Can I call a university and ask for more merit aid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can’t. Your DS could contact the admissions office via email.

OP you can do anything you wants. You can call the school and ask for a Ferrari if you want. How the school reacts to a request—or who makes it—is up to the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is hesitating between two universities that are the same price - 65K a year. Uni A already gave him an award to bring down annual COA to 65K, and that's where he'd prefer to go to. Uni B did not give him aid, 65K is the sticker price, and he likes it a little less.

Can I call Uni A, explain the situation, and request they consider a slight increase in merit aid?

Or is that totally cringeworthy?

Yes totally cringeworthy but if you don’t care who cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ummm... my brother did this for his daughter. And he got the more expensive one to match the price of the less expensive one. However, a big university is going to have less motivation to appease you b/c they probably have PLENTY of students willing to take your kid's spot. There's nothing wrong with asking. But, have some info to make your case.

It doesn't have to be the kid who does the asking.

I would be shocked if an admissions or FA office is willing to discuss anything about a student to someone over the phone who isn’t the student, given FERPA. Not to mention how immature it comes across as.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP here. Actually all his other options are less expensive than these two! He wasn't actually considering any of them, though.

What would you consider to be a peer school? Can it be his state flagship if the acceptance rate is lower than at Uni A? Can it be a Canadian school (McGill) that's less expensive than Uni A?

A peer school is also public or also private. Trying to compare the two is apples to oranges. State flagships, regional publics, private research uni's, private LAC's of similar selectivity are categories to consider. If the schools are in the same category, be sure they are somewhat similar in terms of average SAT, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:YOU shouldn't be doing anything. Your child should be doing it. This is his education, not yours. He is an adult now. He does it.

I worked in FA at a private (where we worked closely with the Admission Office). I never heard from incoming students regarding appeals of initial merit or other aid, just the parents, the payers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ummm... my brother did this for his daughter. And he got the more expensive one to match the price of the less expensive one. However, a big university is going to have less motivation to appease you b/c they probably have PLENTY of students willing to take your kid's spot. There's nothing wrong with asking. But, have some info to make your case.

It doesn't have to be the kid who does the asking.

I would be shocked if an admissions or FA office is willing to discuss anything about a student to someone over the phone who isn’t the student, given FERPA. Not to mention how immature it comes across as.

FERPA applies to enrolled students, not prospective students.

[Anonymous]

Tell your son to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YOU shouldn't be doing anything. Your child should be doing it. This is his education, not yours. He is an adult now. He does it.

I worked in FA at a private (where we worked closely with the Admission Office). I never heard from incoming students regarding appeals of initial merit or other aid, just the parents, the payers.

+1. My kid did all the communicating with the school except on merit aid amount. We did that. We have the 529s and savings accounts in our names, we filled out the FAFSAs and we are paying the bills. We did this twice. 2 kids. Two different schools, both gave us more aid. Cringe all you want, merit aid is nothing more than a discount and $6k x 4 years is $24k. So, it’s worth it.

[Anonymous]

Yes, schools are prepared for appeals and usually have a specific process. Call and ask what the process is to appeal for more aid. Parents can definitely do that, this is one area where the student doesn't need to take the lead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ummm... my brother did this for his daughter. And he got the more expensive one to match the price of the less expensive one. However, a big university is going to have less motivation to appease you b/c they probably have PLENTY of students willing to take your kid's spot. There's nothing wrong with asking. But, have some info to make your case.

It doesn't have to be the kid who does the asking.

I would be shocked if an admissions or FA office is willing to discuss anything about a student to someone over the phone who isn’t the student, given FERPA. Not to mention how immature it comes across as.

It's immature to throw around terms that do not apply.

Please learn.

FERPA affords admitted students who matriculate at the university the right to access their education records. Persons who apply to the university and are not admitted are not covered by FERPA.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you everyone. So, given there really isn't a peer school I can refer to that's cheaper (not an American private university of that size, at any rate), should I just refer to my son mulling cheaper options elsewhere, but that Uni A is his favorite, and would they be kind enough to reconsider his merit award? All that would be perfectly true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP here. Thank you everyone. So, given there really isn't a peer school I can refer to that's cheaper (not an American private university of that size, at any rate), should I just refer to my son mulling cheaper options elsewhere, but that Uni A is his favorite, and would they be kind enough to reconsider his merit award? All that would be perfectly true.

Also, who do I call? The financial aid office, even though this isn't financial aid but merit aid? Or the undergraduate admissions office?

Or is email better, so there's a written trace?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP here. Thank you everyone. So, given there really isn't a peer school I can refer to that's cheaper (not an American private university of that size, at any rate), should I just refer to my son mulling cheaper options elsewhere, but that Uni A is his favorite, and would they be kind enough to reconsider his merit award? All that would be perfectly true.

Yes. Make an ask..." if you would be able to reduce the price to X, it would make the difference in his decision (or he would commit to your school). They want certainty in exchange for merit aid.

[Anonymous]

I did this. There is info online about what to do. I emailed DD’s AO and cc”d the general admissions email(not financial aid since it is merit), told them it was DD’s first choice but she is deciding between that and second choice and second choice ends up being $x cheaper. I attached both merit packages. I asked if they could reconsider or if there were additional scholarships available. I asked for a certain amount that I considered reasonable (which was not the whole difference). They got back quickly and said they would reconsider so. E it was her first choice and gave me an answer a few days later. They increased it by a little bit (not all I had asked for). dD really preferred that school and I get like that was a nice show of interest and good faith by the school, so we put down the deposit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, schools are prepared for appeals and usually have a specific process. Call and ask what the process is to appeal for more aid. Parents can definitely do that, this is one area where the student doesn't need to take the lead.

But why not? My kid called and asked for increased merit aid. And was granted it. Sure we practiced with her but this is her education. She needs to learn to advocate for it. It also gave her a huge confidence boost when she figured out she is more than capable of having this conversation. Why would you take that opportunity away from your kid? I am no admissions counselor but I imagine I would be more persuaded if the student called me herself.