Received a college financial aid or merit award that still leaves the school out of financial reach? You may have options. Learn how to appeal a financial aid package, negotiate for more merit aid, use competing college offers strategically, and determine what to ask for—while approaching the conversation with colleges thoughtfully and honestly.

Is college for joining a fraternity for lifelong bonds and future career connections? Is it to have a diploma from an impressive school that opens the door to the right graduate school? Is it to gain a skill that will land a student a job the day after graduation? With questions like these looming, rare is the student who plans to declare a major in English, philosophy, or history. Nathan Heller’s 2023 “The End of the English Major” in the New Yorker magazine pulls the data: the study of English and history has fallen by a third in US colleges over the last decade. Any student who tells me she wants to study a subject in the humanities usually amends herself quickly: “But I’ll study finance/engineering/computer science so I can have the lifestyle I grew up with.” If I had a nickel for every time I heard that … well, all those nickels would go into my kids’ college funds. 

This post describes how to negotiate your award package in whatever form it comes (need-based or not).

How Do Real Families Pay for College?
It used to be that getting into college was about finding the “best” schools available and then giving them a shot. Now we all lie awake at night wondering, How will I pay for college?

Last week’s blog covered how to read your award letter, but what can you do if the amount you are on the hook for is higher than what you can-- or want to-- pay? Ideally you will have sussed this all out before applying to schools, but the reality is that a school isn’t always transparent about expected family contribution, and even when it provides a cost calculator, the school doesn’t necessarily stand by it.

Many questions arise when you read a college’s financial award letter, but what you must focus on is the bottom line: After all is said and done, what will I be paying? The formula is simple: COA - GIFT AID = EFC