As we all getting closer to making some extremely important decisions, including taking up new financial responsibilities, I though I would ask past years’ parents to share their experience, advice and tips on negotiating awards (scholarships and financial aid) on behalf of their students. What are the best tactics, whom to approach, when to start, how to state your case, how and when to follow up, etc. What schools have you had experience dealing with, and whether or not you have succeeded?
We, parents of the class 2021 will be immensely grateful to you for sharing…
I’d do it as soon as possible, because money runs out. Come armed with better competing offers, if you have them. If there are extenuating circumstances – loss of a job, illness, etc. – bring that up. Be polite and persistent. Tell them that they’re your kids #1 choice but you just can’t afford it (especially if this is true).
I’ve done this for each of my kids. I guess my suggestions would be:
- Wait until all your offers come in. Do not worry about the money running out, honestly. Unless you're asking in like August...
- Once you have your offers, eliminate any school you can. To use a personal example, my D had an offer from her top choice, RISD. Unfortunately they offered no need based grant or scholarship--it was all loans. This was at a time my EFC was literally 0. In other words, congratulations you may borrow $55K year year (at the time)! This made going there impossible. Nevertheless, we did ask, saying that the amount offered would make going there impossible. We were met with outright refusal to reconsider. (Obviously they didn't want her that much. Oh well.) Thus, RISD went off the list.
Another way you can eliminate is if you have two schools and one is clearly better than the other on all levels–much better offer and you want to go there more.
- If you are fortunate, you will still be left with schools.
A word of warning before I go on: NEVER tell a school they are your top choice if they’re not. Do not ask them to increase their grant/scholarship because they’re your ‘top choice’ then if they increase it, turn around and don’t go. That is not cool.
Anyway, study the offers. Some will be entirely need based. For instance, Northwestern, where my D went, has a policy of no talent/merit based grants. Hers was entirely need based and was not really open to negotiation, unless the financial circumstances had changed since we filed the FAFSA/CSS. However, considering you file that only a few months before their decision this isn’t likely. I guess if the pure need-based offer doesn’t meet your need, and your financial circumstances haven’t changed, you can appeal, but in our experience, they did meet the need, and anyway nothing will change because these are entirely by a computer program/formula. But if you feel they made a mistake or whatever, by all means bring that to their attention. This would be through their finaid office. To be clear, I’m talking about a school that is offering you purely a need based scholarship/grant.
Now for the other types: talent/merit, and talent/merit based on need.
If you have 1 hands down dream school, and if this school offers you less than you want/need, then it’s not going to hurt to appeal. Or if you have 2 or more top schools but the offers are varied, and it would make the decision much easier if you had better offers, then appeal.
You can do this by first calling them and explaining how much you’d love to go. Be sure you’d love to go! You can start with the finaid office, but you can build from there if you wanted. As far as whether to tell them about other offers–some people do this. I’ve known them to. I didn’t. But in my case there never was an opportunity to compare. That is, to use an example, let’s say you got into Tippy Top BFA Program and they offered $5K. You need more. Then let’s say you got into a Decent State university, and they offered a full tuition ride. You want Tippy Top more. You can’t really call up Tippy Top tell them the Decent state university is offering them a full ride, so they should match it–because the schools are apples and oranges. I mean, you can try, I suppose, but it would be better - to my mind - to simply ask Tippy Top to up their offer. It helps in that case if you have other offers from other Tippy Top schools but try it regardless.
Tippy Top may respond by upping it or not. It really depends on how much they want you, and how much money they have for this purpose.
Another situation might be: You get into a really top BA, like an Ivy, and they offer you $40K - but you’d rather go to Excellent BFA which offers $5K. If you call and ask to reconsider and they don’t want to, I guess then I’d I’d compare. I’d then show them the Ivy package and ask if they can up it.
Use your judgment in comparing two different offers to a college. It’s not like shopping for a car.
As far as who to contact–obviously the higher up someone is, the more freedom they will have to offer the money.
In general, the more they want you, the more they will offer. This is impossible to know beforehand.
Above all–be polite and respectful. It’s a stressful time but it always helps to remember everyone is stressed, admissions included!
Actually I know for a fact that money at CCPA runs out. This may not be true at schools that have enormous endowments like Northwestern, but it is true at some schools. There is also a second wave of money that becomes available after top prospects give up their enormous scholarships to go to CMU and the like.
@Jkellynh17, that’s an important point to consider. But you can’t negotiate if you don’t have all offers in hand. This is what I meant–I was responding to the OP’s question about negotiating with all the offers coming up (hopefully!).
If you are a school’s top choice, and in February, they offer you a nice scholarship, say, but you’re still waiting for other offers, then you can’t really negotiate. I mean, if you are certain they are your top choice, too, or near your top choice, and don’t want to wait for other offers, by all means ask for more money. But you would then have nothing to compare to; it would simply be a request for more money. I mean, they may well give it to you but that’s a different question than the OPs, at least as far as I interpreted it.
As far as money running out, though it happens, that did not happened with my own kids. They were accepted to a range of types of colleges, all RD (except for my youngest, who was an ED admit). In all cases, we waited until April to start appealing or negotiating, and sometimes that went later, into July. Also, like @Jkellynh17 points out, money gets freed up, too. It’s a fluid process.
Not to give the wrong impression though–there will be many colleges that can’t negotiate because they have no freedom or money to do so. Most (not all) public universities have less freedom. Other colleges won’t negotiate because they don’t really want you enough, to be blunt (like my D at RISD).
A word of caution: Be very careful not to treat it as though you’re looking for cars and shopping around. Be very mindful that most colleges offer unique things and always be respectful. I’d compare colleges only when comparing, roughly, apples to apples; or else when one college really wants you and you really want them, but you have a strong financial deal in hand from a higher ranked college. While I personally didn’t do these comparison-negotiations, I have known people who have done this successfully. For what it’s worth, the ones I’ve known who have negotiated one offer against another successfully have involved a higher level than the finaid office. As far as appeals though, it never hurts to ask - this is different, sort of, from negotiating.
Again, some colleges will not be able to negotiate, or not willing. And sometimes all they can offer is a couple thousand–many try and do their best. I can only imagine how rough it is for them as well!
Finally, for a financial appeal based on changed circumstances or else if you think the fin aid office made an error, the more fact-based you are, the better.
@Jkellynh17 when and who do you call? The financial aid department? The Musical Theatre department? As soon as you get the acceptance and first scholarship? D did get more money from another school (she really did) and then also got a comparable offer from a less expensive school. We have a lot to compare and D is strongly considering 3 schools. As an only parent (1 parent) family money is going to be an extremely important component in the decision.
@connections and anyone else that knows, is “need based” scholarship what you get from FAFSA? If so, I just don’t get it and I mean we dont get it…we get nothing. If a family only makes $40,000/yr, how can they be expected to pay for a $40,000 plus college tuition and maintain their home?
In our case there was a separate dean of admissions for the conservatory. We asked fairly late in the process, end of April, because our net estimated cost was more than I made that year. They said there was nothing available then but after May 1 things might loosen up. I crossed my fingers and put a deposit down. Later that summer my son opened up his portal to find that his aid had increased.
I am not a single mom, but I’m the sole earner in our family.
BTW, the way people do it is they save like depression survivors and if that doesn’t work, they borrow more than they can ever pay back. We’re the only country in the world that sees our kids as profit centers, rather than common resources to be developed.
@kentmtmom, yes, a need based scholarship/grant is based on FAFSA and, for many private schools, CSS Profile.
Not all schools can or will meet your need. FAFSA is simply a statement of your need, not a requirement for the college. And also schools can view loans as meeting your need. So it’s entirely possible to have a FAFSA say your EFC - estimated financial contribution - is 0, and for the school to say you need to pay/borrow $40K. Or $65K for that matter… It happened a lot to us, and is why we applied to a wide range of schools.
Be sure to apply to a wide range of schools. Private schools are generally able to give need based grants and scholarships at higher rate than publics. Public schools in general are not able to give large grants. Pell grants - from the gov’t - are very small, a few thousand.
CSS measures holdings and investments etc as well as income. So it’s possible you can have a small income but because your investments/holdings are large, you will have low need.
I agree with @Jkellynj17 that the situation overall stinks. It is what it is. I have 5 kids, & even with generous grants/scholarships over the years, I do have $10,000s in education debt, as do my kids.
Thanks! @connections we definitely applied to a wide range but these are the programs that she was admitted to. The pricey ones. The 1 in state with a BFA is also an option.
Good luck, @Kentmtmom. Try negotiating. It can’t hurt. Start with FinAid office, and go from there.
And remember that in-state with a BFA is a good option. There are so many enhancement programs you can do, as well. Not just pricey summer long programs, though these may be an option too. You can do summer theatre, eg summer stock or internships. And you can take classes for specific skills, like acting on camera (usually many levels), Shakespeare/classical, improv, combat, voiceover, etc etc. These classes are offered by casting agents, theatres, improv programs, and theatre schools. There are so many excellent classes offered all over–many actors take these ongoing throughout their careers, and many students take them post-grad. Your D could take them in the summer to enhance her BFA if she wanted. Look up the in-state city/town and see what there is nearby. The theatre department at the instate university may also help with suggestions.
Schools will more likely negotiate with peer institutions. So keep that in mind. Don’t just try to negotiate by using the biggest number you got. Ask yourself if the school is considered an equal to the school you are trying to negotiate with. So a school like CMU might consider what NYU gave you or maybe even Syracuse, but it’s unlikely they will care what a smaller school that draws only regional applicants offered.
@uskoolfish–Yes I had the same advice, only you wrote it more succinctly! 
Thank you so very much, @connections and @Jkellynh17 for contributing so much helpful information!
I better start working on my negotiator’s skills…
@actingbee Thanks so much for starting this thread! These negotiations will be our next hurdle (after April 1 when - please, oh please - we have all the decisions and packages in). Appreciate learning from the other parents who’ve been there before us!
It’s good to learn how to ask for money, regardless of where you end up in life.
@Jkellynh17 Funny…asking for money is my job! But, soliciting contributions for a worthwhile charitable cause feels different that this kind of negotiation for our own benefit. Still, I know some of the skills will transfer.
haha, @momto2artists…you should be really good at it then!