<p>Hi, i just had a quick question about merit aid. I know many top liberal arts schools/ivies say they dont give any purely merit (non need-based) money. I am not eligable for need based aid, and I was just wondering if anyone had any experience negotiating between these schools once accepted and trying to have schools match other's tuition packages (such as working with an ivy to provide merit aid that would make tuition closer to that of a state school).Thanks for any insight</p>
<p>Our family's experience was this:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Son had a MUCH more attractive financial aid package from Carleton than from any other LAC or Ivy. (Had an outright merit scholarship at Harvey Mudd and another at RPI, but Carleton's offer was just a generous estimate of financial need, not a merit scholarhsip.)</p></li>
<li><p>Swarthmore would not (initially) negotiate on financial aid -- would not even meet Carleton's figures, let alone meet figures for a state school. But, later on, son was mysteriously named a Swarthmore "Presidential Scholar," so that loans would have become grants, but parents' EFC would remain un-changed. (This did not actually help us, due to other outside grant that already replaced loans with grants.)</p></li>
<li><p>Princeton would not negotiate on aid, but it did offer son the best package of any of the Ivies. (Carleton still won, overall.) Princeton also has very attractive institutional loan programs.</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia would not negotiate financial aid for daughter, but financial aid office is extremely knowledgeable and helpful, and did take a second look at aid when a significant (almost $20,000) drop in family income was adequately documented.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck !</p>
<p>I have never heard of negotiating costs when you don't qualify for financial aid. Ivies do not give merit money, other than within a need package, so you are not going to get anywhere with them. The only area I could think that they would be able to help is in offering loan information to consider.</p>
<p>Oh... Very sorry... I just realized that my first posting here wasn't really responsive to the OP's question, as he/she is NOT eligible for any need-based aid. I did not read the first query carefully enough.</p>
<p>Sad, but true -- you can probably forget it. The Ivies (and most truly "top" LACs) absolutely DO NOT compete financially with state schools. They will not "match" a state-school tuition for a student who qualifies for need-based aid, much less for a student who does NOT qualify for need-based aid. Just ain't happening. (But wish I were wrong on this point!)</p>