<p>Im a hs senior and at one of the schools i was accepted to i received a $15,000 merit scholarship. however, the total cost of attendance is around $60,000. Due to my family's income, im not going to get much financial aid in the form of grants so im mostly dependent on merit aid. anyways I've been told that if a school gives you merit money it pretty much doesn't do anything for you because it just reduces your need-based grant, essentially canceling out the benefit of the merit scholarship. i need at least another 25000 in merit aid in order to attend the school this coming fall. </p>
<p>has anyone successfully appealed for around this much ($25000) or more in merit aid from a school? how did you go about the process?</p>
<p>What school is it? I don’t think its possible. That is A LOT of money to ask for. and yes, you are right. Sadly, merit money supplements need-aid. Is the school GW btw? Just guessing because i know they cost 60k and have a very popular 15k merit scholarship. If so, no shot at an extra 25k.</p>
<p>I highly doubt a school will increase merit that much. sometimes you can get a school to give a few extra thousand, but not amounts that you need.</p>
<p>Did you apply anywhere that gives bigger merit?</p>
<p>yep, it’s GW. what makes you say no shot at that the extra 25000? is it because of the high amount or because of the school? i knew it would probably be unlikely seeing as id be asking for so much more but I figured it might be worth a try seeing as i pulled my grades and sat scores up after applying. also i got a full tuition and full ride at two other colleges so i was wondering if that might make them more likely to increase the aid or will they likely not care? i know that worked for one of my friends attending harvard when he told them yale’s higher aid package harvard gave him more aid</p>
<p>yale and harvard are peer schools…they will match each other’s offers. And their aid is need based, not merit. Very likely the difference between their aid pkgs was quite small…not tens of thousands.</p>
<p>Where do you have the full tuition and full rides from?</p>
<p>Well, you are asking for a $40k merit scholarship, which is much larger than their largest merit scholarship. I dont think it could hurt trying, but just be ready for a flat out no. Its such a slim chance. Sorry :</p>
<p>Merit aid TENDS to be based on stats. You either have the stats for a merit scholarship of $X or you don’t. It sounds like you are already getting the largest GW scholarship.</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad is right. Non need-based MERIT awards are usually clearly spelled out with a certain GPA and SAT/ACT scores. That amount might be slightly negotiable by a few thousand if you can argue you are the cream of the crop. The other place to get more scholarship money is through the department itself, and that IS usually negotiable…especially if they are private. When my S was accepted to college in 2008, he received a 21K merit award and a 4K department award which he negotiated to 7K, for a total of 28K/yr on a 50K/yr ticket. He could live on campus and get a private school education for less than a state school! Just had to keep the grades up!</p>