<p>My son got into Brown which is probably his first choice though he has until the end of the month to decide. What is puzzling is that they are only offering $9k/year in direct aid in the form of need-based scholarship money. This is far less generous than the other schools which have all offered $18k-20k/year. These other schools--Vanderbilt, Olin, Johns Hopkins--are not Ivies. I always thought the Ivies had low acceptance rates because they were generous. </p>
<p>How do I approach the financial aid office or scholarship office and ask them to consider matching the other schools? </p>
<p>What can we expect as a response from them if we do this?</p>
<p>What does their calculator say you should pay? Brown is not in the generous ivy category unfortunately.</p>
<p>First of all, you need to look at what awards are merit and need based. Hopkins and Vanderbilt have merit scholarships. If you have a need figure of , say $9K,and you win a $20K merit award from them, you get to pocket the excess, since the award is merit. It eliminated the need and exceeded it. Brown gives need based money only so you are not going to get such a bonanza from them.</p>
<p>Also PROFILE schools do not use the same methodoligies in defining need. One might cap a home equity value, wheras another may not. SOme might even use 401K and other such qualified accounts in the considereation , whereas others may not. Some take into account what cars you drive. </p>
<p>So before you approach Brown, you need to know whether those other schools have some merit in that award or if they are pure need awards. If they do define your needs more generously than Brown, does, you can request that Brown go over the forms with you and find out if there is something that can be interpreted differently. It is not a negotiation because it is need based aid and unless there is something ambiguous there, it is highly unlikely they will budge. Good luck and see what happens. It does not hurt to ask, and sometimes mistakes have been made.</p>
<p>None of the aid mentioned above was merit-based. I guess that it just means that the other schools–Vanderbilt, Olin, Johns Hopkins–are more generous.</p>
<p>The schools you mention just evaluate the other particulars (assets, etc) differently than Brown. To some other families which might have no significant assets Brown might be better for them</p>