I had read about this a while back and now that we are crunching the real numbers, it looks to be more difficult than we hoped.
A little background…my daughter applied to several colleges and we think we have narrowed it down to two or three.
She was offered the Freshman scholarship and OOS waiver from FSU. This is hands down her first choice! She also was offered a full tuition scholarship from UA-Huntsville. And a few other scholarships from other places, but none quite as good as UAH, so UAH is her second choice. We are not sure we can swing FSU however, So I have questions…
- Can negotiating really be done? Or is it reserved for students with ACT scores at 35-36. Hers is 30, super scored 31.
- When should this be done, should we visit first and then try it or make a phone call before we go?
- Who should do this, student or parent? I feel like this is something the parent should do, but I don’t know.
- Who do we contact for this?
Any other advice would be greatly appreciated, Thanks
Contact the FSU admissions dept and ask to speak with a senior person, and ask them if you need to talk to the FA office, or if they can help you navigate this process. By being honest with them, and explaining to them how much your D’s hands down first choice is them, you are trying to help your daughter navigate this process. You have read that sometimes negotiation is possible and you are wondering how to go about this. By having the additional information about the UAH program, would that justify them please taking another look at your daughter’s file?
I would do this very soon, and since you are the one paying the balance of the bill, make the call yourself. I like to use the phrase “we all are working toward the same goal - finding a way to make XXX the most affordable option for” your daughter.
Go in with little expectations, because not a lot of schools have additional funds they can scrape up. But the sooner you do it, the better the chance that someone else who was offered aid declines, and the school will have something else to sharpen their pencil.
If you are close enough to visit, it can be very effective to show them printouts of the other school’s packets, but a phone call and email can accomplish the same thing. Not that you wouldn’t, but remember to be respectful of their time and the huge volume they are dealing with at this time of year. Sometimes saying something to that effect will help you feel you can “get them on your side”, but the reality is that they really want to do their best for all admitted students.
And big congrats to your daughter, it sounds like she has some excellent choices!
@3puppies Thank you so much. One more question, is “senior person” a term you use or am I looking for different wording there? Senior staff member?
That would probably be fine, usually it is a financial aid officer who can make decisions. Often there are lots of support staff in the office, sometimes these are clerical, student work-study positions, who will know who you need to talk to. I found myself more comfortable engaging these people when I simply asked how their office was set up, it made me feel like although I was nervous, I was genuine in needing help, patient, and very appreciative when I got it. I am the type of person who likes to take handwritten notes, and I felt more comfortable having names/positions to write down as I was referring to the notes / questions I had written down ahead of time.
What made me feel most comfortable the first time I went through this, with S at Columbia, was the reply they made - “This is what we do all the time!”
Even though all schools have different FA policies, the FA offices are similar in that they are all trying to help all of their students be able to afford to attend.
Best of luck to you and your D in this process, and please let us know the outcome! Hoping for good news for you!
Did your daughter apply for the Presidential Scholars Program? It seems like that’s a source of extra scholarship money at FSU. When you’re looking at an OOS public with limited scholarship funds and stated levels of scholarships, I don’t think there is typically room for negotiation like there might be with a private college. However, if you otherwise can’t afford it, there is certainly no harm in asking. I don’t think you need to visit - just call and ask. I usually think it’s best for students to contact the school, but when you’re talking about finances, I think it would be fine for parents to make the call. I would start with admissions; they might direct you to the financial aid office. Keep in mind that there are often students working in those offices who will answering the phones, so you’ll need to make sure that they direct you to someone more senior who has the ability/authority to help you.
You certainly should ask at FSU.
However…remember. The scholarships at UAH are automatic based on the stats your kiddo has. This might not be the same standard that any other school uses to award merit aid. In other words…your daughter had sufficiently high stats to,qualify for that merit award at UAH but might not have sufficiently high scores at another college.
A poster upstream mentioned Columbia. Columbia does consider offers from peer schools. Remember…at Columbia, this poster was dealing with NEED based aid. Columbia does offer merit aid. Apples and oranges.
Anyway…call and ask…nothing ventured…nothing gained.
My sense is that more and more schools will negotiate the initial financial aid offer, particularly in an effort to match an offer from another “comparable” school. Data would be helpful here. CollegeData.com provides information on average financial aid packages and the average percent of need met. I don’t know if it will break the information down by in state and out of state. US News and World report college rankings also has some of that information. If they are offering your child only about 30% of demonstrated need but their average is 50%, then that is a good starting point for negotiations.
I’m so happy I found this forum. You guys are great! Thank you so much.
beth’smom
She did apply for that, and I guess I should have mentioned that. To my understanding you have to be invited to participate in that and notification isn’t for a few weeks yet. That was another reason I wondered about WHEN to try to negotiate, but I forgot to mention that in my original post. Too much on my brain I guess!
@profdad2021
Are you talking about need based aid?
I thought the OP was referring to MERIT aid.
Good point. Financial aid would be the fin said office and would depend on your expected family contribution. Merit aid is often admissions so worth looking into both. Know what the number is you are asking for and use the she will attend if…as your intended outcome. If the difference is a grand or two you might be successful.
I will be honest, if you are looking for institutional aid, it is probably not going to happen at FSU.
They are a FAFSA only school. If you are not eligible for Pell, you are not a Florida resident, so bright futures and other state aid are not on the table. Florida as a public university don’t have the funds to give.
For her to get a scholarship that reduces her tuition to in-state aid (saving about 14k/year of 56k over 4 years), her cost of attendance is ~18k in-state. That is really not a bad deal. Her tuition waiver is larger than the university freshman scholarship of 9k. I don’t think that any additional merit $$ is coming.
http://admissions.fsu.edu/freshman/finances/
If she takes out the federal loan of $5500 and works now and through the summer, she an cover her own tuition & misc expenses, leaving you to cover the room and board.
If this is going to be a stretch, she may have to go with UAH.
I think the possibility of negotiating with a private is better than with a public. There might be some smaller grants FSU can give (department, or a named scholarship the FA office can grant) but there is not a pot of unused money. FSU used to give the SEOG and work study money to those who filed earliest. I knew a woman who filed as soon after midnight on 1/1 as she could (and I’m not sure that was required, but probably getting FAFSA in by 1/15 was important (now that would be 10/15).
All you can do is ask.
@sybbie719 That is honestly more along the lines of what we were thinking as far as being able to do it. I’m glad you are giving yours thoughts, I don’t want to sound stupid going in there asking for money if it’s likely not there.
We are still working on the numbers. Right now, we are not allowing ourselves to take any loans. She can take her federal loans and we will use cash only.
She has been working since June, 20 hours a week and saves it all for college, so she’s determined.
@twoinanddone What is the SEOG, sorry, it doesn’t sound familiar. We actually did file Fafsa on the first day it was available.
SEOG=Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant is grant aid provided by the federal government to school this money is not guaranteed and is usually given to first to low income students as a supplement to the Pell grant. SEOG funds can range from 200 to $4000. Because of the limited funding, they are usually distributed on a first come first served basis. I can see FSU giving out relatively small amounts in order to supplement as many low income students as possible.
In case you are not already aware, @momof2inwi , the Florida publics require that students attend a summer session during their undergrad years. There are many sessions to choose from and plenty of time left to work the rest of the the summer, but it is an added expense to plan for.
My family has some experience with “negotiating” with a flagship state university. Also, while conceptually, need-based aid and merit aid are completely separate, in practice they are all part of the same financial aid package and colleges sometimes CAN adjust both in negotiations with families.
@mamag2855 Oh dear, I did not know that. We will have to look into the price of that for sure. Thank you!
Florida publics require 9 credits earned during the summer as part of undergraduate degree. There is a waiver application form, but I don’t know the details or how easy or difficult it is to get a waiver approved. My D was accepted to FSU last year and I stumbled upon the summer requirement here on CC, I did not see it in the prospective students info.
@mamag2855 I’m not finding it anywhere! I’ve been looking since I read your post and can’t find any info about it. I googled it and found the info that states it’s a law, but not much else. Do you happen to have a link to any information? I did read somewhere that it’s required for Florida residents, is this also for out of state students?
