Negotiating scholarships works!!!!! Forum

[20130312]

spreading bad advice to others to increase his own chances

But isn't this what all of TLS is for?

[Volforlife]

I recently got an offer email from a school's generic financial aid email address but signed by a particular person in the office. I'm writing a negotiation email and wonder if I should send it to him/her directly or the generic financial aid email.

Thoughts?

[MacB]

When I'm responding to a specific message, I send it to the email address that I received the message from and address whomever sent me the original message. Whether or not the person who opens the email is that individual (if it's a generic finaid email address), I don't think they would balk at you addressing the person who initiated the contact. Anything is better than, "dear sir or ma'am" to a generic finaid email address.

[dingbat]

I recently got an offer email from a school's generic financial aid email address but signed by a particular person in the office. I'm writing a negotiation email and wonder if I should send it to him/her directly or the generic financial aid email.

Thoughts?

It's always better to send stuff to a specific person, rather than a general mailbox

[Aroldis105]

spreading bad advice to others to increase his own chances

But isn't this what all of TLS is for?

+1 +1 +1

[iteachtenthgrade]

Thoughts on asking Chicago or Columbia to match my $20,000/year offer at Michigan?

Chicago is my alma mater and they already offer a $10,000/year scholarship for five TFA corps members. Columbia - well, I have no selling points at Columbia. Whatever.

[ashawnt]

Hey guys,
So I have been recently been admitted to USD and Loyola. Loyola gave me a small scholarship and USD gave me nothing...Im slightly below both medians for g.P.a and at their 25th percentiles for LSAT so I really didn't expect any scholarship from Loyola or USD but now that I have a small one I wan't to try to leverage it to USD and then perhaps try to get my Loyola scholarship bumped by a few thousand. Theres plenty of post on here about people with great numbers negotiating for scholarships but what about people below medians? I would think that USD would match or beat any offers from high ranked regional schools but given the fact that I do nothing for there medians I might be wrong? Would it be better to negotiate now or later in the cycle? Any thoughts on how to best proceed from here would be great...

[jbagelboy]

Thoughts on asking Chicago or Columbia to match my $20,000/year offer at Michigan?

Chicago is my alma mater and they already offer a $10,000/year scholarship for five TFA corps members. Columbia - well, I have no selling points at Columbia. Whatever.

I have quite a nice offer from Michigan too but I don't think Columbia will be interested. Sorry to disappoint.. Columbia actually doesn't really give out any merit aid besides Butler and Hamilton; the rest is wrapped up in "need-based", which could theoretically be adjusted given competing merit offers but probably only very convincing ones from chicago or nyu at best. No thoughts on Chicago.

[kfischm1]

I know the conventional wisdom seems to be to wait until close to the deposit deadlines to try and negotiate, but if we are expecting a school in the T-14 to go up in rankings or have a higher gpa/LSAT median than currently, would it be better to try and negotiate now before the new updated US News and World Report rankings come out in Mid-March?

Right now I am sitting at above 75th percentile GPA for said school and at the median (ish) for my LSAT, so I'm thinking that it could affect my chances of getting money (depending on how the peer schools do and how much this certain school wants to keep its medians relative to its peers)

[hobie2515]

Does anyone think it's possible (or even worth it) to use a a scholarship from Minnesota as leverage against schools like UT? I know they have similar USNR rankings however LST shows UT greatly outperforming Minnesota in the jobs department. Obviously they are in different markets and don't cross paths much, but would enough money from Minnesota make UT step up to the plate?

[manofjustice]

Does anyone think it's possible (or even worth it) to use a a scholarship from Minnesota as leverage against schools like UT? I know they have similar USNR rankings however LST shows UT greatly outperforming Minnesota in the jobs department. Obviously they are in different markets and don't cross paths much, but would enough money from Minnesota make UT step up to the plate?

Yes, if you do it right.

[SAlpha]

Was offered 20k/year at W&L and 15k/year at USC.

Although they are on opposite coasts, they are similarly ranked and 15k over 3 years is significant.

Think USC would entertain the idea of matching W&L's offer?

[jbagelboy]

Was offered 20k/year at W&L and 15k/year at USC.

Although they are on opposite coasts, they are similarly ranked and 15k over 3 years is significant.

Think USC would entertain the idea of matching W&L's offer?

Unfortunately I doubt USC would come back just to increase their scholarship by 5K/yr for W&L. The schools are different enough in location, character, and post-grad placement, that rankings aside I doubt USC truly considers them "peer". Then again, I always think its worth a try!

[SAlpha]

Was offered 20k/year at W&L and 15k/year at USC.

Although they are on opposite coasts, they are similarly ranked and 15k over 3 years is significant.

Think USC would entertain the idea of matching W&L's offer?

Unfortunately I doubt USC would come back just to increase their scholarship by 5K/yr for W&L. The schools are different enough in location, character, and post-grad placement, that rankings aside I doubt USC truly considers them "peer". Then again, I always think its worth a try!

Yeah I assumed that would likely be the case. These were shockingly the best scholarship offers I received. Got more money at USC and W&L than I did at inferior schools like Northeastern, Depaul, Loyola, Cardozo. Just seeing what my leverage was in an odd cycle. Thanks for the response!

[SydneyC]

Was offered 20k/year at W&L and 15k/year at USC.

Although they are on opposite coasts, they are similarly ranked and 15k over 3 years is significant.

Think USC would entertain the idea of matching W&L's offer?

You can always ask. Obviously, do so professionally but "no" is the worst they can say, right?

If USC has one thing it's $$$. $5K / year seems a small request.

[manofjustice]

Guys, two important points of advice.

1) "Matching" is not always the best you can get out of a school. Sometimes you can get more.

2) USNWR ranking is not the sole determinate of how successful a school is at filling its seats, but how successful a school is at filling its seats is the sole determinate at how successful you will be getting a scholarship from that school. So look at other factors besides USNWR ranking.

[Aroldis105]

Heeeeeey.
So I have a 28k annual scholarship offer to UMiami (#69). W&M (#35) has offered me 10k a year. Obviously Miami is not in W&M's neighborhood, but the UMiami scholarship is for a public interest law program and also offers summer stipends to work abroad or domestically for a non-profit. I would really love to do work of that nature after I graduate.
I was wondering if anyone thinks W&M might be perceptive to me pitching a scholarship increase based on those parameters. For what it's worth, W&M has been extremely accessible and personable through this whole process which is what makes me think this may not be a complete lost cause.
Any advice on how to go about doing this or if it is worthwhile?
Gracias.

[bobbypin]

If you ask one more time after getting a no, how do you preface the question?

[anticule]

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[FrankGallagher]

Could I get Vanderbilt (offered me $15k) to match my Minnesota offer ($25k)? Or at least meet in the middle at $20k?

I'm guessing they wouldn't care about my full ride offer at Arizona.

And then when is the best time to send the negotiation email? I guess I need to read a lot more on the protocol of how this all works.

[zman]

Could I get Vanderbilt (offered me $15k) to match my Minnesota offer ($25k)? Or at least meet in the middle at $20k?

I'm guessing they wouldn't care about my full ride offer at Arizona.

And then when is the best time to send the negotiation email? I guess I need to read a lot more on the protocol of how this all works.

probably not, maybe if USC or texas were in place of minnesota you could get more.

[jym_dawg]

Could I get Vanderbilt (offered me $15k) to match my Minnesota offer ($25k)? Or at least meet in the middle at $20k?

I'm guessing they wouldn't care about my full ride offer at Arizona.

And then when is the best time to send the negotiation email? I guess I need to read a lot more on the protocol of how this all works.

The CW is that Vandy doesn't negotiate scholarships, but it's not clear whether they are doing things any differently this year. If you end up approaching them, please let us know the outcome!

[hopelessoptimist]

I'm sort of oblivious as to how all this works, so I've just been reading this thread and have a couple quick questions.

1) does anyone know how reverse splitters are faring this cycle when it comes negotiating scholarships?

2) would mentioning job offers provide me any leverage in negotiating, or do the schools only care about other schools' offers?

Thanks!

[cwid1391]

How much does an acceptance (but no money) from a CCN help leveraging from MVPB? I got 15k per year from one of the MVPB, but I was wondering if an CCN acceptance or two would really cause them to reevaluate? If so, how would you word that sort of email?

[megagnarley]

How does one approach peer schools that offer equal money?