Appealing the Financial Aid Award Letter

By Joe Messinger, CFP®

April 12, 2024

3 min READ

When looking at your financial aid award letter, you need to understand the fine print in order to make an informed decision about the best college and how much it will cost you and your family for all four years (or more!).

Let’s consider something else–it’s possible to appeal that letter from the college and ask for a better price! Sometimes, this thought is startling for families. But it’s important to remember that the initial aid award you’re given isn’t set in stone, and sometimes there’s room for negotiation. Let’s go over the facts about appealing your financial aid award, and what this means for you and your soon-to-be college student.

The letters can be downright misleading.

They make the financial burden seem smaller than it actually is. Often, they are worded to include loans in the funding to lower the bottom line number. Loans should be included in the net costs and not slipped in by colleges as if they are on par with grants and scholarships, but this, unfortunately, is not always the case.

Let’s say you’ve worked to figure out what you’ll have to pay. Is there wiggle room for negotiating?

Can you go back to a college and ask for more money?

The simple answer is “yes.”

Recently, a student had two comparable best-fit college offers. One offered more merit money than the other, but the “other” was their first-choice dream school. What to do? We helped the family get an additional $5,500 per year, bringing their award to a total of $27,500 over the four-year term because of our work in appealing the award letter.

What are some things to keep in mind?

Submitting your appeal sooner rather than later is important, especially now when the FAFSA and financial aid timelines have been altered for the 2024-25 school year.

What do you have to lose?

Nothing. A college will not rescind an offer letter simply because you asked for more money. Getting additional dollars due to an appeal is not a sure thing. It depends on the school and their applicants that year.

In general, public schools have less money to play with, so their hands are pretty much tied. (You can still ask, though!) Highly selective private schools have no reason to give you more money. They have a large applicant pool who would gladly pay the full sticker price. In addition, many of them do not have merit scholarships and only award aid based on need.

However, what I like to call the middle-tier private colleges are trying to win the best students they can, and about 2/3 of them will try to help work with you if you plead your case.

A key is to have an award offered by a similar type of school, ideally in the same region that your number one choice can try to match.

Don’t approach it like car shopping bargaining.

Admissions counselors and financial aid administrators have a process they follow. Your discussion needs to be centered on your desire to attend their school and your concern about excessive student loans. Instead of “negotiating,” think of it as asking them to “reconsider.” You are appealing for additional aid and seeking “professional judgment” to consider you for additional dollars. Be sure to be thankful for what they’ve already offered.

This post is about competitive appeals. If, on the other hand, you have specific financial burdens or circumstances, you absolutely need to help the financial aid office understand your situation. Common things that fall in this category include job loss, divorce, parent death, excessive medical debts, etc. These are big financial burdens that are not asked about on the FAFSA. Schools really do want to help you get an appropriate award amount.

By the way, talking with the admissions office can be more helpful than talking to the financial aid office. They will go to bat for you if they really want your student to attend. The financial aid office may only deal with need-based aid and be unable to help with merit scholarship money. In general, if they have the funds, colleges may be able to add a few thousand more to their original offer.

Final tip: don’t pay the deposit until the final cost has been agreed to.

Colleges aren’t motivated to work with you if they already have your money.

At this time of year, we are working with our families to decipher the financial aid award letters and aiding in the appeals process. Have questions? Schedule a call with us today!

Updated April 2024