Negotiating scholarships works!!!!! Forum

[LyricsToLitigation]

Looking for some advice...

I got a nearly full tuition offer from Wake Forest ($10k or less in tuition), and I'm 100% ok going with that option if I can't pull in any better offers. However, there are some peer schools I would potentially attend near the same price (UGA, W&M, Bama, SMU), two that I would consider for more (Emory, which I'm still waiting on, and WUSTL, where I currently have a $51k discount), and one that I would potentially attend at a substantially higher price (Vandy).

What strategy would be best? I can think of a couple options:

1. Use my WF offer as leverage at all of the schools right off the bat.
2. Use the WF offer on the peer schools, then approach Vandy, WUSTL, and Emory with potentially more offers from lower ranked schools as opposed to just the WF offer.

I also have decent offers from UGA ($40k total tuition) and FSU ($20k total tuition) that I could maybe use.

*COL won't be a big consideration because my spouse will be working.

+1 I'm curious as well!

[berndie90]

I have heard from a pretty reputable source (former admissions officer) that calling and politely requesting scholarship consideration (or re-consideration) is better than sending a letter/email. Any experience with this or recommendations? It could certainly be more awkward on the phone, but I feel like it may make me seem less like a money-grubbing succubus.

Who cares about being a money-grubbing succubus. Law school is outrageously priced and job prospects are downright terrible; you are fully justified in aggressively bargaining if you have the numbers to back it up. Just be polite.

I think it's easier to be polite via email; you are right that it's more awkward over the phone. I don't think calling is any more effective than emailing, and I would argue that it is less effective because being an admissions officer right now must be an extremely stressful job and they don't have a lot of free time and would probably prefer an email allowing them to get back to you on their own terms. In my case I emailed and would get a phone call back a few days later. I emailed twice, stood my ground on the phone, and was able to increase my scholarship from around half to almost full.

Curious what you meant by "stood your ground" on the phone when the financial aid office called you. Did they pressure you into thinking that you could pay sticker? Question your interest in the school? How did that go down?

[umichman]

I ed'd to my first choice and got in. they also gave me a 75k scholly which was totally unexpected. is it even worth it to ask for more? is there a way to do it without sounding dumb, considering I have no bargaining power?

[LyricsToLitigation]

I ed'd to my first choice and got in. they also gave me a 75k scholly which was totally unexpected. is it even worth it to ask for more? is there a way to do it without sounding dumb, considering I have no bargaining power?

absolutely, bring up debt to employment ratio, bring up honest desire to be part of their community (I'm assuming thats true since you ED'd there), Talk about what you bring to the table in terms of student body diversification. They can't take back an offer barring some kind of ridiculously dumb thing you may do between now and entering so it can't hurt!

[JNE]

I'm sorry if this was posted already… This thread got pretty long so I haven't read it all. Has anyone been successful/thinks it's okay to negotiate a scholarship over the phone? I feel more comfortable through e-mail since all communication is documented. I have one school in particular that doesn't seem to be very open to doing this through e-mail for whatever reason. I received a call back from them rather than an e-mail back. I'm not sure if I should approach this subject over the phone and not sure if I should keep e-mailing regarding this if they are not going to reply via e-mail. Someone please help! Thank you.

[kobe1020]

anyone knows how to use UC Irvine $$$ to negotiate? since they are unranked but look decent on paper i don't know how to position myself and them when using my scholarship from them to negotiate with other schools ranging from T20 to T50..any idea? thanks !!

[Marquis]

I'm going to start having to play this game hardcore. I presently have a pretty wild variety of scholarship offers. Is it best to hold off on beginning the negotiation process until I've received offers from all the schools to which I have applied? I've only heard back about half, but am already pretty stressed about COA.

[dean414]

Hello all:

This is a great thread! Don't have the time to read all 50+ pages but I did read quite a few.

So this is my situation, I am really gunning for Northeastern and am contemplating two different approaches. Both will start with an in depth why your law school blurb, then either of the following:

1) reference the fact I really want to go to school in boston and have gotten full tuition from schools in the area (but omit the fact that they are lower ranked)

Or

2) reference the fact I have UCONN (higher ranked school and at instate tuition with zero COL)

I am leaning towards option number two as I think it will hold more weight.

As always, thank you for any and all input.

[Cal Trask]

Hello all:

This is a great thread! Don't have the time to read all 50+ pages but I did read quite a few.

So this is my situation, I am really gunning for Northeastern and am contemplating two different approaches. Both will start with an in depth why your law school blurb, then either of the following:

1) reference the fact I really want to go to school in boston and have gotten full tuition from schools in the area (but omit the fact that they are lower ranked)

Or

2) reference the fact I have UCONN (higher ranked school and at instate tuition with zero COL)

I am leaning towards option number two as I think it will hold more weight.

As always, thank you for any and all input.

Read the last couple pages re: negotiating strategies. You don't need to read the whole thread, but this has been covered fairly recently.

[kobe1020]

anyone of you applied to schools that you won't be attending at all, purely just to leverage scholarship? for example, a 167/168 applicant applying to W&L/WUSTL with the expectation of good $$$ while actually looking at Texas/Vandy/USC etc?

[acfd]

I have been admitted to both of my safety schools, and received some money from one school and full from a lower ranked...I am still waiting on decisions from the rest of my schools. Does it makes sense to try and negotiate for more money from the first school now or should I wait until I have more decisions on the table? I'm worried the longer I wait, the less money will be available.

[szb5058]

anyone of you applied to schools that you won't be attending at all, purely just to leverage scholarship? for example, a 167/168 applicant applying to W&L/WUSTL with the expectation of good $$$ while actually looking at Texas/Vandy/USC etc?

Yep absolutely! I applied to about 3-4 schools just to use as leverage. The $80 in application fee is nothing compared to the $9,000 per year I was able to leverage from it.

I pretty much followed the advice on this article --> http://lawschooladvice.com/guides/negot ... olarships/ and ended up saving myself about $27K over 3 years

[chingwoo]

Got bumped from 0 to 75,000 at Indiana after 2 days. Pretty chill.

Gotta send more emails now.

[JustHawkin]

anyone of you applied to schools that you won't be attending at all, purely just to leverage scholarship? for example, a 167/168 applicant applying to W&L/WUSTL with the expectation of good $$$ while actually looking at Texas/Vandy/USC etc?

Yep absolutely! I applied to about 3-4 schools just to use as leverage. The $80 in application fee is nothing compared to the $9,000 per year I was able to leverage from it.

I pretty much followed the advice on this article --> http://lawschooladvice.com/guides/negot ... olarships/ and ended up saving myself about $27K over 3 years

This is good info thanks!!!

[szb5058]

anyone of you applied to schools that you won't be attending at all, purely just to leverage scholarship? for example, a 167/168 applicant applying to W&L/WUSTL with the expectation of good $$$ while actually looking at Texas/Vandy/USC etc?

Yep absolutely! I applied to about 3-4 schools just to use as leverage. The $80 in application fee is nothing compared to the $9,000 per year I was able to leverage from it.

I pretty much followed the advice on this article --> http://lawschooladvice.com/guides/negot ... olarships/ and ended up saving myself about $27K over 3 years

This is good info thanks!!!

This site ( http://lawschooladvice.com/guides/negot ... olarships/ ) also has SAMPLE NEGOTIATION LETTERS which I found to be super helpful

[residentemma]

Umm this is probably a dumb question but can you negotiate financial aid at HYS, where all aid is need-based and no aid is merit-based? Let's say they give me 20k/year in grants, could I come back and ask them for more? Or is the consensus that need-based aid is a final offer?

[throwaway1901]

Posting this "anonymously"...

I'm an AA male applying this cycle and have a question. It looks like UT gives out hefty schollies to AAs and UCLA/USC give out good schollies but not quite on par with UT. So my question is, as a California native, do you think USC/UCLA will raise their offers if I have a significantly better offer from UT or will they not take it seriously?

http://myLSN.info/1drgz8_15-18.jpg

[Thrive]

Chance of UT matching a full ride from University of Houston? Also have gained admissions to UM, NU , and Vanderbilt

[AT9]

Chance of UT matching a full ride from University of Houston? Also have gained admissions to UM, NU , and Vanderbilt

I doubt UT would MATCH a full ride from Houston. But if you can present a good case that Houston or one of the other options is a better investment for you, then I assume they would play along to some extent (though I know nothing of UT's negotiating practices).

[kartelite]

Umm this is probably a dumb question but can you negotiate financial aid at HYS, where all aid is need-based and no aid is merit-based? Let's say they give me 20k/year in grants, could I come back and ask them for more? Or is the consensus that need-based aid is a final offer?

I'm interested in this as well. Not that I would likely choose S/H over Yale, but the only way I could consider doing so would be if they used the same aid calculation formula as Yale (assuming by some miracle I got into both S/H and Yale). Otherwise I couldn't even begin to entertain going there - Stanford uses your most recent gross income to determine minimum contribution (puts me over $50k commitment right there) and Harvard considers your retirement accounts and primary home equity so forget that. Yale OTOH, I pay down my mortgage and enter with no assets and full grant aid.

[bigfeature]

.

[chargers]

Has anyone started negotiating yet? Is this too early in the cycle for the admissions committee to even respond?
When do you all plan to email them?

I began negotiating with a few schools beginning about two weeks ago. Haven't had any success thus far; all of the schools have said that the committee will review my offer closer to the seat deposit deadline when they have a better idea of who is likely to attend. I think it is good to begin the process early though (assuming you have competitive offers already). Even though I haven't had any success so far, my negotiation e-mail has led to helpful dialogue with some of the schools I am considering.

[bigfeature]

.

[chingwoo]

Has anyone started negotiating yet? Is this too early in the cycle for the admissions committee to even respond?
When do you all plan to email them?

I began negotiating with a few schools beginning about two weeks ago. Haven't had any success thus far; all of the schools have said that the committee will review my offer closer to the seat deposit deadline when they have a better idea of who is likely to attend. I think it is good to begin the process early though (assuming you have competitive offers already). Even though I haven't had any success so far, my negotiation e-mail has led to helpful dialogue with some of the schools I am considering.

Thanks, chargers!
This really makes me think I should wait a little longer. Lots of threads say I should begin *before* the deposit deadlines, but schools are saying they would know *after* the deadline, which makes me wonder if I should double deposit to many contenders just for the negotiation purpose. This is certainly a confusing time.

I started and got an almost immediate 75k bump. I may have been a YP no scholarship offer. 165+ at Indiana

[BaberhamLincoln]

Is it too soon to start negotiating? Should we wait until March? (Not sure if anyone knows...)