Negotiating Financial Aid

Hey everyone! So I know it’s coming down to decision time and I just have some questions on how I could go about asking for more money from the school I want to go to. Any help would be appreciated; thanks!

So I got into Fordham; I received full tuition from their National Merit scholarship, but this still leaves me with about $20k in costs per year. While this is right around my EFC, I would like to ask for more merit or need-based aid if possible. I have two things that I think give me leverage:

1.) I have three siblings with chronic disabilities, so there are many costs associated with that (about $10k per year easily). I could use this to ask for more need based money.

2.) I am a National Merit Finalist who also got a 35 ACT. I also have a very high GPA. I think this could be my argument for more merit aid as I’m assuming I’m a student the school would like to have (I don’t mean for that to come across in a bad way!)

The only issue I have now is that I don’t have many offers from “comparable” schools that I can use for negotiation. I have an offer from a top 10 LAC offering about $3k more than Fordham (need based) and I have a half tuition scholarship from USC (merit based). I also have a completely full ride to UAlabama because I’m a NMF but it is a much lower ranked school.

Does this hurt me? Can I still use their offers to ask Fordham for more money? How about USC’s offer since it’s a considerably higher ranked institution but they’re giving me less money? Also, how much should I ask for? I was thinking $5k-$7k was a reasonable amount to, but I’m not sure. Once again, any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Top 10 LAC will help, but UA will not for negotiations, however you should tell them about your siblings they might ask for medical bills etc.

Fordham will require documentation of unreimbursed medical expenses for your siblings. If the expenses are covered by insurance they will not count.

Don’t mention that USC is a “considerably higher ranked school”.

You would need documentation for any unreimbursed expenses related to your siblings. Get this information together…with documentation of the chronic nature of their disabilities. This is information the school doesn’t have…no place on the FAFSA for that.

If it were me…I wouldn’t ask for a specific kind of additional aid…just say…it’s your top choice…and you can attend if the finances can be worked out.

I personally do NOT think University of Alabama is a lowly school. It has great programs and facilities, and amazing aid, as you see. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if you took a free ride to a great flagship U.

It is highly unlikely that Fordham is going to give you more $$ in order to cover your EFC

AS @TomSrOfBoston already mentioned, you will have to produce unreimbursed medical expenses for your sibilings.

Fordham, has already taken this into consideration. This is why you have received a full tuition scholarship. Trust and believe, Fordham is not going to be at a loss for students to attend (some even willing to pay full price).

Your Top 10 gave you a need based award, where Fordham gave you merit $$, apples and oranges. Fordham does not guarantee to meet 100% demonstrated need. They will not care what someone gave you in need based aid when they gave you merit $$. It does not matter that USC gave you a half tuition scholarship, when they gave you full tuition.

Tuition at Fordham is $47,850. The COA for UA (OOS) is $45,316 (tuition is $28,100 OOS). Fordham has already given you more money than Alabama. They are not going to throw in any extra money.

If you have received a full tuition scholarship, you can borrow $5500 as a freshman, leaving your parents to pay ~12.6k for room and board. You can get a summer job (~$3,000) to help defray some of the cost of your misc. expenses.

Do you know that Alabama just announced that this year’s NMFs will now get 4 years of housing instead of just one? This is in addition to the five years free tuition, 3500 stipend for four years and other bennies.

@mom2collegekids I didn’t know that! I’ll have to check that out because that’s pretty huge! Thanks!

@sybbie719 thank you for your help. I know that Fordham is an awesome school and there was a reason I mentioned that I don’t want to come across in the wrong light. I’m not claiming to be some demigod that Fordham NEEDS to have at their school. I was simply wondering if they would consider that for extra aid. But as you said, they most likely already did by giving me the scholarship. It’s just kinda crazy that it’s still going to be about $20k out of pocket after the scholarship! I will continue working my current job and hope to contribute a few thousand bucks to help my parents out!

@thumper1 I didn’t mean to insinuate that U of Alabama was a “lowly” school, I simply meant to address the fact that its lower ranking may not make it a peer institution for Fordham. And you are right that the school is fantastic! Plus graduating completely debt free is a nice plus… I’ll have to consider it a bit harder now!

@TomSrOfBoston thank you for the advice. I definitely won’t say that, but I was just seeing how much weight it might carry because I’m sure they are aware. Nevertheless, I guess I won’t go that route!

@CU123 thank you! I’ll try and get the medical bills in order but one thing I was concerned about is that Fordham does not claim to meet full financial need. This is why I was concerned with going the need based route but if I need to then I will!

Thank you everyone! Anymore advice is of course greatly appreciated! I’m glad I have some great people like you to help me out with this stuff.