This is the time of year when the rubber meet the roads for college admissions. At this point in the year, most college freshman have already committed to their college of choice. You have paid the admission deposit, you have signed up for Orientation, you are registering for classes, and you are making plans to move into the dorms in August. The final piece of this on-boarding process is your financial aid and your student bill.
Most colleges send out their incoming freshman financial aid award letters well ahead of their returning students. This is done for a number of reasons, but mainly for recruiting purposes. Incoming freshman need to know what financial aid they have been offered in order to accurately assess the best college for them.
SO what do you do when you receive your financial aid award letter? It is negotiable? Can you contact the financial aid office and request/demand that they give you more funds? Are there awards that you can swap out or adjust?
The answer is yes to all of the above.
Demand More Scholarships and Grants
This process will vary from one school to the next but if you have received competitive academic scholarships, you will likely have room to negotiate these amounts. The trick is that you will need to determine who awards the scholarships and who sets their levels. Often, the financial aid counselor you will speak with when calling the financial aid office, cannot adjust anything for you. They will tell you that your awards were ran though the “packager” which looks at a large list of criteria, and you were awarded everything you qualified for. This is true, but there are ways around it.
If you received scholarships from a department, from a program (such as the Honors College, or Graphic COmmunications…) you can contact that department or program directly to request an increase. As these programs manage their funds independently, they are often more flexible in increasing awards than the financial aid office is.
This process also depends on the type of school you choose to attend. A large public institution will be much less likely to be able to adjust your awards than a small private school would be.
The key here is whether or not your school is an enrollment drive school. This means that your school does not receive any state funding and relies solely on the tuition paid by their students for their operating budget. Enrollment drive private schools have a quota of students they must reach each semester, and they will go to great lengths to keep you on their campus. You have a much more powerful negotiating position at a school of this type, than a large public institution.
Loans are Always Adjustable
If you have gone through the negotiation process and requested all of the free grant and scholarship money that you can, you can always adjust your student loans. Decreasing the amount of your student loans is as simple as putting this request in writing or an email to your financial aid office. Increasing this loan may be a bit trickier.
If you receive Direct Stafford Loans, and you have not reached your yearly maximum, you can contact your financial aid office and request an increase. As long as you have not met your cost of attendance for that semester, they will be able to increase your loan.
If you receive private student loans, or a Parent PLUS loan, and they have not certified the entire amount that you or your parent were approved for, then they can go back to increase this amount up to the maximum that was initially approved by the lender. This can be as simple as putting a request in an email and sending it to your financial aid office.
The Bottom Line
Negotiating your financial aid package is all based on your negotiating position. If you are a highly recruited students, or if you attend a small private school then you will have a much greater negotiating position.
However, every student has the right to negotiate their financial aid package. As with job offers, it is much easier to get the free money before you begin your college career than it is to ask for raises once you have already started.
It never hurts to ask!
Having never been through the financial aid process (yes I am incredibly lucky), this isn’t something I had ever thought about. But I guess it’s like anything else. Almost anything is negotiable, you just have to learn how to do it.
Matt Becker recently posted..Why Whole Life Insurance is a Bad Investment
It’s true, most things in life are negotiable. I would argue that you have to both learn how to properly do it, and work up the guts to do it! Not always easy, but always worth it.
MoneyforCollegePro recently posted..How to Negotiate Your Financial Aid Package
Timely info. Although my kids are going to giant schools, my daughter didn’t receive a competitive scholarship that she was clearly qualified for. It’s time to give them another call and see if she still has a shot at it.
Joe @ Stacking Benjamins recently posted..Speech Tips Learned in Public Speaking Hell
Definitely! The worst they can say is no, and the upside is big!
Man, I wish I knew this 14 years ago. I had earned a rather prestigious scholarship from the state but then the state college I attended simply tired it into the scholarship they were already giving me!
Interesting. It’s definitely important to always read the terms and conditions for any scholarship you receive as well. That will help with negotiation down the road!
MoneyforCollegePro recently posted..How to Negotiate Your Financial Aid Package
So good to know! Thanks for the heads up! 4 kids…I need to know this!
Jules@Faithful With a Few recently posted..How, Then, Shall I Spend This Short Life?
It is definitely great knowledge to keep in mind, especially for your kids! Could be a real money saver down the road.