My son has straight As all four years, 34 ACT, class rank #5 out of 418 students, lots of clubs/sports. He was awarded $19,000 per year and asked to be in the Honors Program. Is it possible to ask the school if they can do better? We will wait to see what his merit aid looks like from other schools he has applied to and maybe use that as leverage??? Any advice is appreciated.
First time parent here! Thanks.
And I should say he took tons of AP classes and Honors for the rest.
It can’t hurt to ask. See if you can think of any extenuating circumstances, because every school we approached asked us that first. So for us, that meant explaining that our oldest son is mentally ill and our business has suffered as a result. They gave us some more money after I wrote a long letter explaining everything. Then the school also mentioned a music scholarship for non-music majors. It means my daughter, a jazz pianist, gets a little extra aid each year and free piano lessons every week that come with a course credit! If we hadn’t talked to the school, we would have missed out on this wonderful opportunity for her.
My financial advisor’s reasoning is, “It can’t hurt to ask!” He actually approached one school SEVERAL times, and they kept throwing him a little more money each time. I don’t think I would be that gutsy, but it worked for him.
Sounds like they are actually making a pitch for your son. Their Honors Program is something they seem extremely proud of, reading the mailings they sent out last cycle. They attach merit aid to the students to whom they extend the honors invitation on a determination they make before they extend the invitation, if I remember correctly.
You, too, must have received information about different levels of merit funding and honors-association, with one of those I believe being earmarked for students of color. Was your son the recipient of any named scholarship? Or was this need-based aid?
They might consider a competing offer from what they consider a Peer school.
To Waiting2exhale, he received merit based aid only, but not a named scholarship.
Is your son an instate student in Ohio? He also applied to VA Tech…is he instate there?
This is a very generous merit award from this public university…especially if he is instate.
If he is NOT an instate resident, did he apply where he IS an instate resident?
Did he apply to University of Alabama where his stats would have garnered significant merit aid?
Neither Miami or Virginia Tech are well known for generous merit aid awards…especially to out of state students.
OP: My son had same stats OOS last year: $22k. Perhaps they can give a little more? It just puts you even with in state. I don’t think you’ll get much more.
He is OOS – we are from Nashville. He did not like Alabama so did not apply there. Only got $5,000 from VA Tech. W
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He did not like Alabama so did not apply there.
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Well, if he had, he would have been awarded free tuition and then you could have possibly used that as leverage with Miami O
Do you know what the top merit award is?
Since it is pretty easy to get full tuition at Alabama, we did not think that would hold much weight with schools like VA Tech, so he decided not to apply at all to Alabama. He did get $19,000 from Miami Univ in Ohio, so maybe that will help with leverage.
wisteria100, no, I don’t
I seriously do NOT think a public university in one state will give two hoots what a public university in a different state gave your kiddo for merit aid.
But you can ask…and see.
I would NOT expect VA Tech to match the much larger award Miami gave your son.
thumper1, we are definitely not expecting VA Tech to match Miami, but hoping for a little more than $5,000. He was accepted into both Honors Colleges too. I guess it never hurts to ask!
Nothing ventured…nothing gained…so sure…ask.
But I hope you hare a plan B for both of these colleges. You were inquiring about getting more aid at Miami too.
Hoping there is an acceptance that meets your family budget.
In many cases…it is very hard to get merit aid increases at OOS schools.
VT has plenty of high stats kids applying, especially instate kids to engineering. They are not well known for tons of merit aid, even for instate students. Your own instate schools or a place like Alabama, known for substantial merit aid, would have been better bets if you were looking to bring down your costs…
The cost of attendance for OOS students at Miami is about $46,000 or so.
If your kid got $19,000 in merit, and took the $5500 Direct Loan, he would have roughly. $24,500 which is more than half the cost of attendance.
Your net cost would be about $22,000… -and that is all the costs.
Can you afford that amount? If not, this school is not affordable.
If Miami U is his first choice and he has other comparable offers where the net price (tuition, fees, room, board) minus merit or need based aid is lower, then yes you could see if they could offer more if he enrolls.
But I would not waste their time and try to get more from Miami in order to get more aid from VTech.
I don’t mean to give you a hard time, but what is the objective here? You mention that VT is his first choice. Would he attend MU if he gets more money or is he likely to end up at VT anyway? If so, go back and appeal at VT, but don’t expect much more than he was already offered.
As was highlighted well above, your son did very well to get OOS merit money two fabulous public universities. Unfortunately, neither of those schools appear on the typical list of schools that give high merit for kids with a 34+ ACT. Good luck.