We had 2 very similar priced schools give us FA about 5k apart from each other . One is X amount off Tuition , fees , books etc and another is a flat dollar amount . Is that Normal?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by not enough aid? Like they didn't meet your EFC or they did but the EFC plus other fees makes it too hard for your family to swing?

The EFC is WAY more than we can afford. So they stick to that pretty closely?

How so?

In my limited experience, the offers were varied.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aid is negotiable. I’d call the financial aid office and just be straightforward and gracious. It would be fine to reapply when your financial situation changes as long as you don’t burn bridges. For what it’s worth, I negotiated my children’s aid by about 5K.

But how does this work unless there was something wrong in the application? What are you saying to them if they already have all your financial info?

The number of people who actually pursue getting additional aid is actually a pretty tiny number. And by pursue I mean provide extra documentation when requested, meet in person with the FA office and maybe the head of schoool. The application you submit is limited in explaining an unusual circumstance.

Also aid frees up as some students don't re-enroll.

Just a tip - you can't ask and expect more aid on something like the basis of "my parents expect us to visit them twice a year in far off destination so there is no way we can't go and it's really expensive so we can't really afford the tuition." which yes I have actually heard this from a fellow parent Another one to avoid is mentioning a high car payments. This one will not get you any where. And again, yes people do give that as a reason.

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by not enough aid? Like they didn't meet your EFC or they did but the EFC plus other fees makes it too hard for your family to swing?

The EFC is WAY more than we can afford. So they stick to that pretty closely?

What do you mean by not enough aid? Like they didn't meet your EFC or they did but the EFC plus other fees makes it too hard for your family to swing?

Anonymous wrote:Aid is negotiable. I’d call the financial aid office and just be straightforward and gracious. It would be fine to reapply when your financial situation changes as long as you don’t burn bridges. For what it’s worth, I negotiated my children’s aid by about 5K.

But how does this work unless there was something wrong in the application? What are you saying to them if they already have all your financial info?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:remember the threshold for aid it 30/70 split. No school will give you more then that.

While this may be a general rule, there are special cases in which FA goes beyond 70% pending on demonstrated need and other factors important to the school.

Sadly, many folks mistakenly believe they are the special cases and are not realistic about how financial works, etc.