<p>Actually, there CAN be SOME room for negotiation, if they REALLY want the student. I & others I know have been able to get our kids dream schools to “sweeten” the pot to increase their merit aid to more closely match or exceed that of schools target school deems “peers.” It made a difference of several thousand over 4 years for us. Some schools even add further merit while kiddo is at their U–this happened for us, so S was “cheaper” each year he attended the U (though it was still a BIG chunk of $$$$).</p>