Negotiating scholarships works!!!!! Forum

[Four Winds]

What's TCR on how long you should wait after getting an award decision to try and negotiate? I don't want to seem pushy but I also feel like it would behoove me to move sooner rather than later so that I can maximize my chances to get whatever $$ they haven't given out yet.

My understanding is that this is the last month to negotiate before the April 1 date where law schools can ask you to enroll after they make a fin aid offer.

To me, that makes it urgent to not waste any time and start negotiating. I truly don't know TCR, but if it were me, I wouldn't wait longer than a few days. There's just not a lot of time to be tactful if you're expecting to go a couple of rounds with these guys.

Word, this is encouraging. Thanks y'all!

[KMart]

What's TCR on how long you should wait after getting an award decision to try and negotiate? I don't want to seem pushy but I also feel like it would behoove me to move sooner rather than later so that I can maximize my chances to get whatever $$ they haven't given out yet.

My understanding is that this is the last month to negotiate before the April 1 date where law schools can ask you to enroll after they make a fin aid offer.

To me, that makes it urgent to not waste any time and start negotiating. I truly don't know TCR, but if it were me, I wouldn't wait longer than a few days. There's just not a lot of time to be tactful if you're expecting to go a couple of rounds with these guys.

Word, this is encouraging. Thanks y'all!

I probably won't wait too long because there are schools I'm still waiting to hear from. Maybe a few days for courtesy purposes, but there's not a lot of time before seat deposits.

[lnick93]

Should we be emailing admissions or financial aid to appeal award decisions?

[Four Winds]

Should we be emailing admissions or financial aid to appeal award decisions?

Apparently Admissions, as they are the ones who make the decisions and are fighting to keep you.

Disclaimer: I only read through the first 8 pages of this thread or so.

[Shelbinole]

I read that on the very beginning of this post someone said Emory doesn't negotiate. Does anyone know if that's true???

[pcph]

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[Hikikomorist]

In an initial e-mail discussing scholarship negotiation, how specific should I get regarding competing offers? Should I lay it out with exact scholarship and COA figures, with names of law schools attached, or should I be more vague, only referring to competitive offers from peer schools? I worry the former might seem too brash; the latter, too cute and lacking in credibility. Apologies if this has been asked elsewhere.

[Winston1984]

In an initial e-mail discussing scholarship negotiation, how specific should I get regarding competing offers? Should I lay it out with exact scholarship and COA figures, with names of law schools attached, or should I be more vague, only referring to competitive offers from peer schools? I worry the former might seem too brash; the latter, too cute and lacking in credibility. Apologies if this has been asked elsewhere.

Definitely name the schools.

[sp_crowell]

In an initial e-mail discussing scholarship negotiation, how specific should I get regarding competing offers? Should I lay it out with exact scholarship and COA figures, with names of law schools attached, or should I be more vague, only referring to competitive offers from peer schools? I worry the former might seem too brash; the latter, too cute and lacking in credibility. Apologies if this has been asked elsewhere.

Definitely name the schools.

Absolutely. Be direct and polite. This is a business and schools understand that. Nobody is going to be offended. Just be clear and don't dance around the subject with unnamed offers. Get it out on the table right out of the gate so they know what they're going to need to match or beat. It'll expedite the process and (especially) this time of year I think admissions offices appreciate that.

[bob311]

How should someone go about asking a school who has already given you the best offer out of all the offers for just a few extra thousand to get full tuition? Say school X has given a 35k scholarship and tuition is 40k. Is there a good way to ask for the extra few? It seems greedy but the few extra thousand can't hurt. There isn't a better offer percentage to COA wise. There are other offers ranked ahead, but not close to the full tuition mark if that helps.

[googlyeyes]

is negotiating scholarships from UW (washington) and Notre Dame feasible? obviously they are ranked right next to each other but does being far from each other geographically make a difference? also i'm in-state at UW so the tuition and COA is lower: do I go strictly off scholarship for negotiation or take into account the COA?

I got accepted to ND last week and just received a $25k/year and haven't heard from UW about scholarship but just want to prepare myself for when I do hear back.

[RCSOB657]

So update, I visited the school that wanted the formal sit down for their Full Tuition up to 90 hours, (summer and early start classes qualify). The stips there are listed as top 50% of whole class, not section. I talked to the FINAID guy while there and it appears the top 50% means roughly 2.56 1L and creeps up to 2.8 by 3L according to their last available data.

I have yet to visit the other school. I'll be going there next week. Their award amounted to only 80% and their stips are 3.0.

Both schools are similarly ranked, one is in a state capital (meaning opportunity to build local school/political/job connections). The other school is in a rural area but has a very niche joint JD-Masters program I've already been accepted to.

So here is the question, Niche Law doesn't deposit until April 15, Capital City Law has their deposit April 1. I would like to negotiate with Niche Law, but am a little unsure on how to bring up the other school has an earlier deadline. I don't know how to say "I'm against the clock if you don't go my way" without them saying "okay go to the other place."

[iVi]

Should we be emailing admissions or financial aid to appeal award decisions?

Apparently Admissions, as they are the ones who make the decisions and are fighting to keep you.

Disclaimer: I only read through the first 8 pages of this thread or so.

Can anyone who's had success negotiating with t14s confirm this? Assumed finaid would be the ones to deal with this, but sounds like maybe not.

TIA!

[buckiguy_sucks]

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[Law1491]

What is the expected time to hear back from admissions regarding scholarship negotiation for different schools? Is it the same day, a couple of days or longer? Thanks

[iVi]

Should we be emailing admissions or financial aid to appeal award decisions?

Apparently Admissions, as they are the ones who make the decisions and are fighting to keep you.

Can anyone who's had success negotiating with t14s confirm this? Assumed finaid would be the ones to deal with this, but sounds like maybe not.

I emailed GULC's finaid department and they emailed me back telling me that admissions are the ones making the decisions, so yes I can confirm that

Thanks!

[SauceSoMild]

So I'm waiting on one peer school to get back to me and from lawschoolnumbers timelines, it appears that those of us who apply in late Jan to this school won't hear back until late March. I've been admitted to my #1 school but want to wait on my #2 for negotiating purposes.

From what I'm gathering, it would be preferable to begin negotiating now, but I feel I don't have any real leverage do to so. Assuming I don't hear back until the last week of March (and assuming I'm admitted), would it be wise to put down two seat deposits in order to keep my negotiating options open?

I've seen some people ITT talking about April 1 being some magical date and now is the time to move.

TIA!

[tealeaves12]

I've seen some people ITT talking about April 1 being some magical date and now is the time to move.

That's when some seat deposits are due (for example- GW)
When are the first seat deposits due for the two schools you're considering? I would use those dates as your guideline, rather than april 1.


edit- don't have to "use them as your guideline" so to speak. just saying they will be more relevant to you than the April 1 date.

[Gray]

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[hearsay77]

Should we be emailing admissions or financial aid to appeal award decisions?

Apparently Admissions, as they are the ones who make the decisions and are fighting to keep you.

Disclaimer: I only read through the first 8 pages of this thread or so.

Can anyone who's had success negotiating with t14s confirm this? Assumed finaid would be the ones to deal with this, but sounds like maybe not.

TIA!

I emailed GULC's finaid department and they emailed me back telling me that admissions are the ones making the decisions, so yes I can confirm that

On the contrary, Michigan told me to email finaid as they will be the ones making the decision.

What is the expected time to hear back from admissions regarding scholarship negotiation for different schools? Is it the same day, a couple of days or longer? Thanks

Depends on the school. Both of my requests so far were answered in about a week, but both were rejections, so I'm not sure if it would be different if they had actually agreed to increase my scholarships.

[mecarey]

Should we be emailing admissions or financial aid to appeal award decisions?

Apparently Admissions, as they are the ones who make the decisions and are fighting to keep you.

Disclaimer: I only read through the first 8 pages of this thread or so.

Can anyone who's had success negotiating with t14s confirm this? Assumed finaid would be the ones to deal with this, but sounds like maybe not.

TIA!

I emailed GULC's finaid department and they emailed me back telling me that admissions are the ones making the decisions, so yes I can confirm that

Every e-mail I've sent regarding money has been sent to the admissions office AND the financial aid office - there's no reason not to include them both. Also, if my scholarship offer was sent from the dean directly I make sure to reply to that email so it's "To: Dean, Cc: Admissions, FinAid"

I've received responses within 24 hours, mostly from the Dean with a follow-up from FinAid or Admissions.

[RCSOB657]

Okay. I had occasion, just now, to confirm my visit to the school I will be visiting for next week's ASW with a nice lady from admissions. I somehow summoned the testicular fortitude to ask who I need to speak with about negotiating. It's the Admissions office and it sounds business like. They want a hardcopy of my other offers and they said it will take a little time, nothing guaranteed, etc. Kind of actually put me at ease though, probably because now where I go really isn't up to me anymore.

[NoOneImportant]

Perhaps, I've just had rotten luck this cycle or picked the wrong schools to leverage, but I've struck out negotiating at two schools and I'm not hopeful for my third considering they historically don't negotiate. Of course, if my third won't budge, then my 4th shouldn't either considering they have relatively speaking the best offer with the lowest debt for me personally.

[MReyna12]

I have been stressing over how to set up my negotiations for the past week, so here I am asking for help from my peers. I have four schools I plan on negotiating with: School A(107), B(79), C(72), D(87).
School A has offered 21k/yr with a COA 52k/yr. School B has offered 16k/yr with a COA 70k/yr. School C has offered 14k/yr with a COA 63k/yr. School D has offered no scholarship with a COA 76k/yr. All four schools are on the west coast. Schools A/C are in the Northwest. I would consider, at the very least, schools A/C are regional schools. I would like to attend the schools in this order: School B, D, A, C. My thought process has been to start negotiations with School C. I would use the offer from School A as leverage, and of course include why I want to attend, but due to COA I am "on the fence" about attending. I could also start negotiations with School A since then are the lowest ranked. I could use my other acceptances/offers to increase their offer past 21k/yr. The increase at School A would then give me more leverage for School B and so on. Negotiations would go one of two ways: School C-->B-->D-->A, etc or School A-->C-->B-->D, etc. I do not need help with what to write. I do need help with where I should start. These two situations make the most sense to me, but if you have another idea, please do tell. I know there is no guarantee for an increase in money. Please give me your opinions on where I should begin!

Thanks!

[Bird Lawyer]

Oh my god this question is like an LAST problem.