<p>Could any of you out there offer some strategies to persuade colleges to sweeten scholarship proposals. I think this information could help us all.</p>
<p>The more the merrier!</p>
<p>Bump, Bump, Bump</p>
<p>To get the best merit scholarship offers, your stats (test scores and GPA) should be in the top 5% of the college.</p>
<p>It can also help if you’re a male at a very female heavy school.</p>
<p>Schools give merit money to benefit themselves. If they don’t see any benefit, then they have no incentive.</p>
<p>If you’re talking about getting a school to increase its scholarship offer after the first offer…some schools will not even discuss the matter.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Apply to a range of colleges so you can compare offers. If a college really wants you as a student, you can politely express strong interest in their college, but say that your parents are pushing you to accept an offer from a different college that is giving a better aid offer. Offer to fax or email that offer to the college where you want to attend. Do this as soon as possible, before their aid budget is commited. It gives them a chance to raise their offer.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t make a decision on a college until you have received all of the aid offers. </p></li>
<li><p>Only apply to colleges where you would want to attend, but make sure at least a couple are financial and admissions safeties in case the expected aid does not come through or your family finances get worse.</p></li>
<li><p>Look up the typical financial aid stats for each college that you are considering on [College</a> Admissions - SAT - University & College Search Tool](<a href=“http://www.collegeboard.com%5DCollege”>http://www.collegeboard.com) under the “financial aid” tab. That will tell you the percentage of need they meet, among other stats that are comparable between colleges.</p></li>
<li><p>Be very careful about keeping track of financial aid deadlines for colleges and meeting them. The deadlines vary greatly.</p></li>
<li><p>There are some colleges that give merit aid to the top 15% of their applicant pool. That may translate to the top 5% of their enrolled students, because many colleges lose their best students to other colleges. You may find that you receive no merit aid offers from a reach or a match school, but you receive a large merit offer from one of your safety colleges. </p></li>
<li><p>Among public colleges, some are more generous will aid to out of state students, while others mainly want out of state students who will pay full sticker price. The University of Pittsburgh is one public college that offers much merit aid to the top out of state applicants.</p></li>
<li><p>Some merit aid is driven by numbers. Even if you have good standardized test scores to be admitted, it is valuable to take them again to increase your chances for merit aid.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Be willing to apply to schools where you may offer ethnic/geographical diversity or help with the school’s gender disparity: too many males, too many females. </p>
<p>The schools all love to brag “students from 50 states” and “X amount of countries”.</p>
<p>If a school only gives need based financial aid, they will not care how much merit aid you have received from someone else (harvard does not care if podunk gave you a free ride, they are still only giving need based FA).</p>
<p>Unless you are receiving a better package from a peer school (or better than a peer school), most times it will not matter how much another school has offered. Merit aid can be tricky becuase many schools already have firm guidelines in place as far as what they will offer in merit aid. Merit aid is also extended to more people that they know will ultimately come so schools are not looking for (nor will they be able to afford 100% yeild on all merit offers made).</p>
<p>Would if really benefit you to give up School A’s scholly at $10,000 a year renewable automatically with no gpa requirement</p>
<p>For School B’s 12k scholly which you must reapply for every year and maintain a 3.3 </p>
<p>or school C’s scholly for 15k renewable every year for a 3.5 gpa</p>
<p>or school D’s 50% tution scholly automatically renewable with a 3.5 gpa?</p>
<p>Do you get where I am coming from (there are a load of possibilities), at the end of the day you may need to take the one that you can get year over year with out too much stress even if it for less money (could turn out to be more money in the long run).</p>
<p>you must also be willing to read the fine print of the merit aid being offered:</p>
<p>Is there is a phase in for GPA</p>
<p>Will the gpa requirment to keep the scholly kick in after the first term or do you get a whole year to meet the requirement?</p>
<p>What percent of students lose the scholarship at the end of the first year?</p>
<p>Is it possible for he scholarship to be reinstated?</p>
<p>If one loses the scholarship, will there be enough need based FA to cover the gap (keep in mind merit $ is usally given to discount student who normally may not be eligible for need based aid)?</p>
<p>Is the scholarship tied to a specific program/ What happens if you decide to change majors.</p>
<p>Yes, the fine print in the merit aid offers are really important. Some have some strict GPA requirements to keep the money that there is a high risk of losing it.</p>
<p>One question is whether the scholarship can be reinstated if grades later improve after it is initially lost.</p>
<p>In one college, I’ve heard they are willing to cut a break a student once if their GPA falls slightly below the required minimum for the scholarship, if the student asks real nice and has a good excuse. However, the second time they are cut off completely.</p>
<p>Apply to a range of colleges so you can compare offers. If a college really wants you as a student, you can politely express strong interest in their college, but say that your parents are pushing you to accept an offer from a different college that is giving a better aid offer. Offer to fax or email that offer to the college where you want to attend. Do this as soon as possible, before their aid budget is commited. It gives them a chance to raise their offer.</p>
<p>True…but…just applying to a range of colleges won’t get you what you want if you don’t use a strategy that includes some schools that you’re either certain or nearly certain will give you merit money. A person could apply to a range of colleges, but if none give merit for stats, then you’ve got nothing.</p>
<p>*Unless you are receiving a better package from a peer school (or better than a peer school), most times it will not matter how much another school has offered. *</p>
<p>Very true… many people can get merit from the lowest tier schools, but a much higher ranked school isn’t going to care (even if they are a school that gives merit). </p>
<p>Merit aid can be tricky because many schools already have firm guidelines in place as far as what they will offer in merit aid.</p>
<p>Yes, we had many kids/parents posting last spring that School A or School B seem to have a $10k per year merit max guideline. </p>
<p>Also…you have to consider the costs for each school when comparing merit offers.</p>
<p>A $40k merit award ($10k per year) from a $50k per year school can <em>sound</em> like a lot more than a $20k merit award ($5k per year) from an inexpensive state school…but the $5k per year scholarship may result in paying much lower overall costs.</p>
<p>The following is advice from [Online</a> Investing: Stocks, Personal Finance & Mutual Funds at SmartMoney.com](<a href=“http://www.smartmoney.com:%5DOnline”>http://www.smartmoney.com
</p>
<p>" We won’t ‘negotiate,’ but we might ‘review.’</p>
<p>College financial aid guides have long urged parents to negotiate with aid offices, often suggesting that you bring a better aid offer from a “competing” school to get them to give you more money. But many aid directors hate this tactic. Some schools have strict no-negotiation policies, while others are only a little more approachable. “There’s certainly no harm in asking a college to review an aid decision,” says Mark Lindenmeyer, financial aid director at Loyola University Maryland. But “we do not negotiate, and we do not match other colleges aid offers.”</p>
<p>So how do you request a “review”? When contacting your aid office to discuss your child’s package, start by avoiding such words as “negotiate” or “bargain,” says Virginia Tech’s Simmons, and don’t throw another school’s financial aid award in an officer’s face. Instead, thank them for their work and the school’s generosity, and follow up by expressing doubt at being able to meet your family’s contribution. If you haven’t already done so in writing, explain any special circumstances you have, such as recent unemployment, a death in the family or medical bills. Then politely ask if there’s anything the aid office can do to help. </p>
<p>Once you’ve established a rapport with the officer, try casually mentioning that you have a competing offer and where else your student has been admitted. At the very least, aid officers may refer you to outside borrowing opportunities or payment plans."</p>
<p>[10</a> Things Financial Aid Offices Won’t Say - Spending - Rip-offs - SmartMoney.com](<a href=“MarketWatch: Stock Market News - Financial News - MarketWatch”>MarketWatch: Stock Market News - Financial News - MarketWatch)</p>
<p>Try to apply to several schools who compete for similar students (e.g. Santa Clara & USC, MIT & CalTech). This may make your student more attractive and more likely to match a competing merit award.</p>