Need Negotiating Help (similar offers galore!) Forum

[finaidquestions]

Okay, so here is my scenario:

*I've been offered aid at three t14's, with the two high offers sitting at 67k over three years and a third in the 50k territory.
*I've been admitted and offered 90k to the quad-pod of UCLA/USC/Vandy/UT
*I've been admitted and offered 90k from two additional t25 schools.

My goal is to somehow turn this mess into either a larger offer from one of the T14s (hoping to get 67k to 90k+) or to get the 90k offers from the UCLA/USC/Vandy/UT cluster into full ride territory. Any ideas on how to get peers to budge when the alternate offer is the same offer? Do schools care about differences in COA (variance in COA amongst peer schools is up to 40k in my situation)? Are certain schools more apt to boost their aid package to beat a rival offer (both in the lower t14 in with the next set of schools)? Is this an unrealistic set of goals?

Help!

[jump_man]

Sometimes it is best to be blunt. Tell them, "I will not go to your school unless you give me more money." Worst case scenario, they simply say no. I've heard of plenty of success with this strategy, and it worked marginally well for my cycle.

[finaidquestions]

Sometimes it is best to be blunt. Tell them, "I will not go to your school unless you give me more money." Worst case scenario, they simply say no. I've heard of plenty of success with this strategy, and it worked marginally well for my cycle.

PMed. Thank you for the response and I look forward to any other responses the TLS community might be able to provide (both from experience and simply ideas!).