<p>I got about 12k total in Financial Aid. That’s a nice amount, I suppose, but more money always helps, especially in this less then stellar economy. Could I call the financial aid office and try to negotiate a large Financial Aid award? What’s the etiquette? Are there proven strategies?</p>
<p>Any advice would be appreciated…if I could secure another 5-10k I would be in a much better position to attend BC. I just don’t know how to ask.</p>
<p>BC doesn’t match other offers, and they don’t provide merit. They will reevaluate your situation if it matches one of the several indicated on their appeals form (on their website) but most of those are signifcant changes in situation (e.g., loss of parnet’s job) or missed info (e.g., I forgot to put my high medical costs and my younger son’s private school tuition on the FAFSA). Simply saying “I can’t afford it” doesn’t work at BC - in fact doesn’t really work anywhere this year. It’s a tight year…</p>
<p>If you have a better offer from a comparable school, and you feel you would like BC to reevaluate your package based on how that other school did its calculations, you can contact BC FA and see, but I would say $12K (not sure of your family income) is pretty good. </p>
<p>Also, you may realize but it bears saying: Not sure when you got your FA package from BC, but you should have appealed within days of geting it. If you got the package in April, you are very likely S.O.L.</p>
<p>“…more money always helps” and “…if I could secure another 5-10K I would be in a much better position to attend BC.”</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the same is true for every other student at BC as well. The school has already given you what it felt you needed, so unless you have some major changes in your family’s financial picture (like the examples offered by The Duke), you are probably not going to be successful at trying to get more aid.</p>
<p>Well, I got my FA award a few days ago. So I think I’m still able to contest it within a few days…</p>
<p>Basically my mother is supporting two families in India. Her sister’s and her brother’s. She pays their kids (my cousins) private school and University tuition and even pays for her sister’s apartment rental. These costs usually amount to 10-15k a year. They aren’t reflected in the financial forms we submitted to BC…so should we submit documentation of money transfers or tuition statements?</p>
<p>You can try, but I don’t think it will do much. Those expenses are not crucial expenses (although helping your family should be) like cost of health care or car insurance payments. BC is reserving most of its FA for families whose jobs are lost or financial hardship is making it very difficult to afford anything except the basics. Subsidizing your cousins’ expenses, although commendable, might not rise to that level of necessity. But hey, it’s worth a try. You might get a FA officer who can empathize with your family’s situation. And believe me, it’s all about who you have as your FA officer.</p>
<p>As Reddune as pointed out, what your mother is doing – supporting her brother and sister – is admirable, but it is her CHOICE, and not a legal obligation. (Just like some families may choose to donate large sums of money to charity organizations). Therefore, it doesn’t factor into financial aid calculations.</p>
<p>Dear Sethosayer : BC’s financial aid department executes two calculations - the first is your estimated financial contribution based on the government model and the second is the institutional calculation that more closely drives BC’s financial aid packages. If you are passionate about investigating additional aid, it is this second calculation that should be the focus and you will need to clearly document any errors in BC calculation process.</p>
<p>Now that the process is out of the way, a personal word about your text in this thread. Paying for private school, university fees, and such for family members overseas is admirable, but provide an explanation as to why you think that the BC Endowment, provided by BC Alumni and other sources of fundraising, should be used to underwrite these expenses? Perhaps extended family members will need to understand that your own education would have to be a priority call for your family.</p>
<p>As for securing an additional $5K per year, working 40 hours per week for 13 weeks in the summer for $10.00 per hour will get you to that total on gross. Seriously, it all depends on how badly you “want it”.</p>
<p>Sethosayher (OP): What happened? Did you ever appeal?</p>