Is financial aid negotiable?

[sbgrace]

Is it ever helpful to tell another school about your financial aid award from a competitor? Might even a public school be able to close the gap a bit?

[freesia]

1 hour ago, sbgrace said:

Is it ever helpful to tell another school about your financial aid award from a competitor? Might even a public school be able to close the gap a bit?

Yes, I’ve known that to happen. I’ve never tried but I have a close friend who has. 

[catz]

I think yes, I know people who have had luck with this.  But I do think public schools often don't have as much give as a private school might.  

[kokotg]

yes, it's sometimes helpful. Some schools will tell you they don't match other offers and some will tell you they do, and IME there's no predicting which schools are which. My only experience with a public school being willing to negotiate was with music scholarships, so not sure how relevant that is to other kinds of admissions. But at least with departmental scholarships like that, there might be room to negotiate. 

[JanetC]

On 2/27/2023 at 4:26 PM, catz said:

I think yes, I know people who have had luck with this.  But I do think public schools often don't have as much give as a private school might.  

There are also often state laws or state higher education commission rules that affect how they can spend their budgets.

 

[Sebastian (a lady)]

It can be fruitful to appeal a financial aid offer. 

If the appeal is based on financial details that weren't well reflected in FAFSA or CSS Profile, then approach the financial aid office and be prepared to provide documents to clarify your situation. 

If it's not based on financial need, often the admissions office is the place to start. 

It helps if you can share an offer from a peer institution. A high profile school may not feel they needed to match the offer from a lower profile college. And you want to compare net costs, not the amount of the discount.