ASU said to call Admission's Dean Shelli Soto if you want more scholarship money. They say you have to negotiate with her.

Obviously, Shelli Soto is extremely skilled and experienced in scholarship negotiations and the average student is not.

Any suggestions on how to approach this?

Any suggestions on how to maximize the money you get from her?

tell her you're willing to do anything.

Um they're probably having enrollment problems so just tell her you're not gonna go just because the school shit up in the rankings or some shit. Be sure to bring up the mediocre employment outcomes.

That got Reema Bajaj arrested.

1) Get accepted to a higher ranked law school

2) Tell her you LOVE ASU but you can't justify going there over (higher ranked school) unless ASU is substantially cheaper

3) Enjoy your ASU scholarship

I would say that you're considering sitting out the entire cycle, that employment prospects at ASU just aren't great enough for the money they're offering.

I like that one a lot.

Yeah this. I'd just have a copy of the NLJ 250 and ABA jobs data for the c/o 2011 handy, and don't buy into any BS.

Also, *insert obligatory ASU droves joke here*

This has worked across the board this cycle for schools that are having enrollment problems. Also, when you get an offer make sure you continue to use this until you get at least one no, and really push until you get two no's. Schools are desperate.

Don't frame the conversation in terms of "how much scholarship $ do I get," frame it in terms of "how much tuition do I have to pay." "Scholarship $" makes it sound like they are giving you something, as opposed to vice versa, which is really what's happening.

Thanks, I didn't think of that, and that changes that relativity of the question at hand. It frames the question from my perspective not hers. Brilliant.

Just do your homework.

If you're trying to negotiate because you have $$$ at a different school, be ready to give her numbers like the cheaper COA and waht not.

It really wasn't too difficult.

Is Shelli hard to get a hold of?

I had no trouble. It was during the peak of the cycle, though, so it may have been easier a couple months ago.

Yuuuuuuuuuup.

Ditto on this one... after 3 separate failures to follow through on calling me back, I withdrew my app and moved on.

I keep wondering if this is a product of their ranking jump. They became addicted to a higher ranking so they keep making their classes smaller. The smaller their classes get, the less money they have. So Shelli has to take on more responsibility to keep up her pay raises. Which means she has less time to do an effective job as admissions Dean.
I have also noticed that the higher their ranking is, the worse their students do on the bar exam.

I toured U of A law school on Friday. Met with some U of A students.

They all said that they were accepted at both U of A and ASU. They also said that Shelli promised to match the offers U of A gave them. They tried to get Shelli to put it in writing but she never did and wouldn't return their phone calls. So they went to U of A. They also said they have friends who believed Shelli about the scholarship matching/increases and also didn't get it in writing, went to orientation and talked to her about increasing their scholarship like she had promised. She said she didn't remember and if she promised that she would have sent them a written notice.

They all told me to get it in writing from Shelli or it won't happen.