Has anyone out there had any luck in appealing their student’s financial aid offering? Can you share any good resources for writing an appeal letter? My daughter is an excellent student and locked into offers from 3 different colleges (all state colleges, one in-state and 2 out-state). She really likes the structure of the majors at the out-state choices. Problem is, out-state tuition is more expensive. My husband’s income is too high for more aid (according to original offer). Our special situation is that he still has very substantial student loan debt (law school and masters), making it impossible for her to attend the out-state choices without taking out other loans. We have good credit and no consumer debt. Just a mortgage and substantial student loans. Also, my husband spoke with financial aid at all 3 of the colleges. One said the student loan debt didn’t matter to them. The other three said to write a letter. Wondering why the different stands on this.
Why the different answers? Special circumstances considerations are done by some schools…and not others. In addition, they are handled on a case by case basis. Even if you send a letter…there is NO guarantee that you will receive additional need based aid…at all.
But…if 3 schools said to send a letter…then send a letter.
Your husband’s student loan debt probably won’t be considered in the financial aid formulas. You can ask…but don’t expect a yes answer. I doubt they will view this debt as a “special circumstance”. A special circumstance is usually something like loss of income from parents, major medical expenses that are not reflected on the financial aid forms, some other financial crisis.
In addition, many public universities do not provide a LOT of aid to OOS students.
Also, there is no guarantee that the schools will give you as much aid as you think you need.
How much additional aid does your daughter need to attend these more costly OOS public universities?
And my free advice…as parents, you are seeing first hand what college debt can do to your family. Think of that before you take out any loans for your daughter.
Different policies at different schools. Also, the 2 that said to appeal didn’t guarantee anything so they may also not consider the parent’s loans when they actually read the appeal, but are just saying it’s possible.
There is no secret to writing the appeal letter. State your need (monthly income is $XXX, monthly expenses of the mortgage and loan repayment is $XX).
Most people I know who have successfully appealed have received only a small increase, and it didn’t make up the difference they needed to attend the more expensive school.
Public universities prioritize their in-state taxpayers. She needs to go in state.
You are not allowed to commit to multiple schools. Any school can withdraw their offer of admission if they realize you have committed elsewhere.
Did she send enrollment deposits to multiple schools?
Why did you have her apply to schools that you couldn’t afford and wouldn’t qualify for aid?
Most out of state Publics don’t have the funds to give you. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to pay more taxes in your state so that your schools can give money to out-of-state students…particularly to ones with high incomes.
Seriously, OOS publics charge a high rate because you don’t live there paying taxes. They really don’t want to cover those high costs with need based aid. Otherwise, why bother to charge the high OOS rates. And they certainly don’t want to dip into their limited aid to give to a high income family who has professional school debt.
Grad school debt and law school is not a special circumstance
We were hoping she’d get some merit-based aid. She’s also a top student. I’ve heard sometimes colleges are willing to negotiate more if there is a student they really want. We also have a special needs child with medical expenses that aren’t covered by insurance. We heard that can qualify as a special circumstance.
You would need to have unreimbursed medical expenses. So yes…wrote a letter…detail the medical expenses.
You will need to provide documentation that these are essential, and not elective medical services. The schools will also likely want to see the bills, and explanations of benefits that shows they were declined…and some proof that you paid these bills.
If these are ongoing expenses, that will need to be documented as well.
Even WITH that…it is still possible that your kiddo’s aid will come up short.
given your family situation with your husband’s college debts, and your other child’s medical issues, perhaps choosing the more affordable college would be prudent.
You also want to ask…will you have you have to do this special circumstances consideration annually (probably yes).
What will happen if your other kiddo doesn’t have those medical expenses in future years?
Thank you for the information. This is our first child and first time applying to colleges, so we are learning. Yes, we definitely want to keep the price affordable and would rather see her graduate with little to no student loan debt. That’s the goal. In negotiating, I think we had more scholarships/grants in mind over offering more in student loans. Yes, we will definitely do this the smart way. My husband and I are working hard at becoming debt-free, and that’s also what we want for our daughter.
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We were hoping she'd get some merit-based aid. She's also a top student. I've heard sometimes colleges are willing to negotiate more if there is a student they really want.
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Do these schools give lots of merit aid? Or are they schools like UNC, UVA, and Umich which more target need-based aid?
When you say that she’s a top student, are her test scores within the top 5% of the school?
I think you’re mixing some things up.
Are these FAFSA-only schools or did they require CSS Profile?
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We also have a special needs child with medical expenses that aren't covered by insurance.
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That would be a needs-based issue, not a merit based.
You have a high income. Unless your child annually has -say - $50k per year of mandatory expenses not covered by insurance, I don’t see how this will change anything.
First there is an assumption that about 10% of income towards uncovered medical expenses is not a big deal for FA. then, if the amount exceeds, then they look at the difference and subtract SOME (not dollar for dollar) from income.
So, if income were - say - $150k and EFC is $50k
And you had $20k annual uncovered medically REQUIRED expenses, then $5k of that would be beyond the 10% guideline. So, maybe they would subtract $2500 from the INCOME.
I don’t think getting income adjusted to 147,500 is going to get you anything because EFC would be like $49k.
And the expenses need to be mandatory, not optional. A family once posted that they chose to go a private education route for their special needs child rather than the free provided one, and the college wouldn’t adjust aid because it wasn’t a necessary expense.
An argument you may have is that you cannot work because of your special needs child. If that’s true, you may want to document that and try.
If you were appealing to a private school, you might get more traction, but most public schools go by the numbers.