alright that’s good to know at least! now I don’t have to think about “what could have been”
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And thank you, all my schools, besides Suny at Buffalo (hoping to get pres. scholarship, which means full ride!), are around the same price 16k-20k so this is unfortunately the most expensive, hoping to take a few ks off with an appeal.
Definitely appeal.
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I will! I haven’t visited yet, going to the accepted students day on April 15th, but from what I’ve researched I really like the school (and it’s closer to home than UB and my other options)
Can merit be appealed? Or is it the financial aid portion that can be appealed? For a high ranked college like RPI I’m pleasantly surprised at their generous merit. I had no idea before this year, and it’s definitely something I would like to pass on to the juniors at D’s school, if they don’t mind moving from CA to NY.
I think it’s only financial
You can appeal anything you want. You may get something a little better and you may not. Here’s what we did. Wait until you have all offers in from all schools. Find a comparable school with comparable tuition and use their award as leverage (assuming it’s better). Wait until around April 1 to have the student send the email. The letter should explain why they love RPI best and really want to attend. Explain the financial hardship. Compare the details of the awards and be clear about how much more is needed. Honestly, we didn’t get a huge amount of additional merit, but we got some. It helped that my son had another strong merit award from another strong engineering school to use as leverage, I think. Good luck.
Google: How to appeal college financial aid or merit award.
Also, I can’t remember if my son sent the email to the financial aid office or through his admissions portal. Call the fin aid office and ask where to send the appeal.
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Does anyone know if the merit amount is refresh yearly ?
It only says renewable, but it does not say if the amount will be the same .
Does RPI have guaranteed tuition for four years , or does is mormalky increase yearly b?
Also what do we put on deposit day, how do i find the amount ?
We are from CA so it is a huge jump to go there but with good merit amount it is one of our top consideration 
Thanks
I believe most merit renews annually, but you should always clarify this kind of question with RPI’s Financial Aid and Scholarship office. Guaranteed tuition is rare, and most schools will increase tuition annually. Again, please double check with the school. Check with the Bursar’s office about payments. I believe the deposit last year was $500. Good luck with this decision.
Where did you see the merit offering? My daughter was accepted at the end of January. Very high stats. As far as she can see there isn’t any merit money and no financial aid information. Maybe she’s looking in the wrong place?
It was in the decision letter found in the portal. We haven’t received a hardcopy of the acceptance. I haven’t checked recently but I don’t think financial aid was completed the last I checked.
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If it isn’t in the admission’s portal at this point, I’d have your daughter call tomorrow.
Thanks.
I attended info session on aid yesterday. They said merit aid is renewable yearly. So that was good news. Even the early action award is renewable. The merit award can even carry up to 5 years if student choose to do coterminal program.
True no tuition cap, tuition increase is approx 3 percent yearly.
Indeed a good school - but we’ll see .
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Does anyone know how I go about appealing for more financial aid? I’m first gen so I’m kind of lost on some things lol
If you have a better offer from a peer school, sometimes you can negotiate better aid. Of, if your parents financial situation has changed, you can try to appeal. You may want to read through some of the older posts in the financial aid subforum.
okay thank you, rpi is 10k more than all of my other schools so I can definitely send in my offers from those
You should pursue an appeal for sure. Besides financial aid there may be other university scholarships they have access to, especially if other who were offered declined offer to go to RPI.
Multiple fronts to appeal on / creatively write on. Please note, it’s not that other schools charge less, it’s that those merit packages gave more gross dollars. RPI is one of the most expensive schools in the country (#50 on some list last year). I was successful at RPI when we were accepted, and for that matter at another school where my other student went.
Also, write about why you love RPI and want to go. Be positive and diplomatic. Be specific about the major you are applying to as well as details about your visit.
Lastly, hopefully you can add achievements / experiences not in the app, especially those that occurred S23 in HS.
I mentioned this in previous posts. One cost saver that I did not expect was moving off campus in year 3 and 4. Lots close to campus and in the $450-600/m range. Best to work on friends and roommates the 1st 2 years vs going solo. Getting out of the dorms and off the meal plan is huge.
Good luck !
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Thank you so much for the advice!
RPI admitted students day was impressive this weekend, despite the sleety weather. lol. We enjoyed the presentations but really enjoyed meeting two of the Chemical Engineering professors and talking to them about the program in detail. Not sure the scholarship will be enough to convince son to go there, but if the merit were a bit higher it would be high on the list.
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Have you tried negotiating with them yet? My son was at Admitted Students Day this weekend - he was there representing computer science students. He really enjoyed it from that angle too.
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