You too have reversed the institutions in your response. We’re talking about using UConn’s offer as a negotiating tool to get GW to lower their price, not the other way around!
No, I wasn’t the one on the phone. But I was the one who urged the parent to call back the private institution (RPI) and ask the private institution to improve their offer, since UConn had awarded that student merit money (and honors status) as part of their acceptance. The parent did call RPI, tell them that UConn had awarded the student merit money and ask that RPI drop their price. And RPI did drop their price.