Urgent Situation: How to Appeal for Financial Aid?

<p>I'm currently stuck in between GWU and Johns Hopkins University.</p>

<p>Currently with the financial statistics the way they are, I'll have a very tough choice in front of me, but I want to appeal for more financial aid (merit or need-based) from George Washington University which currently attracts me heavily, to make the decision easier, because my parents would never allow me to go to GWU paying more for GWU than JHU. </p>

<p>Statistics:</p>

<p>EFC: $35,000
Johns Hopkins University Offer: $26,500 per year merit, $5000 loan.
George Washington University Offer: $20,000 per year merit, $5000 loan.</p>

<p>Is there a way of asking George Washington University to match the offer from Johns Hopkins or such, or to offer more? How would I do so? Thank you so much!</p>

<p>Just as an extra piece of info to put things in perspective, I'm going for an International Studies/Economics double major and got into the Honors College and Elliot School at GWU.</p>

<p>B ump</p>

<p>Call (202) 994-6620. Be prepared to be put on hold a long time. Tell them your specific situation, because if you don’t they’ll just mail you an appeal form that only applies if your parents’ financial situation has changed. </p>

<p>Honestly though, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Your EFC is pretty high and they’re already stretched thin for $. Won’t hurt to try though.</p>

<p>I had to choose between gw and hopkins as well, but chose gw because they offering me more.
Just call financial aid and politely explain that you had a higher scholarship offer at hopkins, but you are more interested in coming to GW. You could also write an email to the director of financial aid and explain your situation and your serious interest in attending gw, but without more aid you cannot.
I think if they see you turn down relatively better school to come at GW, they will increase your aid. </p>

<p>hope that helps.</p>

<p>If you’re in the area, you AND your parents need to go into the FAO and have some serious negotiations with documented proof of Hopkins awards. My brother tried to negotiate over the phone with another school and they didn’t take him (sans parents) seriously, nor did he get the results he wanted.</p>

<p>Many colleges really don’t care what another school gave the student. They want to know if the circumstances have changed somehow.</p>

<p>Sorry that I cannot add any advice as we are going through the process for the first time. </p>

<p>However, we received a very interesting call from GW last night inquiring as to whether we received the merit aid information. Only one home at the time was younger sibling and GW said they will call back over the next few days. Our D received 15k merit aid. We do not qualify for financial aid and like many families, although we are very appreciative of current merit offer it will be very difficult to come up with the additional $$$. D has similiar merit offers from 2 other schools and full tuition offer from well respected State university.</p>

<p>We have not received a call like this from any other schools. Should I assume this is simply a confirmation call or is there the possibility they may adjust offer upward? Has anyone else received a similiar call from GW? Any thoughts are greatly appreciated as D is very interested in GW.</p>

<p>My parents also received a call like this, which is simply a courtesy. My mom joked with the caller asking if there was any more money left to up my scholarship. Laughs all around, but the bottom line was NO.</p>