<p>So I know that Dartmouth will match the other Ivies and consider offers from others, but does Vanderbilt fall into the "others" category? I got both aid letters this week, and Vandy offered me significantly more need based aid than Dartmouth. I really prefer Dartmouth, but it's a really big difference in cost. Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>email them.</p>
<p>You won’t know unless you ask What do you have to lose? Nothing (they’re not going to retract their offer because you have the temerity to ask them to match a non-Ivy offer). What do you have to gain? Everything (more FA for Dartmouth). </p>
<p>They matched Pomona for us. This involved some restructuring, as well as more grant money. Basically, I think you need to appeal your award. Any details you can give them that will help them see it in another light or restructure it will help. That is what my H did. IIRC, he visited the FA people when he dropped S off for Dimensions</p>
<p>And while I think it is great for kids to be proactive, this is one area where I think it would be perfectly fine for one of your parents who is comfortable with the financial details to handle it.</p>
<p>“And while I think it is great for kids to be proactive, this is one area where I think it would be perfectly fine for one of your parents who is comfortable with the financial details to handle it.”</p>
<p>Absolutely. It’s not even an “appeal” (to the best of my recollection), but a request for reconsideration or something like that. The process was very smooth and very quick. </p>
<p>Dartmouth matches other schools’ financial aid offers? Where did you read that?</p>
<p>See last paragraph: <a href=“Home | Financial Aid”>Home | Financial Aid;
<p>This doesn’t really have anything to do with comparing offers, but if I get a much smaller value from the net price calculator (3x less), can I try and get Dartmouth to reconsider the offer?</p>
<p>Also, I used my parents’ income from last year, which was less than this year’s…</p>
<p>As I posted above, what do you have to lose by asking? We were initially offered zilch (which is what I expected from FASFPA – or whatever those letters are). I thought the decision did not take into account the amount of income left after our [high / California] housing costs were taken out of my [relatively high / California] salary. As it turned out, all I really needed to do was tell them about Harvard’s offer [see above] – which HAD taken that into account – but I had no qualms about asking for FA even before I knew about the matching policy. </p>
<p>Ok, so I appealed to Dartmouth, but they said they could not consider Vanderbilt’s aid. On a happier note but somewhat unrelated note, I appealed to Brown using Dartmouth’s and they matched.</p>