<p>Something else for the OP to be aware of is that, at schools which are not need blind, his family’s inability to pay a substantial chunk of the COA could cause him to not be admitted or to be given an unfavorable financial package consisting of all sorts of loans.</p>
<p>I’m just hoping that the OP is not clinging stubbornly to his idea that a top school is going to be so enamored of his application that they will be willing to bargain to get him to attend their school…they will offer what they will offer, if they are willing to review/compare their offer to another school’s, they might be a bit more generous, but if their original offer is a grant of $5000 they are not going to change it to $25,000. They admit a sufficient number of students with the expectation that some will not attend and will choose to go elsewhere, and in addition have huge waitlists of students praying for an acceptance knowing that available financial aid is mostly tapped out.</p>
<p>It would be so much smarter to focus applications on schools the family can afford, after researching colleges’ merit and financial aid policies.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s the top elite, well-endowed schools that will match need-based aid offers at peer institutions. Since there’s a discussion of “evidence”, I’ll post my own - using Dartmouth as an example. They are one of the few of these schools that are actually very transparent about it - to the point of putting it on their website, saying:</p>
<p>“Dartmouth believes that financial aid should not be a deterrent in a student attending the college of his or her choice. We hope your choice is Dartmouth. If you are admitted, Dartmouth is prepared to match any better aid offer you receive from other Ivy League colleges and will take into consideration more favorable need-based offers from other institutions. If you receive such an offer, please be sure to let us know. We will revise your award accordingly and will be prepared to work with you throughout your undergraduate career.”</p>
<p>This past summer I had a discussion with a very honest and open financial aid officer at Dartmouth and asked him this specific question. His response was very interesting. He told me that Dartmouth will always match the need-based awards from other Ivies. He also said that each year, Dartmouth will identified a “handful” of other competitive peer institutions and match offers from those schools. He said that this handful of schools will change from year to year. This past year the non-Ivy schools that Dartmouth decided to match offers from were Stanford, MIT, Duke, Amherst and UChicago.</p>
<p>Considering the fact that Loyola Marymount has an endowment of ~ 353 million and does not meet 100% demonstrated need (it meets on average roughly 67%). I would not expect it to meet another school’s offer.</p>
<p>Annasdad, I can tell you first hand that I see literally thousands of financial aid packages every year (which I promise you is more packages than the reporters who wrote the story) and part of my job in servicing my students is to know who will be amenable to a student submitting a financial review. I also know schools (Wesleyan) who straight up says that they do not consider packages from other schools (but in the end changed their stand). </p>
<p>Dukedad, we had the same experience. D was accepted to Dartmouth, Amherst and Williams. As much as she loved Williams, Dartmouth was her first choice. Dartmouth met the Williams package (who gave her a preferential package with no loans, before they even had a no-loan initiative). Dartmouth took away her loans and kept her package consistent her whole 4 years.</p>
<p>At the risk of being accused of being an anonymous Moderator on an Internet forum, both Y & Brown reviewed D1s FA package and matched her more generous FA packages from H & P. And D2 got a bump in FA from Pomona based on a higher offer from Y.</p>
<p>Why would they do this since they reject many qualified applicants? Because they want these students to attend, this is no different from preferred packaging. And for some schools, like the example of D above, it is not even on an individual basis, but a general policy.</p>
<p>A couple of points about the “real evidence” you cite based on the article you link to:</p>
<ol>
<li> The title of the section you cited from:</li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is what several long time, knowledgeable members have been trying to tell you.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>
This simply says that they don’t like it. It doesn’t say they don’t review. And it says nothing at all about WHICH schools don’t like it and don’t do it.</p></li>
<li><p>
</p></li>
</ol>
<p>This is ONE FA director speaking, and NOT one from a highly selective college that would have a large enough endowment to be able to match other offers.</p>
<p>*When I said I was looking for a private California school with Engineering, I meant I was looking for a school that would fit those criteria and **give me a good aid package **to present to other schools. Not necessarily a school I would really desire to attend. *</p>
<p>Can you clarify…what do you mean by “good aid package”? Are you talking about need based aid? or, are you talking about merit scholarships?</p>
<p>I can’t imagine any “non-elite school” giving you a good need-based-aid package - considering that your family can’t pay their EFC. </p>
<p>A non elite (that meets need) is likely to do the following:</p>
<p>55,000 = COA</p>
<h2>30,000 = EFC</h2>
<p>25,000 = need</p>
<p>To meet need, they would likely give you:
5500 = student loans (maybe some Perkins loans)
2500 = work study</p>
<h2>17,000 = grant</h2>
<p>25,000 = need</p>
<p>Or course, a school that doesn’t meet need might give you a smaller grant.</p>
<p>How would getting that help you at your favorite schools? You’d still have the EFC to pay.</p>
<p>Or, are you asking if you get a big MERIT scholarship at a school, then will on of your favorites schools match that with need-based aid? Not very likely at all.</p>
<p>DD was accepted to 4 Ivies. Two of the Ivies had a much better FA package than the other two Ivies. The Ivies with the weaker FA packages were politely asked if they would reconsider their FA offers. We provided to them the FA award offers of the other two Ivies. The FA awards were reconsidered and matched. It was wonderful because then my DD could make her decision not based on the better FA award offer, but instead based on which school she wanted to attend.</p>
<p>We had NO IDEA that this was how it worked before we found ourself in that situation.</p>
<p>Since engineering is your choice, I would also suggest that you look at other Tech schools which often have generous special merit-based scholarships. They may not be as highly ranked as the ones you are mentioning but the engineering education is just as strong and they will probably do a better job of meeting your financial needs. Once you have a broad range of choices, go visit and then decide.</p>
<p>I don’t think the issue that the OP is concerned about is whether ivies/elites will match each others’ offers. </p>
<p>I think that since his family can only pay a small fraction of their EFC, he’s wondering if he gets a great merit scholarship package from a mid-tier school which leaves his family with very little to pay, then will an elite match that offer. The answer is no.</p>
<p>This student knows that there is at least one mid-tier that would give him enough merit that his remaining costs would be about $10k…very manageable with a student loan and parent funds. So, I think he’s wondering if he could use that offer (or maybe another school’s merit offer)and get a favorite elite to match it.</p>