<p>It’s not about whether we SHOULD be able to negotiate, of course we should. </p>
<p>But at the demand-exceeds-supply colleges/U.'s, trying to negotiate would be an exercise in futility UNLESS that college’s student profile/quota is shy an underrepresented minority, a fencer, a valedictorian from a zero-income family, or something similar. Then, it’s possible I suppose. Only trick is to find out what that college needs, and they don’t usually show their cards.</p>
<p>Now…for a college looking for students, and there are lot of really fine schools in exactly this predicament, I would say that it’s a buyer’s market, all day long. There are or will be a TON of opportunities in this arena over the next 3-5 years, as the reality sinks in that some of these places just ain’t worth the money. </p>
<p>If I were doing it over (my 2 daughter ships have sailed 
), a year in advance I would get that list of schools looking for slots to fill after the May 1 drop-dead date, and start handicapping. If my kid had great stats & was willing to travel–and the parents were cool with it too–I would definitely do heavy research for quality, do campus visits, then inevitably play the schools against each other & make sure I had plenty of time to do it. I would guess one could save $30,000-$40,000 over a 4-year period by playing it the right way.</p>