When do you appeal a college’s scholarship amount? Do you wait until after you file for FAFSA?
Not sure I follow your question. If you haven’t filed FAFSA, how can you possibly know how much financial aid the school will offer? Or, is this some side/special scholarship that you think should have more $$?
They offered him $12000 with his acceptance letter. The school advised on a previous visit to appeal your scholarship package. I was wondering when is the appropriate time to do that.
If it’s a merit scholarship, it will be difficult to appeal, but - if you do not have to commit to the school - you can let them know that you are waiting to hear from other schools and compare financial packages. A college that wants a student enough to offer him $12k might up the ante a bit, especially after you’ve submitted your FAFSA report. If the $12k does not meet your EFC, the college probably will add some need-based aid. One college sent an additional offer (I can’t remember whether the original scholarship was $12k or $14k, and the subsequent $5k or $7k, but the ultimate scholarship offer was $19k).
Contact the school’s office of financial aid and find out the protocol.
I would check to see if the school’s website has a form. D’s college had a “request for review” of FA amount, which I thought was a nice way of putting it.
Is this for an Early Decision acceptance? If so, you need to get your finances in order before you make a decision about accepting the ED offer. So you would appeal now.
BUT you need a basis for your appeal. What exactly is it?
Also, what is the cost of attendance? How much more does your student need per year to attend?
Some schools seem to increase the award just by asking. I know several who really didn’t have to prove anything had changed, just submitted a letter that basically said “Well, that’s just not enough.” It almost seems like the schools expect you to as for more, as the OP said they were told to appeal.
thanks for taking the time to answer my question - all good information!
If the school in question is truly the numbers one choice for your student, I suggest you send an email to the FA office indicating an additional amount of merit money would convince you to go ahead and accept, or something like that. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
I thought the admissions office dealt with merit aid…and the financial aid office with need based. Perhaps this varies by school.
I would also contact admissions.
There’s a difference between FA and merit. FA comes after filling out FAFSA or CSS Profile and comes from the FA office.
It appears that the OP is talking about MERIT, which comes from the Admissions office. They have limited merit to award, so if you want to be considered for more, then it’s better to ask sooner, rather than later when Admissions likely has run out of merit money to award.
That said…where do your child’s test scores fall in the school’s quartiles? Does the ACT or M+CR SAT fall well-within the top 25% of the school? Does the school have larger awards to give?
To appeal my son’s MERIT scholarship, we had to work with the financial aid office, even though we didn’t even fill out the FAFSA. I guess it varies by school. Yet another maze to get through.
I swear I spoke to every single ‘specialist’ in the financial aid and admissions office at my daughter’s school. Each person knows about one thing - this scholarship or that grant, a ‘state’ person shall never answer a ‘federal’ question. I just kept telling myself there was money at the end of the phone line.
I would go back to the person at the school who advised the appeal and ask him/her.