<p>This week we will be visiting a SLAC that my D was admitted to. While she is sitting in on a class, I have been scheduled to meet with the financial aid office. She has been offered $5,000 more merit aid at another SLAC that is a little cheaper to begin with, with the possibility of more at a scholarship competition in the spring. </p>
<p>Is this the time to bring up the other aid offer with the college we'll be visiting or is it too soon? I'm hoping for some need-based aid too as we're a single-parent family, but won't know about that until the spring. If I do broach the subject, what's the best way to bring it up?</p>
<p>Each college has its own tolerance level for negotiating packages. Also a factor is how badly a given school may want your particular student. </p>
<p>My oldest is only a high schooll senior so we haven’t negotiated at all so take what I think with a grain of salt. I have spoken with lots of parents who have successfully knocked a few thousand off their tuition bills, but The opinion of someone with firsthand experience is probably more valuable. </p>
<p>Anyway, I would let the school know that final cost will be a big factor in where she ultimately enrolls. Then sit back and see where the conversation goes. I’ll bet you’ll get a sense of what’s appropriate to say at that point in time. </p>
<p>And don’t bother negotiating unless the better offer is from an institution this college considers a “peer”. Colleges use merit aid to get the students at the top of their applicant pool to accept. Therefore, the more competitive the student body, the less likely a more attractive package from a college way down in the selectivity rankings is going to rile anyone up at this college. They know that colleges with weaker student bodies will be using more money to attract higher stats students. That’s how it works.</p>
<p>You can try…but don’t be surprised if the school says they do not discuss their offers. We did this…and one school was very clear…they did not discuss their offers…take it or leave it…and they didn’t care two hoots about any other school’s offers. </p>
<p>Another school was willing to hear our financial discussion, but didn’t add a dime of merit aid. They did add an additional loan, and work study.</p>
<p>So…YMMV. But you certainly can ask.</p>
<p>Are these two colleges “peers”…in other words, are they demographically similar and view themselves as peer institutions? If one school is far less competitive than the other, the competitive one really won’t care what the less competitive one gave your daughter. </p>
<p>And keep in mind, the policies on awarding merit aid vary from school to school…or even scholarship to scholarship.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies so far. Yes, the two schools are fairly evenly matched, but in different states. In fact, the one with less aid has a higher acceptance rate than the other (and brags on its website how affordable it can be), so that may be in our favor. Still, I don’t want to bring this up prematurely. D has no clue what school she wants to attend at this point.</p>
<p>I’m thinking the term “affordable” might be a code word for need based aid, not merit aid. Handled very differently, even by schools that might be considered peer institutions.</p>
<p>As you’ve heard, price matching will yield mixed results. I know quite a few people, however, who have been successful giving a college their “best final offer”. Of course, you have to be willing to walk away. And you better have something you can afford waiting in the sidelines. </p>
<p>I know several people whose kids have gotten into Penn State Main but for whatever reason preferred a local school. Parents call the local school and say something to the effect of 35k ( or 30k or 25k or whatever), take it or leave it. Sometimes the school takes it and sometimes they leave it. I think it often depends upon how badly the school wants the student. </p>
<p>Yes, it’s probably too soon. You wait until you have your offers and are willing to commit if given a good enough package. I doubt you’re there yet. </p>
<p>What does the school’s website state about requirements for merit aid? Many schools have a policy that X.XX GPA and YYY SAT score = so much in aid, and the merit scholarships are pretty much set in stone, as they say. </p>
<p>In addition, if you qualify for financial aid, those packages are not released until after the FAFSA’s are filed and processed. You may discover that the school with the lower merit scholarship may offer more in need-based aid (or not).</p>
<p>You have until May 1 to commit.</p>
<p>That being said, you are certainly free to express to the financial aid rep that you have concerns about affording the school. My daughter and I attended an “informational” program for a school that had already accepted her, because we’d been told that everyone who attended one and requested a campus job would get one, I told the FA person that I was worried because we’d have to use loans for almost the total cost of attendance. He stated that he was going to be at a scholarship committee meeting the next day and would see that she was awarded the math department’s only scholarship for incoming students - and he did. He also offered her a job in the financial aid office right on the spot, so that she did not have to apply for jobs her first week on campus. So you never know.</p>
<p>Lots of LACs don’t specify (intentionally, I think) their criteria for merit aid. I think you probably just say that cost will be a significant factor at this point and that is it. When you have packages in hand, then you can go back and say that the cost of attendance at comparable school X is this many dollars cheaper, and can they please review her need based and merit aid to see if they can get to a similar number. Don’t use the “match” word, that doesn’t play very well… But as stated above, the schools do have to be comparable in ranking.</p>
<p>Eh. I’m not so sure about the peer thing. I know of a case of an Ivy-equivalent (one of the few Ivy-equivalents that offers merit money, and they have been cutting back on that as they have risen in the rankings) willing to discount enough to match the tuition-free offer of a run-of-the-mill public after decisions had gone out.</p>
<p>Ultimately, it comes down to how much a school wants a student and/or wants to protect their yield.</p>
<p>But while you may want to express concern about affordability, you do want to wait until all offers (including fin/merit aid) on the table before you negotiate.</p>
<p>Then, I would be honest. If school A is truly your child’s first choice, but you have a better offer from B, send A a copy of B’s offer, and explain the situation forthrightly. Make sure they know that A is first choice, and that if they can improve the offer, your child will commit.</p>
<p>I have good friends who had narrowed down to two schools–even way beyond May 1, having made deposits at each school, and finally made the call after the preferred school “upped the ante” so to speak.</p>
<p>Not sure I would have been <em>that</em> aggressive, but it worked out for them.</p>
<p>Look at it this way: What is the worst that can happen? They say they wont match or improve, so you are right back where you started. They certainly are not going to pull their original offer because you asked them to improve it.</p>
<p>You have a meeting with Financial Aid; they must expect you to talk about something. I played dumb, which wasn’t hard because I really didn’t know how it all worked. I asked how different types of aid worked at that school, if there were other types we were eligible for, how to get more, etc. One coach was honest with me and said “I don’t give scholarship money to freshmen” and I told her we couldn’t afford that school. Case closed. Other FA offices and athletic offices knew we were comparing offers so they wanted to put a reasonable offer on the table. You might mention that money is a factor, that you are trying to compare offers from all the schools your D is interested in, and you just want to make sure you are comparing the same thing. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t expect too much from the ‘being a single mother’ situation. Singles actually are in a much worse position than married parents. A single’s assets allocation is about 1/4 of a 2 parent couple (in my case if I were married about $50k would have been protected, but since I’m single it was about $13k). The numbers are the numbers, and while it might help if you have 20 kids, if you are a family of 3 but single, you’ll get the single level of protection while a family of 3 with two parents gets the married protection of assets. A private school might care, but FAFSA and public schools do not.</p>
<p>Your friends are lucky the schools didn’t find out that they double deposited, or their kid might have ended up at neither of them.</p>
<p>Also, OP, is your child’s dad in the picture in any way? If so, lots of schools do expect a contribution from him, and being a single parent can actually hurt you if he isn’t willing to help out. </p>
<p>this is an issue. While you want to try to get more money while there is still money left in the pot, it often does NO GOOD to ask if you can’t tell them that your child will definitely attend if the offer is increased. Scholarship admins do not want to jump thru a bunch of hoops to increase your child’s award…only to have her go elsewhere.</p>
<p>Plus, schools are aware that once they “jump thru hoops” to increase your offer, you might just go to another school with this new offer and get that other school to match.</p>
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<p>Is this a CSS profile school that requires NCP info? If your child’s bio father is alive, is he going to contribute or provide financial info?</p>