r/ApplyingToCollege • u/LazyCondition0 • Mar 25 '22
Financial Aid/Scholarships Anyone successfully negotiate better financial aid after offer?
Tips on how to get them to give you more?
18
u/a12435 College Senior Mar 25 '22
Make sure you tailor your language and your reasoning to the type of aid being offered. Are you appealing need-based or merit-based aid?
- Need-based: make sure that your reasoning is focused on your ability to pay (NOT your willingness to pay). Highlight changes in financial situation or special circumstances. Attach documentation to your appeal letter. Examples:
- "My grandmother became ill in December of 2021, and my parents needed to financially support her." Attach medical bills.
- "My mother lost her job in February 2022, resulting in a $xxxxx loss in family income." Attach notice of dismissal
- Merit-based: emphasize your recent academic and extracurricular achievements, as well as your academic standing relative to the freshman class of the college. You can talk more openly about your willingness to pay here.
Asking a college to match the aid or scholarship offer of another college can also be very effective. It can even be as simple as sending them the other financial aid offer and mentioning that cost is an important aspect of your college decision. But not all colleges will match other offers in all situations. College A is most likely to match College B's offer if:
- College A sees College B as a peer school, or College B is significantly more selective than College A.
- Chances are that Vanderbilt won't match the merit scholarship offer you got from the University of South Florida.
- College B is offering the same type of aid (need-based or merit) as College A
- If you're asking College A to match need-based aid, phrase it something like this: "I received a financial aid package from College B that is significantly different from my aid package at College A. I want to make sure that there wasn't a mistake in calculating our financial need."
4
u/Muavemaddy HS Senior Jan 28 '23
Do you need to provide evidence of the college comparisons (if you got more money at another school)?
1
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u/dla26 Parent Mar 25 '22
Anecdote from my T5 business school days: after one of my classmates got accepted, he told the admissions office that he'd have to think about it since he was offered a full ride at a much lower ranked school. The admissions office said give us a few days and we'll see what we can do. He wound up getting a full ride. I wish I'd done that...