College Financial Aid award appeal

[Sadie22]

I recommend checking out the Colleges That Change Lives list.

 

[mercydisney]

Yes, we have appealed both merit & need-based & have received both.

At some schools merit is awarded by admission counselors & need-based by financial aid officers.

Naturally we wanted more merit than need based as they will be renewed each year provided he meets their minimum GPA, so every time DS received an award, honor roll letter, accepted into a special program, etc he updated all the admissions counselors & explained that he hoped they would take it into consideration when they gave out their aid. And they did! He was told to wait for the 1st offer & then appeal with supporting documents. Just yesterday DS received an email that one school has upped his merit award by $4K per year! Now DS is an OK student, 87% unweighted GPA, took 3 AP's this year, really nice SAT/ACT score, applied & was accepted into an internship & summer job already - a real get-up-&-go type kid, not one to senior slump & the schools have really appreciated him for that. Also, he did the calls & emails, not me, although I helped him.

You need to go visit the school(s) & have your daughter make her appeal in person. Have her sell herself. DS has been to every school he really wants to go to, after he was accepted & has talked with them himself - they LOVE students who own it themselves & show initiative. At this point several of the private schools are the same cost as the public ones.

Good luck!

You are correct. My daughter sounds like your son. She did all the hard work herself for the college of her choice. She was upset about a scholarship she felt she deserved, she went and requested a meeting with admissions counselor. This was 2wks ago, they emailed DD today and invited DH, me, and DD to lunch. I will inform you tomorrow if it is good news. Pretty sure it is!

 

[csmommy]

You are correct. My daughter sounds like your son. She did all the hard work herself for the college of her choice. She was upset about a scholarship she felt she deserved, she went and requested a meeting with admissions counselor. This was 2wks ago, they emailed DD today and invited DH, me, and DD to lunch. I will inform you tomorrow if it is good news. Pretty sure it is!

My fingers are crossed for you & your daughter - extra pixie dust too! Please let us know how it goes.

We had the rug pulled out from under us after DS applied to colleges EA, his father lost his job. So, we went about it this way. I figured they were going to give that money to someone, might as well be DS. That fired him up, it really has worked out for him & he has a choice. He knew he had to make it happen for himself, b/c he knew he had to choose the lowest priced school & he didn't want to be in a classroom with 200 kids.

1. If you do not go after what you want, you will never have it.
2. If you do not ask, the answer will always be no.
3. If you do not step forward, you will always be in the same place.

 

[My5Mouseketeers]

From what I understand, the offers made by other schools will not carry any weight unless they are "peer" schools to the college you are trying to negotiate with. In other words, a higher-ranked school won't be persuaded if a third tier school gave your dd more money.

Something I wasn't clear on from your post-you said you don't qualify for any need-based aid, but you want to explain your financial situation. So are you looking for increased merit aid, or for need based aid? If you're asking for need based aid, the school's first response may very well be "stafford loan".

Good luck, it can't hurt to try! How much of a difference is there between the schools' offers?

To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm asking for. We met with a FA counselor because I had questions about whether DDs aid would go up when I had 3 in school in 2 years (She said significantly). Then she TOLD me that I should appeal the decision. Since this school is a FAFSA school and not a CSS school,they really don't know our financial situation.

They did give her merit aid to bring the tuition down below our EFC, but it would still cost 38K a year. She has a free ride to 2 of our state schools and some nice offers from a few privates. I am going to wait until we hear from 2 other "big" privates to see what they offer.

DD wants to go to this school because what she wants to major in would be a Biomedical Engineering degree at this school and a Comp Sci degree or bio degree at some of the others. She has really sound reasons for picking the school, but it is a LOT of money.

 

[DebMcDonald]

We appealed our financial aid decision last year at a state school, but didn't get anything extra.

 

[pjlla]

To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm asking for. We met with a FA counselor because I had questions about whether DDs aid would go up when I had 3 in school in 2 years (She said significantly). Then she TOLD me that I should appeal the decision. Since this school is a FAFSA school and not a CSS school,they really don't know our financial situation.

They did give her merit aid to bring the tuition down below our EFC, but it would still cost 38K a year. She has a free ride to 2 of our state schools and some nice offers from a few privates. I am going to wait until we hear from 2 other "big" privates to see what they offer.

DD wants to go to this school because what she wants to major in would be a Biomedical Engineering degree at this school and a Comp Sci degree or bio degree at some of the others. She has really sound reasons for picking the school, but it is a LOT of money.

May I ask what school??? We are in a similar situation with our DD. She got accepted to every school she applied to and got a decent merit-based scholarship to each one..... but of course, the private school she wants to attend is about double the price of the other public universities. We are considering going in and talking with the FA office... and I think having HER take the lead is a BRILLIANT idea! ...................p

 

[crisi]

To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm asking for. We met with a FA counselor because I had questions about whether DDs aid would go up when I had 3 in school in 2 years (She said significantly). Then she TOLD me that I should appeal the decision. Since this school is a FAFSA school and not a CSS school,they really don't know our financial situation.

They did give her merit aid to bring the tuition down below our EFC, but it would still cost 38K a year. She has a free ride to 2 of our state schools and some nice offers from a few privates. I am going to wait until we hear from 2 other "big" privates to see what they offer.

DD wants to go to this school because what she wants to major in would be a Biomedical Engineering degree at this school and a Comp Sci degree or bio degree at some of the others. She has really sound reasons for picking the school, but it is a LOT of money.

She is going to want a Masters and that is where the school will really count. Save the 38k a year for her Master's program.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

She is going to want a Masters and that is where the school will really count. Save the 38k a year for her Master's program.

It is insane to amass a huge debt for an undergraduate degree. Pick the best school which offers the best FA package for your undergraduate degree.

 

[mercydisney]

My fingers are crossed for you & your daughter - extra pixie dust too! Please let us know how it goes.

We had the rug pulled out from under us after DS applied to colleges EA, his father lost his job. So, we went about it this way. I figured they were going to give that money to someone, might as well be DS. That fired him up, it really has worked out for him & he has a choice. He knew he had to make it happen for himself, b/c he knew he had to choose the lowest priced school & he didn't want to be in a classroom with 200 kids.

1. If you do not go after what you want, you will never have it.
2. If you do not ask, the answer will always be no.
3. If you do not step forward, you will always be in the same place.

Thank You! SHE GOT IT!!!!!!!
FULL RIDE....Full tuition for 4yrs! This includes dorming, food, books, etc. It is all paid for. She will be the ambassador of her university. It is only given out every 4yrs to one person. We feel so blessed.

 

[a1tinkfans]

This really depends on the college. Submitting letters from other institutions showing what you are getting at the university I work at does not help in getting additional financial aid. We only do petitions for people with legitimate reasons such as loss of employment or even death of a parent. If it is something beyond a parent's/student's control then you can petition. If it is just that you want more money, we do not match offers or adjust our packages for this.

I bolded
Yup, exactly what we were told and experienced...
(fafsa linked to irs by the way...which top tiers required)
And from my perspective, the more you saved for your childs education, the less you were offered..
OP, unless those other letters are from schools that have HIGHER status...Id not send them either. It will have no impact in the Big picture.
Just wanted to add that I made a call to a school that was not a top pick....they said that they did offer full academic scholarships very often...and it was one of the last we heard from..We knew his stats were on the high end for the school ...Lo and Behold he DID receive a 4 year full academic scholarship...and ultimately chose that school after much discussion.
Personally, I dont think Undergrad is where one should Invest their money because Grad school is around the corner
Best of Luck to your grad!!

 

[My5Mouseketeers]

Thank You! SHE GOT IT!!!!!!!
FULL RIDE....Full tuition for 4yrs! This includes dorming, food, books, etc. It is all paid for. She will be the ambassador of her university. It is only given out every 4yrs to one person. We feel so blessed.

Congratulations! That is wonderful. I'm sure you are very proud of her!

BTW, my daughter wants to go into Bioinformatics - which is (in my dumbed down thinking) the computer modeling of genetics. At Drexel it is a Biomedical Engineering Degree. At other schools (GWU, Stevens, Northeastern, Rutgers, BU) it isn't

 

[MarthaJr.]

Thank You! SHE GOT IT!!!!!!!
FULL RIDE....Full tuition for 4yrs! This includes dorming, food, books, etc. It is all paid for. She will be the ambassador of her university. It is only given out every 4yrs to one person. We feel so blessed.

Wow! Congrats to all of you....that is fantastic!

 

[mercydisney]

Thank You, Pretty Amazing! The Dean told her they were really impressed with all her fundraising and volunteer work.

So you should definatly work that into your application.

 

[csmommy]

Thank You! SHE GOT IT!!!!!!!
FULL RIDE....Full tuition for 4yrs! This includes dorming, food, books, etc. It is all paid for. She will be the ambassador of her university. It is only given out every 4yrs to one person. We feel so blessed.

Fabulous! Congrats! What awesome news.

 

[My5Mouseketeers]

OP here

They gave her another 13K! We do not qualify for any need based aid. We (DH and I) wrote a letter saying that we have 5 kids and could not afford to send her to a 60K a year school. If she did it, she would have to take out loans.

My DD wrote a letter stating all the reasons she wanted to go to this school and compared it to the "better" school that was giving her 30K. The 30K school is ranked much higher and has higher SAT requirements. (My daughters SATs were higher than both schools) Dream school was giving her 18K. Dream school said they would have a decision in a week.

Waited 10 days, hadn't heard from dream school. "better school" was having an admitted students day, we went and she LOVED it. Decided that it was the school she wanted to go to. We sent in the deposit.

Yesterday, dream school comes back with 31K in merit aid. Happily, DD decided to stick with "better" school.

So, appeals do work (sometimes).

 

[csmommy]

OP here

They gave her another 13K! We do not qualify for any need based aid. We (DH and I) wrote a letter saying that we have 5 kids and could not afford to send her to a 60K a year school. If she did it, she would have to take out loans.

My DD wrote a letter stating all the reasons she wanted to go to this school and compared it to the "better" school that was giving her 30K. The 30K school is ranked much higher and has higher SAT requirements. (My daughters SATs were higher than both schools) Dream school was giving her 18K. Dream school said they would have a decision in a week.

Waited 10 days, hadn't heard from dream school. "better school" was having an admitted students day, we went and she LOVED it. Decided that it was the school she wanted to go to. We sent in the deposit.

Yesterday, dream school comes back with 31K in merit aid. Happily, DD decided to stick with "better" school.

So, appeals do work (sometimes).

Fabulous news!

We are in a similar way, except reach school came through just before we placed deposit on the school he was very happy to go to (hat & shirt already purchased) He is rethinking it all, poor kid, he looks stressed! Just supporting him with whichever he chooses!

 

[gilesmt]

It never hurts to ask, but also to keep checking back, and to let the student take the initiative. When I went to high school it was a very difficult school to get into, public but I graduated with a diploma and a nursing degree. I spent several years working and starting my family after and then after a divorce went to college.

I started in a junior college, I applied for scholarships and kept getting them, I alos recieved financial aid, I never paid one dime for my AA degree and had more than enough money to live on with two children. I then moved to a private college for my bachelors, again I recieved many many scholarships and financial aid. If it did not cover all my expenses I just went in and talk to them, and just told them I could not afford student loans, they always came up with enough, even if not in tuition, they would give me food vochures for the grocery store, or. Checks made out to the local electric company, of a vochures for one months free rent, I was living in a house (not dorm) on campus. All these helped tremendously.

When I went for my masters, the first year, I had to take out a student loan for $1000, the second year (18 month program), I had to take out a loan for $3,500. So I obtained a masters degree for $4,500, and it was the best investment I ever made.

My kids started the same way, but once established in school money comes available, once the schools see that the student is invested, is not there just as a drinking party, that they want the degree, and they get the grades more and more financial aid opens up to them.also, when the school sees you getting scholarships it opens up more financial aid. But also, ask later in the year too, because many students drop out and there money goes back into the pot and if you can't get more in sept, you may be able to get more in jan or march. This is what is happening to my kids, if they go in and ask, they may be told no, but in jan they will get a new reward letter saying they have found more money for them. So even though it has been more than 15 years for me, the tactics seem to work the same. And apply for as many scholarships as you can, they all add up, one year I recieved 15, all for $500 to $1000 but hey, I will take it. And look into the child's past to see If there are scholarships you could apply for. My dd was a Shriner child, after two years in school we went to a Shriners circus and was telling them that she use to get treatment from them, they gave us a card about the scholarship and she now gets $2,500 a year from them, they said they hardly ever can find the kids and the scholarships just go unused for years. I also told both my kids to write for the credit union, because my union pays into our credit union, and again they both got $1000 from there. They both applied for my union also, and they both got money there, like $250 or $500.