<p>Background: My D has received an acceptance letter, but no statement of financial aid yet. The school states this will come later, I think early April. I'm pretty sure we're not going to get any need-based aid, but there is a chance of a small amount of merit aid from this school. </p>
<p>What I want to know is, is there any strategic advantage to delaying her acceptance in order to wait for the FA notification? We are talking major out-of-state tuition and I'm trying to maintain as much leverage as I can to bring the amount down if at all possible.</p>
<p>For example, once we receive their initial award (and assuming it's minimal) I'd like to have the fallback positions of asking them to re-review our file, or showing them better offers from other schools and see if they would match them. (mentioned of course with the utmost respect and tact I can muster) Again, I'm not anticipating any big improvement, if any, but I feel even if they added a couple thousand for goodwill, that's nothing to sneeze at, especially over 4 years, and worth delaying her acceptance.</p>
<p>But if we accept right now, I'm afraid the FA office might well just shut the door to a discussion of further aid since... "why bother, we got 'em". Any thoughts?</p>
<p>"hat I want to know is, is there any strategic advantage to delaying her acceptance in order to wait for the FA notification? We are talking major out-of-state tuition and I'm trying to maintain as much leverage as I can to bring the amount down if at all possible""</p>
<p>Of course, there's an advantage. If she accepts without getting financial aid info, that's broadcasting that money isn't important to you.</p>
<p>Students who really do need financial aid make their decisions only after getting their aid packages. If the aid isn't enough, they try to get their packages reconsidered. Note the word "reconsidered". Do not ever say "negotiated" because that word ticks off financial aid officers. </p>
<p>Unless your D was accepted ED, there's no need for her to accept the college until May 1.</p>
<p>"Unless your D was accepted ED, there's no need for her to accept the college until May 1"</p>
<p>Right. I would agree with you, but just wanted to see if all my assumptions were correct first before I added a confounding variable. Here's the only reason I am thinking of accepting early: to put in her housing deposit. I've checked, and with this school you have to accept in order to apply for housing. </p>
<p>The enrollment manager has let me know that there is a special dorm for students in her major that is brand new, nice large suites, etc, but that it may fill up quickly if I don't get in the housing deposit soon. I've told him that we are basically between 2 schools with about 80% chance she will attend their school, and that I really hesitate about accepting now because I'd rather accept being 100% sure and not take someone else's place. He assured me that it would not be a problem if we put in her acceptance now and later had to withdraw it. We would be out maybe $100 and there would be no hard feelings about it. He really advised me to do it just to put our stake in for the new housing. Not sure if I'm being strong-armed here, but could be.....</p>
<p>So I'm tempted to do it but would hate to lose my negotiating power for the aid. Nothing is ever easy, is it? I really appreciate your direct answer Northstarmom. Now, any more thoughts?</p>
<p>If I had a choice between great housing for my kid or better financial aid, I'd choose better financial aid. That's because the $ issue is really important for us. If, though, you are in a financially better situation than we are, put the housing application in, and assume you won't get financial aid. Perhaps you'll get some aid, but IMO it would be better to prepare for the worst.</p>
<p>Boy what a difficult decision. Just one word of advice, if you do pay the deposit make sure it only is a housing deposit. At the school my son will be attending it states in the admission letter that once you put down a deposit that you must immediately contact the other schools you applied to and withdraw. I do agree with Northstarmom that once you accept without a financial aid offer that you have no "negotiating" room. Good luck.</p>
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At the school my son will be attending it states in the admission letter that once you put down a deposit that you must immediately contact the other schools you applied to and withdraw.
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<p>It really depends on the school. One of my son's schools has stressed that even a tuition deposit is refundable until May 1, but that housing applications and the registration forms filled out at freshman orientation will be processed in the order in which the deposits were received. </p>
<p>Another school has said that tuition deposits are not refundable [although housing deposit is refundable], but my son would be allowed to change his mind about attending if he notifies the school before May 1. </p>
<p>A third school has told us that the deposits are binding and non-refundable, and must be paid by May 1. (We haven't paid that deposit yet. We are waiting for the financial aid letter.)</p>
<p>Check with your school to see if you can hold a place with a non-binding deposit and withdraw later if the financial aid isn't forthcoming.</p>
<p>I think I agree that I'd rather take the chance on getting 2nd choice housing than losing possible FA money, so I will hold out acceptance till we get the letter.</p>
<p>And come to think of it, if most other applicants wait till the FA letters come out before they accept, then the housing can't have filled up that much already, no? (There's no ED at this school).</p>
<p>This is just really to vent, more than anything, but all thoughts from more calm, objective minds than mine are welcome!</p>
<p>I thought we would have the financial aid/scholarship reports from all the schools by early April. However I just called one and they said expect it late April. I have a feeling most of 5 other schools D was accepted to will take their sweet time as well. We did however get the "favorite school's" offer, which was minimal as I expected and one other with a moderate scholarship offer. What I hoped was to have all the other "quotes" in early so I could have something in hand to negotiate with at her favorite school, hear their final offer, make a decision based on it and if yes, get her housing deposit in that much sooner.</p>
<p>I know I'm having a two-year-old obsession/tantrum about wanting what I can't have, but dang, considering all we've gone through so far, I'd like to say that I made a rational, "informed decision" with all the financial choices in front of me. If we decide without waiting for all of the others, we'll never know....</p>
<p>Does anyone else wonder how long to hold out, or the incremental gains achieved by doing so? Perhaps to preserve sanity, we should put a stake in the ground, pick some day in April and say we'll cut bait and decide based on whatever we know by that date?</p>
<p>TaraMom - I hear your pain & frustration. One would never think that this college thing would become a full-time job. </p>
<p>I think that you have a valid point by just choosing for example, April 15th. If your daughter really loves the school you wanted to barter with then I'm not sure how much bartering really matters because they might not even give you an answer until after May anyway. This of course, would not help anyway (unless it was favorable) because your decision has to be made before this.</p>
<p>I think you have to ask yourself a few questions:</p>
<p>1) If your family can afford the first choice school has it met everything up to the EFC (most schools don't give you above the EFC anyway)?
2) If it does not meet your needs up to the EFC then what are your other options (waiting for a school with a better offer, loans, etc.)?
3) If you try to "barter" now with the other offer you received can you afford the first choice school?</p>
<p>Good luck, hopefully other students/parents will use this problem as an example when they apply to college. I made sure that my son loved all his choices so that if his top choice (which we could never afford in a million years) had not offered him a plan we could afford that he would still feel good about his other options. Something to think about.....</p>
<p>I remember reading an article about how common it is becoming for acceptees to send in their deposits (perhaps to more than 1 school) and over the summer a large number will fizzle out and go elsewhere, forfeiting their deposits. It is getting so common that the universities are really having a hard time knowing how many to accept. It seems to me that they could end up going the way of the airlines, betting on no-shows and overbooking flights.
My point is that, in light of this practice, I would think the universities would be less inclined to hold back scholarship money after an acceptance than they may have been in the past. But who knows? there seems to be no rhyme or reason, or set way of doing things.
Several schools my son applied to sent the acceptance and within a few days a scholarship letter. Yet with the state subsidised school he will attend he was accepted in October and I had to wave the other $8,000/year scholarships in their face just a few weeks ago in order to wrest a scholarship letter out of their engineering school. It is just a couple of thousand a year but since this school is >$10,000 less to start with than the other private schools it works for us. Fortunately the engineering school is highly rated.
I have been told that he would have gotten the scholarship anyway. If that was the case then WHAT were they waiting for when the scholarship may be decision making? I don't quite understand them.
Are there any admissions people "listening" that can shed some light on this?</p>
<p>" remember reading an article about how common it is becoming for acceptees to send in their deposits (perhaps to more than 1 school) and over the summer a large number will fizzle out and go elsewhere, forfeiting their deposits."</p>
<p>I also have read that some colleges are cancelling the admissions of students who accept more than one college.</p>
<p>dudelsak1 - READ THE FINE PRINT before you do this. I know that all schools are different. My sons school said that once he sent in his depost then he was to withdraw admission to all the other schools that had accepted him. I know that housing deposits may be different (in some cases you can get your money back before May 1) however Northstarmom is correct.</p>
<p>My son has no intention of sending in more than the one deposit that he already sent and he hasn't gotten any correspondence requiring him to notify the other schools. He is not undecided about where he wants to go. I only mentioned that practice as a reason why colleges should not necessarily assume the student is locked in and should continue to "court" good students with financial packages even after they have accepted.
But I WAS unaware of how some colleges are dealing with this situation and it is good for everyone to know. I don't condone the practice of multiple deposits, I think it is unfair to the schools, but I have known students that have done it in the past.</p>
<p>I think sending multiple deposits is not a good practice, unless the school policy specifically states that it is refundable until a certain date, and DOES NOT STATE that other applications must be withdrawn.</p>
<p>That said, there must be a fair number os students that do it anyway, why else would there be 150 students being accepted off some waitlists?</p>
<p>Also TaraMom, I don't know that Merit Aid is that negotiable. We are also comparing merit offers, but from what I hear, need-based aid is more open to negotiation, on the basis of really needing it. For those of us who fortunately, and unfortunately, don't qualify, we can only go in with offers from equally good schools. U.Chicago does not care how much I am getting from Penn State.</p>
<p>I am not so sure that merit money is non-negotiable. We have friends that are non-needy parents of a Penn State (Schreier's Honors College) senior.
He was well subsidized to start with. One day a few years ago, unbeknownst to his parents, he just went in and told them he needed more money. They gave it to him just like that.
And I have heard from a few others that they were successful getting some or getting more than originally stated.
As far as my experience is concerned..despite a 4.1 GPA and 1400+ SATs, NMS commended my son had gotten no money offers from his first choice school UNTIL I e mailed several people telling them we were surprised and disappointed especially since other schools had seen fit to offer him a substatial scholarship. Within a day I received an e mail that they were reviewing his criteria, and within a week there was a scholarship plus an additional one for study abroad! This was 4-5 months after he was accepted, mind you.
I don't know whether it is the negotiating part of it or just that the contact brings your student to their attention. In any case, I think it pays to speak up..tactfully.</p>
<p>Oh and BTW I had an admissions person at his intended university TELL me way back in August that if he got scholarships elsewhere we should let them know and they would do their best to match them.
All the other schools he applied to were privates and much more expensive. I did not mention how much $ the scholarship to the private was for becasue I suspected that they would only try to match the after scholarship cost which they were already beating by a couple of thousand. In any case, it worked for us to speak up without telling too much.</p>
<p>We just heard one piece of good news. D got a small scholarship from her favorite, which comes to about $11k over 4 years, that I have to say I'm just thrilled to death over. This is a state college whose FA office, from what I've heard, is closed tighter than a bull's uh, eyes, in fly season. The FA letter only offered an unsub Stafford and that was it. I called them and asked, "are you SURE all the scholarships have been awarded--nothing left?" and they said yes, they had and if we had gotten one it would have been in the letter.</p>
<p>So, during our recent visit to the school, we stopped in at the admissions office just to say hello. Without my even bringing it up, he asked about the other schools D had gotten into and whether she had been offered any scholarships. So I told him our story to that point and he said he might have something for her because we showed such commitment/interest in their school by coming all that way and even taking the time to stop in to visit them. Now we're back home and just heard she did get it. So the moral is, keep trying--if FA won't listen, try your favorite admissions officer. It never hurts to ask (or schmooze just a little).</p>
<p>So we "cut bait" today--and mailed the acceptance and housing deposit! The acceptance is revocable and doesn't bind us--I checked, the worst thing can happen is we lose $100 deposit. My mind feels at ease now that this is probably the best we can do and we gave everything our best shot. Let the rest of the schools take their time now......</p>
<p>Fantastic! TaraMom. It often pays to keep at it tactfully. And what have you REALLY got to lose by keeping after it??? What are they going to do? Withdraw her acceptance because you are being persistant? I don't think so! The top tier kids get wooed with full rides but the next, much more crowded level has to scramble for a limited amount of money, I think. I'm convinced as long as your kid has credentials to get something, it is the proverbial squeaky wheel that gets the grease.</p>
<p>BTW TaraMom, my son's scholarship wasn't from the admissions office either. I had e mailed them, the Honors College and the Engineering school. It was the engineering school that came through..finally. After we got that word we sent in his deposit. My husband is convinced he wants to try for a little more. Why not? I doubt it will work but you never know. I have heard of kids already in their freshman year asking for more and getting it.</p>