Negotiating scholarships works!!!!! Forum

[rowingmyboat]

Now that my cycle is finished, here are my results of negotiating this year. Hopefully someone might find it useful, like I found this thread helpful this year. Amounts are total over three years.

USC - originally $0 -> $90,000
Georgetown - They would not increase it
Duke - $54k -> $68k
NYU - Would not increase it ($0 ->$0)
Chicago - (off the waitlist) $0 -> $15k

Edited to show waitlist negotiation

[Oftranch]

I've got two questions:
1. Has anyone had success negotiating with a school after being accepted off of their wait list?
2. Can you negotiate scholarship amounts after accepting a financial aid package (I still have two 3 apps pending but need to accept my fin aid package by June 15)?

[jsvaughn]

Summary of my negotiations:

Alabama: 10k to 20k to 22k

Wake Forest: Off Waiting List, 0k to 20k

William and Mary: Off Waiting List, 12k to Request Denied

Illinois: 5k to 11k

IUB: 10k to Request Denied

UGA: Off Waiting List, 0k to Request Denied

Temple: 0k to Request Denied

I've got two questions:
1. Has anyone had success negotiating with a school after being accepted off of their wait list?
2. Can you negotiate scholarship amounts after accepting a financial aid package (I still have two 3 apps pending but need to accept my fin aid package by June 15)?

So yes I was able to negotiate after being accepted off the waiting list but only at WF. I found that if was helpful to be very upfront about your other offers and let them know exactly where they stand on your list. For example W&M called me before admitting me to find out what my other offers were so that they could make a competitive offer.

The main thing is that you have to be willing to walk away

[Genki]

Michigan $72,000 ---> $72,000
NYU $0 ----> $0
Chicago $0 -----> $0
Virginia $0 -----> $90,000

No luck with Michigan, NYU, or Chicago this year, but I went from a no offer to 2/3 tuition at Virginia. I then submitted my Virginia offer to Berkeley and was accept for a matching scholarship at $75,000.

[Unagi]

I've got two questions:
1. Has anyone had success negotiating with a school after being accepted off of their wait list?
2. Can you negotiate scholarship amounts after accepting a financial aid package (I still have two 3 apps pending but need to accept my fin aid package by June 15)?

Yes and yes.
Got money from Texas after being accepted from the WL and got money from WUSTL and GULG after accepting their finaid offers.

[Nammertat]

I've got two questions:
1. Has anyone had success negotiating with a school after being accepted off of their wait list?
2. Can you negotiate scholarship amounts after accepting a financial aid package (I still have two 3 apps pending but need to accept my fin aid package by June 15)?

Yes and yes.
Got money from Texas after being accepted from the WL and got money from WUSTL and GULG after accepting their finaid offers.

^ Same here. $$ from W&M/UMN/ASU/GMU.

I'm not really sure where the myth of WL-Admits paying sticker came from, but its definitely not set in stone.

[Oftranch]

I've got two questions:
1. Has anyone had success negotiating with a school after being accepted off of their wait list?
2. Can you negotiate scholarship amounts after accepting a financial aid package (I still have two 3 apps pending but need to accept my fin aid package by June 15)?

Yes and yes.
Got money from Texas after being accepted from the WL and got money from WUSTL and GULG after accepting their finaid offers.

^ Same here. $$ from W&M/UMN/ASU/GMU.

I'm not really sure where the myth of WL-Admits paying sticker came from, but its definitely not set in stone.

I was wait listed then accepted to Emory with a scholarship but I wasn't sure if I would be able to successfully negotiate with them considering I am in off the wait list.

[Nammertat]

I've got two questions:
1. Has anyone had success negotiating with a school after being accepted off of their wait list?
2. Can you negotiate scholarship amounts after accepting a financial aid package (I still have two 3 apps pending but need to accept my fin aid package by June 15)?

Yes and yes.
Got money from Texas after being accepted from the WL and got money from WUSTL and GULG after accepting their finaid offers.

^ Same here. $$ from W&M/UMN/ASU/GMU.

I'm not really sure where the myth of WL-Admits paying sticker came from, but its definitely not set in stone.

I was wait listed then accepted to Emory with a scholarship but I wasn't sure if I would be able to successfully negotiate with them considering I am in off the wait list.

In my experience, once you're in they treat you as if you had been the whole time.

[Oftranch]

In my experience, once you're in they treat you as if you had been the whole time.

I appreciate the advise.

[CattyPake]

.

[woeisme]

This might be a stupid question but is there any chance of negotiating for more money with Michigan AFTER having sent a initial seat deposit to Michigan?
I know that Michigan says they have a policy of one time negotiation and I have already used that to up their offer from no money to $6,000 per year. However, at the time, the highest ranked school I had an offer from was Minnesota at $24,000 a year.
I just found out today that I was admitted to USC with $20,000 a year. Is this offer worth bringing up to Michigan (would USC even be considered as more of a peer school to Mich than Minnesota?) or is my negotiating power void because I've already deposited?

Yeah, it's worth a shot at least. I'm pretty surprised than Michigan almost matched a Minnesota offer. Times certainly are-a-changin'. If they (almost) matched Minnesota, maybe they'll give more for USC... Not sure how stringent they're one-time negotiation policy really is.

USC with 20/yr is definitely the better choice at this stage though if you're wanting California.

[CattyPake]

.

[fingerscrossedxx]

Updating my cycle for those this might help in the future!

Vanderbilt - Offered 35,000 per year
Northwestern - Accepted off hold, $0
NYU Accepted off waitlist, waiting to hear about Fin Aid.
UCLA - Offered 13,000 then upped to 38,000 per year after letting them know about Vanderbilt. Then upped to 44,000 for the first year after letting them know about a Northwestern acceptance. I think it mostly has to do with how awesome Dean Schwartz and his staff are, and I asked very much letting them know that UCLA was my still first choice and I was just wondering if any more money had become available.

[Oftranch]

.

[woeisme]

Well I don't know if Mich almost matched it...those are the yearly merit aid offers so 72 k vs. 18 k is a pretty big difference in the end

Oh, oh. I misread. Yeah, okay.

[tjddk]

.

[landla]

Does anyone have suggestions for negotiating in terms of when to stop/if you are asking for too much? The school increased my scholarship, but I still need more to truly justify attending in comparison to other options. I don't want to be that aggravating person constantly negotiating, but even a seemingly small scholarship can make a big difference over three years.

[nemo]

can i ask something?? what do u say?? how do u negotiate?

[tmon]

Does anyone have suggestions for negotiating in terms of when to stop/if you are asking for too much? The school increased my scholarship, but I still need more to truly justify attending in comparison to other options. I don't want to be that aggravating person constantly negotiating, but even a seemingly small scholarship can make a big difference over three years.

I mean, there'll come a point where you're just annoying, but short of that, there's really no risk to this unless you say something absolutely ridiculous enough to have your admission withdrawn...and I've never heard of that happening. Be persistent, and if they've already said no and you're reaching the date when you need to make your decision just lay things out for them. There's nothing wrong with saying "Thank you for your previous reconsideration of my scholarship amount, but at the current cost I will be unable to attend. Would it be possible to review my request again?"

Personally, I asked once and was flat out denied, waited a month and made it really clear that I wasn't going to enroll unless the cost was better, and at that point they increased me. I think sometimes schools play a game where they think you're just asking because you want money but will enroll anyways if they say no. So persistence can definitely help. Don't be annoying, but make certain that they know you wont enroll unless you're comfortable making the decision.

[leafs1315]

Is it possible to ask for a merit-based scholarship, if nothing was awarded originally? I wasn't granted any money, thus I would be paying full sticker, so I was wondering if there is anyway to ask for some money. I recently withdrew from schools that offered me money, so the schools I am deciding from would most likely be sticker prices.

Thanks

[rma]

Is it possible to ask for a merit-based scholarship, if nothing was awarded originally? I wasn't granted any money, thus I would be paying full sticker, so I was wondering if there is anyway to ask for some money. I recently withdrew from schools that offered me money, so the schools I am deciding from would most likely be sticker prices.

Thanks

I did this at DU. Went from nothing to $15k/year. It doesn't hurt to try. I basically kept calling and emailing the dean trying to explain why I thought they should throw some money my way. Eventually, I got some.

[tmon]

Is it possible to ask for a merit-based scholarship, if nothing was awarded originally? I wasn't granted any money, thus I would be paying full sticker, so I was wondering if there is anyway to ask for some money. I recently withdrew from schools that offered me money, so the schools I am deciding from would most likely be sticker prices.

Thanks

Did you read anything in this thread? Even my post just before yours would've started you on your way toward an answer. Beyond the obvious "yes" though, it helps to have leverage, which you've largely given up by withdrawing from schools that were offering you money. Hopefully you haven't withdrawn from all other options, otherwise it'll be hard to make your case.

[rma]

Is it possible to ask for a merit-based scholarship, if nothing was awarded originally? I wasn't granted any money, thus I would be paying full sticker, so I was wondering if there is anyway to ask for some money. I recently withdrew from schools that offered me money, so the schools I am deciding from would most likely be sticker prices.

Thanks

Did you read anything in this thread? Even my post just before yours would've started you on your way toward an answer. Beyond the obvious "yes" though, it helps to have leverage, which you've largely given up by withdrawing from schools that were offering you money. Hopefully you haven't withdrawn from all other options, otherwise it'll be hard to make your case.

I actually withdrew from all my other options, but only because I was set on DU anyway.

When I originally asked for scholarship $ (in early April) they told me they had none, and to wait until after the first seat deposit deadline when some $ should open up. They also told me that the best way to illustrate my commitment to the school was to put down a deposit, which I did.

Even though you withdrew from the places giving you money, it's still OK to discuss how much they gave you and you can be like, "But I was willing to give that to attend your school, etc..."

More than anything, I just think it's important for anyone who is negotiating to 1) Be Persistent- keep trying until you get the answer you want, you have nothing to lose (I had to call DU's admissions office 10 different times at one point to get a hold of Dean Davis) and 2) Do the best sell job you can on yourself as to why you'd be successful in law school. When I was negotiating trying to get money at DU, Dean Davis asked about my poor sub-3.0 GPA because he said it was uncommon for the school to dish out scholarship money to sub 3.0 students. So I basically talked about my GPA and why it was so low, and in addition to that I explained to him reasons that I think I would be successful in law school. I got scholarship money the very next day.

[tmon]

I actually withdrew from all my other options, but only because I was set on DU anyway.

When I originally asked for scholarship $ (in early April) they told me they had none, and to wait until after the first seat deposit deadline when some $ should open up. They also told me that the best way to illustrate my commitment to the school was to put down a deposit, which I did.

Even though you withdrew from the places giving you money, it's still OK to discuss how much they gave you and you can be like, "But I was willing to give that to attend your school, etc..."

More than anything, I just think it's important for anyone who is negotiating to 1) Be Persistent- keep trying until you get the answer you want, you have nothing to lose (I had to call DU's admissions office 10 different times at one point to get a hold of Dean Davis) and 2) Do the best sell job you can on yourself as to why you'd be successful in law school. When I was negotiating trying to get money at DU, Dean Davis asked about my poor sub-3.0 GPA because he said it was uncommon for the school to dish out scholarship money to sub 3.0 students. So I basically talked about my GPA and why it was so low, and in addition to that I explained to him reasons that I think I would be successful in law school. I got scholarship money the very next day.

It's totally possible that you can negotiate without other options on the table, obviously, because you're first hand evidence. But for anyone who comes along and reads this thread for next cycle, it makes way more sense to keep your offers and use them as leverage. Not every school will up you just through persistence and selling yourself. But if you have money or at least acceptance to a competing or superior school you're in a much better situation.

[leafs1315]

Thanks for the replies, I realized I should have waited to withdraw from the other schools. However, I still asked for some money and said what rma suggested. I said that "I withdrew from the other options because of my strong desire to attend your school". Hopefully they will send some money this way.