transfers down the road. He can whole-heartedly be enthusiastic about his choice and excited, but knowing each school’s strengths and weaknesses can only help him in the future.</p>
<p>His future as a scholar depends on him, not the school. It becomes what he puts into, after having 5 kiddos go through undergrad and grad school, “falling in love” with a school will not serve him well.</p>
<p>As far as negotiating, don’t call it that with the schools. If your son has a peer school offer that is better he can use that to appeal the LAC offer with the caveat the LAC is his #1 and peer school’s offer makes it more affordable. And it really does need to be a “Peer” school or better. </p>
<p>The LAC had the ability to award him a full-ride and didn’t. However, if they really want him then asking for a little more can’t hurt. The worst they can say is no.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Full rides at 2 State Schools with over 50,000 students each. LAC has 2,500. For a kid who has some attention issues, it makes a huge difference! Even with the extra $7-10K, we would still have to pay more than $20,000 but I would be willing to do it and incur some debt so that he can be in an environment where Biology 101 had 17 students in it vs. the several hundred that would be at the State school.</p>
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so that he can be in an environment where Biology 101 had 17 students in it vs. the several hundred that would be at the State school.
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<p>17 students in bio I? Are you sure that 17 isn’t the “average size” class? Bio is a gen ed class that many majors have to take. It would be very unusual that the lecture be that small. I agree that it wouldn’t be a couple hundred like the big state schools that gave the full rides, but don’t be surprised if bio class sizes are larger for lecture and smaller for lab. For instance, lecture size may be 40, and labs may be 20 each.</p>
<p>Beware of schools posting average small class sizes. Gen Ed classes will still often be large. The reason that the school ends up with a low average is because a number of the upper division classes will be very small…this even happens at big state school. Some of my son’s 300/400 math classes only had 8 students in them.</p>
<p>Is the LAC Rollins or Davidson? BIG difference between those two! Is Vandy, Emory, Miami or Wake still in the running? Have you contacted those schools about the $$ numbers? How far off were those?</p>
<p>Mom2 is right about the class sizes…we both have sons in med school so are familiar with the science class sizes even in smaller schools. Daughter wanted small class size for her intro science classes/labs so she took her intro classes at the local community college, she later transfered to a four year in-state and her upper division science classes (pre-vet) were still small. </p>
<p>We are in NC so are familiar with Wake and Davidson, schools with reps for VERY hard-working students…ie “Work” forest!</p>
<p>3 kiddos were at the 4 year public and because of their majors/departments their classes were small, animal science, biochemistry, microbio, and mech e. Felt like a small school but with plenty of $$ for research and favilities. Very nice for STEM majors. Middle daughter attended a VERY large OOS public flagship and her major (classics with a Latin minor) had only 8 graduates her year. REALLY small class size.</p>
<p>In addition as they progressed money became available from within the departments for students. Money that was NOT figured in pre-freshman year. By the end (senior year) additional funds varying from $7500 to $12,000 was added to their packages from the department and their respective colleges from within the universities. In some cases it replaced their financial need-based aid but their out-of-pocket was $0.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>The LAC is Rollins. He actually sat in on the Bio class when we visited a few weeks ago. and there were 17 people in the class! </p>
<p>@katwkittens Wow! You have done you HW! (knowing other schools he applied to). Miami’s Out-of-pocket came out to about the same as Rollins and we are still waiting on decisions and/or financial aid packages for the others. That’s why I still haven’t contacted Rollins yet in case one of the others come through with something better and it gives us a good option. Rollins just seemed like such a good fit for him and I just wanted to see if calling would help.</p>
<p>Back to my original question, I guess we could start with the Admissions office but should it be him or me that calls? I could probably “negotiate” better but I know they usually like to hear directly from the students.</p>
<p>If you haven’t received all the financial aid offers from the other schools, you might want to wait until they come in to contact the school. Especially if any of the privates mentioned above come in with better offers. Has he visited all the schools on his list and did he have a favorite besides Rollins? It seems like such an outlier compared to Emory, Vandy and even Davidson.</p>
<p>Did he apply to any other LACs, that were comparable to Rollins were he might have received a better financial aid package? Rhodes, Hendrix, Sewanee, Centre, ones that offer merit?</p>
<p>Have you received the FA package.merit from Vandy yet? It is one of my favorite schools…they offered son a great package.</p>
<p>As far as speaking with the school make sure you have all the numbers lined up…how much more the competing school is offering, the difference between Rollins and why son would attend if the numbers were better. Maybe they think son is using them as a safety? It can happen especially based on your son’s stats (profile) and his other acceptances.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Maybe timing might be important, and personal visit? If someone turns down scholarship or other financial aid, can you student gain? Perhaps you know some other students at the school and find out how best to approach?</p>
<p>Try not to tip your hand too much. They might offer you more (than you need to have your student decide to go there), but do not limit your level of need so specifically. </p>
<p>A similar thing happened to my D at a small liberal arts school. I contacted the person in charge of the scholarship day (can’t remember if it was admissions or finaid director - it was 7 years ago). I told him that she fell in love with the school and would very much like to attend, but that the bottom line was it was more expensive than other schools and we really needed “x” amount of money to make it work. We got a revised award letter that included a larger scholarship amount. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not … but it is always worth a try.</p>
<p>I visited Spring Hill (a Jesuit school in Mobile AL) and there was a family with their daughter. Daughter had a specific learning disability that limited her test taking ability (ACT of 21), but she had a strong GPA, EC, etc. They told me after their meeting with financial aid, their daughter’s cost of attending was the same as UNA (University of N AL in Florence) - I consider Spring Hill the much better education option (as did this family). A bit of negotiating as well as the college recognizing that this was a very good student from a very good family that would be an asset to their school.</p>