Using Different Financial Aid Packages as Bargaining Tool

Paying for College
1

How effective have students, parents been in playing off aid packages from one school against another?
After to speaking to one Fin. Aid rep about this, I was told that they wouldn’t rule out reconsidering or matching an offer from a competing school.
Specifically talking about need blind schools and I’m wondering if others have been at all successful when doing this.

Thanks.

2

I have done it, although do NOT phrase it that way. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. A few points:

  • The school with the price you hope to achieve has to be comparable in ranking or higher ranked than the school you are talking to. No point in trying to get them to match your in-state public or a lower ranked school that is either cheaper to start with or gave merit aid.
  • Tell them that you would like a review if your FA package, and that the cost of attendance is lower at a comparable school and you are struggling with that difference. I did this via email, just so I could be careful with the wording.
  • If they are open to the discussion, they will ask you to send the offer letter from the other school (have it scanned and ready).
  • They may ask a few more questions about your financial situation. If they can find something to hang giving you more aid on, they like that.
  • Some schools will offer more aid, some won’t. Try not to take it personally if they don’t.
  • I tried not to use words like matching and “playing off”. Stick to the “we are struggling with the difference in the cost of attendance between snowflake’s choices. Can you help us?”. If you are aggressive, you surely won’t get anything.
3

Understood Intparent…great advice. And yes, the schools will be comparable in rankings. One more thing.
Let’s say one school offers in their package a small loan, around 2k., while the other school has a no loan policy.
Have you ever heard of a school dropping the loan portion and bumping up their grant aid when matching an offer or increasing their offer.
Thanks again!

4

I don’t have experience with that, others might.

5

Some schools do not package loans in their need based financial aid packages. Others do include the Direct Loans.

If a school includes the direct loan, I honestly think it’s unlikely that they will create a no loan package for you. That’s not their policy. But you can ask. You never know.

My kid had offers from two very peer schools. Schools that very often share the same applicants. One school would not discuss their financial aid…at all…period. The other was very willing to listen and help make some minor adjustments.

6

We talked to 2 schools, and got more than a minor adjustment at one – $10,000 in additional need based aid. But one school would not discuss it at all.

7

If it’s a public college, the chances of getting an adjustment are very slim. With private schools, it could happen, but no promises.

8

Additionally, a number of people have reported success when approaching the school, by being as upfront and honest with them as possible. If your child is on the fence about several schools, and school A is $4000 cheaper than school B, don’t ask school B to lower their cost unless your child is willing to go there if they match. Don’t make the school do all that extra work for you to match what you asked for, then abandon them for another reason.

Depending on the schools, and the amount of aid differences, it is not unheard of for a school to come back with a better offer if they can do so. This can include more grant aid and lower loans. Look through the college sub-forums here and ask others who have attended the schools in question.

Need-blind schools tend to have more FA available, so they tend to be more willing to negotiate - to a point.

For example, suppose Williams and Stanford are the schools in question, and suppose the difference was that Stanford was $8000 cheaper per year (including in $4k grants and $4K in loans). While Williams policy does not allow them to match Stanford, it is possible that they might review the entire application and cut the net difference to perhaps $4K or $4500, if you are persuasive enough, convincing them that your child otherwise prefers Williamstown to the Farm.

This was how Williams described their FA program when we toured with my S and D several years ago. I understand they may have updated their FA policies since them, but you never know for sure until you ask.

That being said, it sounds like your child has multiple acceptances to need-blind schools - so congrats to him/her, and best of luck.

9

Thanks everyone and yes 3puppies, we are very fortunate to be in this situation. All the hard work has finally paid off for my son and I think he’s grateful to be in this position. We won’t know what’s what until the financial aid packages get sent in a few weeks but he will be happy with his ultimate choice and that is what it’s all about.

10

The “competing school” had better be a peer school. And you need to compare NET cost, not the size of the pkg itself.

Be prepared to demonstrate with your financial data, why the proffered pkg isn’t enough.

11

We didn’t attempt to demonstrate that, honestly. But I agree that the cost of attendance is the number to focus your discussion on.

12

Nope. Need blind simply means that your ability to pay is not considered when your application for admission is reviewed. The vast majority of colleges are need blind for admissions including most public universities.

It’s schools that meet full need for all that have more FA aid money, not need blind schools.