My D received a very generous financial aid offer from school ‘A’, but we would not be able to cover the remaining costs or qualify for loans in the amount we needed to pay the balance. The remaining costs are taking into account if D took all the loans offered to her. first, not sure if it’s good for her to take all the loans ($6500/first year).
anyway, i’m going to appeal for more aid from school ‘A’. should I attach an financial aid offer from school "B’?
School ‘A’ is a good fit and D’s first choice, she is okay with school ‘B’ also.
School ‘B’ costs $10K more than ‘A’, but school ‘B’ offered $13K more that school ‘A’. Would it help the appeal to attach the other offer??
Are schools A and B peer schools? If school A is say Boston University or USC and school B is Podunk University they will likely not give you any more aid.
Is this merit aid or need based aid?
Yes, they are peer schools, and the aid is half need and half merit but all gift aid.
While they may be academic peers, are they financial peers?
Is the cost of attendance similar at both schools?
DId both schools give merit? If yes, what is the criteria for merit at school A and a comparable award at school.
what is the Gap in financial aid at school A vs the gap in financial aid at school b?
If a school only gives need based aid, it will not matter to them what someone else gave you in merit
I also have a similar question as the OP. Without hijacking the thread, I’d like to repeat a part of the OP’s questions, and that is, is it okay to ATTACH the school B’s offer (actual document of the offer with all the details) to the school A in requesting the aid increase? In my case, the schools are liberal arts college rivals with almost identical cost of attendance, neither offer merit-based aid, strictly need-based – but more than $10,000 difference in the offer.
@TiggerDad , it is often worth a real life phone call to the FA office, perhaps set up a meeting with someone there to explain your situation. You can bring a copy of the SChool B offer
Yes, that’s what we did in one of our cases. And it was successful. I’d think the target school would benefit from having it than getting offended. You just have to choose your words carefully in your appeal.
@mommabear67
How much more money do you need from school A? How much need based grant money did your child get at school A? What is the cost of attendance at school A
All of these things will matter.
You say that school B offered more money BUT school B costs more than school A.
Do you really expect a school that costs $10,000 LESS to offer you more money?
What is your net cost right now at school A?
What is your net cost right now at school B?
School ‘A’ has a net cost of $20K
School ‘B’ has a net cost of $16K (tuition is $10K more than ‘A’)
I expected a that a school that costs less, would still cost less with financial aid…
but as it turns out, for us, the school with the price tag of $10K more is actually costing us $4K LESS.
The list price is not the price. It all depends on the scholarships, grants and other sources of funding for that student.
The school with the lower COA likely has less resources for aid than the school that costs more. That more expensive school sounds like it has deeper aid pockets than the other school.
Some schools also are need aware and practice enrollment management. At these schools…students can receive more generous aid packages if a school wants to attract them.
It sounds like neither school meets full need for all.
Go ahead and ask. Here is our one off story.
DD got $9000 in grant aid from school A and $6000 from school B. School B was her first choice school. Those two schools were absolute peer schools (University of San Diego and Snt Clara University). The kid also got a HUGE merit award from Salfe Regina, and a huger merit award from University of South Carolina.
Her top choices were Santa Clara and USD. We made appointments to visit financial aid at both schools during accepted student days…and brought all other financial aid offers with us.
University of San Diego absolutely refused to discuss their financial aid award. In fact, the financial aid officer stated this, and then abruptly left the room.
Santa Clara was very willing to talk. They didn’t offer a dime more in grant money. BUT they added work study, and a Perkins Loan. Believe me when I say…we were NOT low income…but whatever. It made our cash flow better and the kid enrolled.
So…go ahead and ask. But just have a plan for if they say NO to an increased award.