<p>So I was just accepted to Yale SCEA (I'm still shocked) and may or may not be able to attend because of the cost; however, I have heard from a few people that getting into top schools can be used to get more money from other schools that are still in the top ~30?, even if those schools don't offer merit aid, as they will disguise it as an increase in financial aid; I was hoping some one could verify this in any way. Thanks!</p>
<p>I would expect bargaining power to come from a better aid offer by a competing school, not solely from admission to an even more prestigious school. It could come across as insulting to suggest to Brown or Georgetown that they should jack up their aid just because you got into Yale.</p>
<p>Do your friends have real examples of this argument working? Or are they just speculating (as I am)?</p>
<p>Anyway, congratulations!</p>
<p>Many will match a better FA offer from a peer school (Cornell will do this, for example) but it doesn’t sound like Yale gave you a good (enough) offer that any other school matching it would help?</p>
<p>Think about the logic of this for a minute - why does a school want you? They want you to show you off in ways that are apparent - GPA, Test Scores, Accomplishments, Talents, Leadership. Those they can show off, your admittance to Yale, no one can tell. Bragging rights at the annual Admission Officers Convention doesn’t cut it. (“Hey Yale, stole that kid right out from under you. Loser school on its way down!”)</p>
<p>It’s a little like buying a car, you don’t buy an ugly car just because someone famous once drove it, you buy the car that looks good AND has good attributes. (Although what those Aztek buyers were thinking is beyond me.) Some schools will match offers from other schools in order to make themselves the most affordable option, but they aren’t going to be impressed by you waiving your Yale acceptance in their face.</p>
<p>(I am having deja vu about writing this same answer a few months ago to this exact same question.)</p>
<p>I don’t think the mere acceptance (yes, “mere” is what I mean in this case) to Yale is going to give you more Financial Aid. Most schools have their formulas for financial aid, and they will look at other aid packages which you generally have to submit to them, and they will see if they can match or come close to what a peer (or a school to which they wannabe a peer) is offering. But it’s not like an auction out there.</p>
<p>It’s with Merit money that you might have some give, as that is usually given out by the Admissions Office. If they have the money–they aren’t going to scratch it up for you, and if you can make it clear that you are serious, that you will be going to their school over Yale, if you can get a given merit award, it is possible you can get some consideration. Again, we are not talking big money most of the time, but getting some kid of a match.</p>
<p>My son was accepted to a very nice LAC and also to a landgrant college of Cornell. Which meant the choice was ivy at a good rate or private college at a much higher price. They had included a small merit award. MY son called admissions and said that he would go to LAC, it was his first choice, and he had already expressed that to them, they knew him, they knew he loved the school,etc, so it was not an out of a blue thing, if he could get a close price match because his parents were freaking out that he was turning down Cornell for this school. It was all true, and they did come up with more money, so that the gap was lessened, I don’t think it was closed, They did this without much time or trouble. They asked for a fax of the Cornell acceptance letter, and then told him they’d up the merit money and follow it up with a letter. He followed that up with his own commitment. But it was a wash cost wise, not any money making thing, and not like he got any of the big scholarships, which that school did have.</p>