Should I appeal a financial aid award?

Paying for College
1

In November, I was nominated by my school to apply to UBC by the International Scholars Program. A couple of weeks ago, I received a letter from UBC that said that my application for the award was unsuccessful. About 3-4 days ago, I received an admission offer from UBC, but I won’t be able to afford it without the award. I have wanted to attend UBC for a long time; I would accept the offer if I had the award.

I could reach out to the financial aid office to ask them to reconsider my award application, but in the letter they sent me, they wrote that “the decisions are final”. Should I appeal a financial aid award in this case?

2

No. That would be considered merit scholarship money, which is awarded to a fixed number of students. The decisions are final because their pot of money has already been distributed. Some students are able to appeal need based awards by showing awards from peer institutions (as defined by the school, not the student), but that doesn’t apply to you in this situation.

1 Like