Negotiating between Virginia and UCLA Forum

[wamanda]

Hey everyone,

I was recently accepted off Virginia's waitlist. No word about need-based aid, and I am assuming no scholarship aid at this point.

That said, I have already deposited at UCLA. They have given me 20K per in scholarships and 12.5K in need-based aid (likely per year, since I don't think my financial situation will change much). This amounts to about 90K in aid, assuming my need-based goes down a bit in 2L or 3L.

I would like to see if I can get some money from Virginia, but if not, I am wondering if I can use my mere acceptance to Virginia as leverage to get the UCLA scholarship up a bit higher. I have already negotiated with them a couple times, and talked to Dean Schwartz personally far too many times, but I have never had T14 offers.

Before you label me a greedy asshole, I would like to note that I have strong numbers and am committed to public interest, so every drop of financial aid helps. Also, I have heard conflicting things about whether need-based aid is truly similar every year, so I would like a little extra scholarship cushion to protect me from that, as well as the inevitable tuition hikes in the UC system.

Is it bad form to ask UCLA without more than a simple acceptance from UVa? How much $$ from UVa would justify a negotiation with UCLA? Will UVa care that UCLA has given me so much money?

Any thoughts or advice are appreciated. Thanks everyone!

[Gideon Strumpet]

UVA will not care; UCLA should. Just tell UCLA the truth: you have to decide between these two schools, and you're finding it hard to choose. Then ask if UCLA will reconsider your scholarship offer. If for whatever reason you sincerely prefer to attend UCLA, tell them that, but it's not required. Everyone knows how the math works on this.

That's the answer to your question. TCR though is thank UCLA for their generous offer and go to UVA.