Timeline to appeal merit?

Paying for College
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Hi! I have perused various threads regarding successful/unsuccessful merit appeals and I’m wondering about timing.

DS did not get into his ED school, but is in at 8 others – 5 of which (in acceptance letters) have offered him academic merit of $30-35k+ (we chased merit). Two others have not yet released merit info, but say it is forthcoming in January and/or February.

However, the school he is most excited about (naturally :roll_eyes:) offered $15k. Half his next lowest award. I know I can point to these other awards to support a request for more merit, but I guess I’m wondering…when? Is it better to wait until the spring or is it okay to approach them now?

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The sooner the better, because there is a limited amount of money. If they are able to be flexible, it’s best to ask early. No guarantees it will work, but it could. Good luck!

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Thank you so much!

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And the schools you approach have to consider the higher merit schools as competitors or they will not budge and give you more money. Also, some schools just have a max for merit scholarships and that is that.

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Thanks! They all have similar acceptance rates. Within a percent or two from the school in question (in both directions).

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Good luck!

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It actually both… Call now and explain your situation. Having a situation can work in your favor. If their lacs your chances will be better then like Berkeley since they don’t care what other offers you have…

If they said they have maxed out in merit ask about housing stipend… Some schools will help with housing if you ask nicely… You don’t care where the money is coming from…

With some schools you can use the higher amounts as leverage and just say “My son really wants to go here but we need some help, since X school gave us this”.

Just always be nice and not demanding

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This is not how schools determine which schools are considered “peer schools”. Plus…some schools have much deeper pockets for merit aid and award it to more students.

As noted above, to ask for reconsideration when another merit offer is higher, the schools need to be very very similar in terms of all their demographics. Also, you should look at the criteria for receiving merit aid.

In other words…if school A offers merit aid typically in higher amounts to students with perhaps lower stats, school B (your $15,000 merit school) might not consider school A to be a peer school in terms of how aid is awarded.

Also, if a college has published criteria and stats for merit awards, they might not budge at all.

And just an alert…there are some colleges who won’t even discuss this with you. They give their awards and that’s it!

BUT if you don’t ask, you won’t get…so it’s worth a try.

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You will not know if you don’t ask. And asking while they still have funds is helpful.

You will want to gather as much info as possible before a meeting or call. You may be starting with admissions about merit and get transferred to financial aid talking about any need based funding they have.

Do you have the full financial aid packages or just the merit offers? In the full financial aid packages you will see any need based grants, work study, loans, etc… if you do not have the full financial aid offers you need those to compare apples to apples.

Are there additional scholarship rounds to apply for?

Is the cost of attendance the same for all? Or does that vary? Ask for consideration of getting your family to a similar overall cost. That may be an additional $12000 instead of $20,000 depending on the cost of attendance.

What did the NPC show for each school? What is the gap in what you can actually afford? Are there any additional circumstances to share with the financial aid office?

Depending on the school, the decision making can take a few days or months.

Help your son identify what he likes about the school and help find similar things to be excited about at the other schools in case this is just not affordable.

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If by “cost of attendance” you are referring to the published COA, that by definition is the same for all, just like the sticker price on a new car. What matters is how much of a discount is offered to each individual buyer and under what circumstances.

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I think we are talking about two different things. The total cost of attendance at different schools before any merit or need based aid will vary widely between schools, but yes each family starts at the same COA at the same school.

The COA is on the colleges websites and in the financial aid packages. Like the sticker price of a car.

Only knowing merit offered by other schools does not help figure out the ask for this family.

U1 is could be COA at $60,000 total with $15000 in merit and no other aid. Cost to family is $45,000.

U2 with a total COA of $75,000 and $35,000 in merit and $5000 in need based gets the same family to $35,000.

U3 with a total COA of $65000 and $30000 in merit gets the family to $35000 as well.

U4 is only Total COA at $34,000 and no other aid is offered. Family is at $34,000 annually.

U5 is 90,000 per year Total COA and has offered acceptance with merit and need of
of $45000. The cost to the family is $45,000.

If U1 is the top choice, they need to ask for merit of $10,000 to get to a similar final cost of 3 of the 5 schools. They do not say U2 gave us $35000 and U3 gave us $30000, we need twice as much merit. It is easier to explain where your bottom line is and that you need an additional $10,000.

If the most expensive school gives the most aid that does not mean another school is going to provide that same amount of aid, but they may get you to the same bottom line. In this example U1 and U5 cost the family the same amount.

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Ok, just so that it’s clear. Speaking the same language reduces confusion. “Cost of Attendance” (capitalized) is a defined term that specifically refers to the published cost before any aid is provided or factored in. It will be the same for everyone at a particular school. It very often is not the actual cost to attend the school.

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Thanks all for the replies, really useful information.

The NPC was tricky for this school (Drexel) because of the 5 year/3 coop. So the NPC kicks out the super high price for freshman year when he would not be on coop, and paying full tuition/room and board. When I apply what Drexel says are typical coop earnings to years 2, 3 and 4 (when he would be paying tuition only half the year) and then factor in year 5 (same price as year 1) it actually does work out to be about the same over five years as the other schools would be over four years.

In any event I did inquire last week about the possibility of additional merit in a later round and noted his other awards. They were very understanding, didn’t make me feel bad for asking, and said they would forward the info along and have a decision for us sometime in late January.

Now that we’ve figured out that it will cost us about the same as the other schools, I’m satisfied either way. But in case it is helpful to others, I wouldn’t be afraid to ask. They couldn’t have been nicer in the exchange.

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