Abilene Reporter News: "Cutting a better deal on college financial aid can be more than a parents’ fantasy.
Increasingly, private schools are quietly using the practice to help attract the students they want in a challenging economy.
The practice of increasing aid on request has emerged relatively recently as college tuition has soared almost out of reach for ordinary families, according to Bruce Hammond, an independent college counselor based in Charlottesville, Va."
3 comments:
Although maybe it does make sense to leave some money reserved for the most prized students, it seems a bit unfair. When it comes down to colleges basically bidding for students, then one cannot help but question the things that come into play. Doesn't every student have as much of a right to attend a school as another? When one looks at a college application, there is only so much one can tell. Just because one has higher SAT scores or a better essay, there is only so much you can tell about their motivation. For someone who is above average, it is pretty easy to get all As in public high school. It barely proves that they have the intelligence or work ethic to really succeed.
I can vouch for the fact that CMU does in fact increase financial aid if you contact them and make a case for it. My dad called CMU at the beginning of the year and talked with them a LOT, making our case for why we really couldn't pay as much as they wanted us to, and they more than doubled the amount of financial aid offered.
Something the article doesn't mention is that if you have a sibling in college, or a sibling that is planning to attend college that year (even just second semester) you're should mention it. Even if said sibling doesn't end up attending (which you HAVE to inform CMU of) they will still give you more financial aid.
This article did bring up a bunch of points that didn't occur to me though. I didn't know that medical expenses or divorce could be a reason to get greater financial aid. I'm definitely going to forward this article to both of my parents. Thanks!
This is a great article for anyone that was accepted into college and is now figuring out which one to attend. I wish I had had this article when I was applying to colleges so that I might have been able to get some financial aid. The tip about citing special circumstances is great. When you are filling out the financial aid forms, you can’t put information on them that would effect the amount of aid. In this way, you can tell colleges the info that you couldn’t tell them on those forms once you are accepted. Also, some other tips that they gave like understanding the process, showing competing offers, and being concise were great as well.
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