Should you always accept the first financial aid offer?

I have received more than one really good financial aid offer, and they are all pretty close. The best is maybe from my top choice but I am still kind of undecided. Is it worth seeing if I can get more, even a little more, from the best one?

You didn’t mention, but are you talking the actual amount awarded or the gap between the award and full tuition? If you are talking the gap between full tuition and your aid package, then a small amount likely is not worth appealing. So for example, A is 45k tuition and gave you 25k award, the gap is 20k, B gave you 20k, and their tuition is 39.5k (gap=19.5k), it wouldn’t be worth it. If the the two schools gave you roughly the same aid (let’s say 25k and 24.5k),but one is a lot more expensive then the other, then yeah, it would be worth appealing.

How common is it to appeal? There is a lot of discussion on this this year, but we never appealed. We took the offers, compared, and made a decision. Maybe our kids didn’t want to be pushy because they were grateful to be admitted in the first place. In one case, a school did ask if more money would make a difference (the department chair actually) and we did say yes, but we didn’t initiate the topic. Do you think, generally, that if a school wants you badly enough they will bring it up?

Can only talk about the experience with my S with grad school, In several of the cases the teacher said they would advocate for my son and if the award was not good enough, they would try and get more money for them. My take on this is that if the money is a serious issue and the kid wants to go there, then appeal, I also would recommend if a teacher is involved ie student had done sample lesson, they liked the kid, get them involved. If the difference in out of pocket between school A and School B is small, then it probably isn’t worth appealing IMO. It can’t hurt, though it also depends on the program, the ones that base merit aid in financial need as well will likely do very little on appeal, while others can give you a lot more.

Not all teachers will bring up the subject of money, even if they really like the kid, and it isn’t even like it has to do with how great the teacher/school is IME, kid could be one of the strongest auditioners at a program and no one will ask if money is an issue, kid could then audition with a ‘great teacher’ at a ‘top program’, and have them ask if money will be an issue and try to do something. My S faced that, at a program where the teacher had encouraged my S to apply there (they knew each other because the teacher subbed for his present teacher who has been on sort of sabbatical), they didn’t bring up money and the school gave a blah offer, even though it is not that strong a program, at one of the better teachers/programs in the country they were amazingly responsive, so you can’t even assume much about that.

Again, I recommend appealing when the money would be a hardship to go there, assuming you really want to go. I also recommend that if you appeal any decision that you do so knowing you seriously are thinking of going there, one of the things I know schools and teachers get angry about is when students appeal, tell the teacher they want to go to that program, teacher fights for them, they get more money, then they turn around and use that offer as the basis to get money out of another school. It is okay to use as leverage an offer from a competing school you already have (and yep, needs to be a comparable program), but don’t play what some kids do, constantly playing ‘can you top this’, believe me they will find out and it could have consequences, keep appeals to programs you seriously are thinking of going and where money would be a deciding factor, not playing F’rengai bargaining lol. (Okay, I am a Star Trek Geek…)

Go ahead and push and don’t think twice about it. All they can say is no. They aren’t going to tell your kid they can’t come to the school anymore because you appealed- just ask, but put together a well thought out presentation. Four years later, I am very glad we did.

Should this appeal be in writing (email, letter), by phone, or in person? How should it be phrased?

My daughter was given a scholarship, but I’m not sure they would up a scholarship award?

I have heard that it is better for the student to make the appeal, but that since it is assumed that the parents will pay (at least for undergrad) this is one of the few cases where it is okay for the parent to appeal instead if the student is not up to it.

You probably should only appeal to a school that you will go to if the total cost of attending is as low as any other competitive school. I think that you want to make the point that you want to go there, you really like the school, but it is more expensive than alternatives that are also quite good and you are hoping that this can be changed. Since you were accepted they already know that you are a good student, but by being polite and respectful in your dealings with the school you are showing that you are also the sort of student that they would like to have on campus.

We have appealed other issues (like honors college acceptance) successfully, but have not tried to appeal scholarships. Good luck with this.

Contact the college and ask what their appeals process is. Generally, the family makes the appeal, not the student, as it is the parents financial situation that will demonstrate need. I was personally successful with appeals but it was a lot of work.

Thank you.

I will contact them next week. My daughter received a scholarship so not sure how they will react to me asking for more. But, I’m hoping she can get merit as well.

Don;t worry about their reaction. The people who handle the scholarship money are not the same as the people who handle admissions. They won’t rescind her admission or scholarship just because they think you are greedy (and they won’t think you are greedy.)

For UG merit scholarships, my D contacted the admission dept (whomever sent her the acceptance letter/scholarship info) by email and stated something like:

I’m so pleased to be accepted to your school. I’m particularly interested in “some aspects of the school”. (My D, I believe, mentioned the teacher and performance opportunities.) However finances are important in my decision. (If you have other offers or a rationale for more dollars you could mention them here). I would like to inquire if there are any more scholarship dollars available. If there are, it would greatly assist me in choosing your school.

Of course you could call with some basic points too and see what they say.

My D did not have a better financial offer from a comparable school and we thought she had a pretty good offer…but she asked anyway…and got a “no”. She accepted shortly after that. For grad school there were more factors to negotiate and she got a response quickly asking how much more she needed. You don’t mention other factors so I’m assuming you just want to be sure you aren’t leaving dollars on the table. So in that case it’s a “due diligence, straight-forward request”. You don’t need to jazz it up. You just need them on notice of your high interest and of your desire for a little more help to get you across the finish line. If it’s a quick no it probably means they are confident that they can fill the spot with out giving more dollars away…and you’ll have your answer. It’s a straight-forward business deal for them so don’t worry about “what they think”. And they may say yes or direct you to other scholarship opportunities. Most seem to really understand it’s a big commitment and try to be helpful when you make a request but like any business there are only so many dollars available. I think my D’s “no” did come with information about others U scholarships (non-music) to consider. Too bad she was never a “leader in her community” as there seemed to be a lot of scholarships for that!

Edit: I’m assuming you are simply looking to increase a scholarship. That’s it is not a financial aid appeal. If it is an FA appeal then yes call th school for the process. We did not qualify for aid so we were just trying to increase scholarship dollars.

Thank you @glassharmonica and @bridgenail .

lol @glassharmonica and good point about the financial aid office being separate from admissions. I was nervous they would rescind for being “greedy” and not appreciative enough for the wonderful scholarship she did receive. Of course, we are very grateful because we totally didn’t expect to receive anything. We’ve always been told they were rather stingy when it comes to giving out scholarships. This has been her dream college forever and truly is the only college that we could ever see her attending.

@bridgenail We do not qualify for financial aid, so yes, I’m trying to get some aid from the merit bucket and/or an increase in scholarship – we’ll take whatever from wherever.

I’m going to think a bit about whether I should contact them via phone or she, via email.

Thanks for your help.

We don’t qualify for any financial aid either so we sport the entire bill minus the merit scholarship my d received. After her freshmen year she approached the chair of the vp program and got her total scholarship amount increased. By that time, they knew her and what she was capable of (she made it a point to be involved with the administration–audition volunteer, gala volunteer, etc, she proved to be the kind of student all of the instructors wanted to work with and she excelled in her performances). Even if you don’t get more this year…there’s always another year. Plus by that time, some students drop out for whatever reasons and free up money available for that year.

@anxious4ug I hope you were successful with your financial appeal.

I want to thank @DadTwoGirls @glassharmonica @bridgenail for your excellent advice. My daughter’s appeal was successful! She can now attend her top choice. Thank you too @Sguti40 for the suggestion to speak to the department chair. I have advised my daughter to do that for subsequent years
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