Can you negotiate college tuition?

[PlutoPony]

I guess I'm old school, but I truly don't understand this 'early decision' stuff where people say they are 'required' to attend if accepted. Ummm, if the financial aid isn't good, a student clearly isn't going to attend. If you don't complete the enrollment forms or pay the fall semester tuition, then they won't let you attend, so how in the world can any school 'require' one to attend? It all just sounds silly to me!

Applying ED makes sense for some students but not a lot imho. For most schools, it's a little easier to gain acceptance going this route. If the student is borderline whether they'll get in, if it's a really competitive school or one have your heart set on no matter what the financial aid response, this may be the way to go. If you don't have a student who's been through the college acceptance routine very recently, it's hard to comprehend how difficult it can be for students - and VERY good ones at that - to get into schools. And I'm not talking about just the ultra competitive ones like the Ivy's, but the really solid state schools and respected privates. So ED may give a student the edge they need to get in. My son's U is a very competitive major state school that's become difficult to get into (his freshman class of 5500 had avg gpa of 4.0+, that gives you an idea of how many AP classes these kids typically take in HS). It's a school that has a very very strong alum network, and tons of alum kids want to go there but are increasingly unable to get in due to how competitive it is. A lot of these legacy kids go ED to have a better chance for acceptance. My son did not do ED, he didn't even know he wanted to go there when ED apps were due!

Applying ED is a bit of a big deal, at least it's treated that way by the universities and SHOULD be handled that way by guidance counselors. Essentially the student and parent sign papers saying they understand they are making a commitment to attend the school if accepted. Guidance counselors tend to work to make sure student understand this and really are committed to the school. Universities don't like ED's backing out and definitely go back to the school guidance counselor on it when it happens. It does reflect poorly on the high school and can adversely impact who they admit from that school in the future if they feel they can't trust the counselors to vet the students properly. They want students who are serious about their school. My understanding is that high schools are a point of enforcement of ED commitments, and some will not help students apply to additional schools if they are declining an ED.

Not to slam the OP, but did your daughter's guidance counselor explain the significance and ramifications of applying ED? I'd be curious if this is a case of the counselor not handling it the way others do or if this is simply a case of the student not understanding the whole college app process which is daunting.

 

[leebee]

I'm really sorry you didn't understand the difference between early decision and early action. I know, it's confusing. ED is binding, and the colleges know if you have an ED school, at least in part, because almost all schools use the Common Application; they already know where else you applied and if it was ED/EA or regular admission. Early ACTION is the one you wanted if your DD had a 1st choice school but needed to compare financial aid packages, but it's too late now for both her 1st choice and her other schools.

If you call the college to try and increase the award and they outline other scholarships she is eligible for, ASK if they are guaranteed for all 4 years or if she'll need to reapply annually, or if they are limited by status (freshman only, for example), GPA, etc. It'd be really sad if she secured the necessary financing, but had to transfer for sophomore year because the scholarships weren't for all 4 years. (I think this happens more often than people realize.)

I know it seems horrible right now, but your DD's happiness and success won't rest on this decision, I promise. My DD applied to 5 schools and was accepted to #s 3, 4, and 5, despite her 1900 SAT score and #3 class standing. She got great financial aid but it still was more affordable to go to our state university. HOWEVER, although everything else was in, her guidance counselor didn't send her transcript in time for merit money, which would have been $12000 across 4 years. She was devastated, and we all were angry and felt cheated. You know what? She went to the #5 choice (basically her safety school) and had a wonderful time, graduated summa cum laude, and has walked into a job paying $24K (reasonable for our area, GREAT for her degree/field.. I know, I know). Best of all, her loan payments will only be about $200 a month, which she knows she can manage. She loves her job and knowing that she's not swamped in debt, so she can start to live independently. Sometimes the long-term view needs to be taken to offset the immediate disappointments (and believe me, as a dancer, having to decline the NYC-based school because she didn't want to graduate with $80K in debt was HUGE at the time), but it all works out.

 

[cabanafrau]

College professor here - I work with our Admissions Office fairly frequently, and IME they will not pursue you if you decide not to accept the Early Admission offer (meaning they say it's binding but it's really not). I found that sometime you can negotiate the scholarship award, but only if they really want your daughter to attend. Given the low amount they offered I'm guessing she doesn't have the numbers to make her on of the top prospects - we really cater to those students because they raise our average GPA, SAT, etc.

This follows somewhat what I know from my older daughter's college app process, and that of two people I know of in particular who ended up attending out-state private colleges, one large and one small. $1,500 is virtually not an offer from them. They tend to make offers that make the private school at least on par with large state schools, if not even more generous if they are intent on getting the student to attend. SMU offered my friend's daughter virtually the same pkg. as she received from the University of Michigan. My daughter's offer from SMU was maybe about 5k under U of M's offer, almost as if they knew U of M's numbers and made an offer to sweeten the pot. Another friend's daughter applied ED to Flagler in Florida, which is a small, private school. Their offer made it comparable in cost to attending a large, in-state school here.

DD's early admission apps and offers were not binding, but she didn't apply anywhere early decision. She did receive subsequent sweetened offers from at least two schools that I remember, with one of them making another attempt at recruiting her before and during her sophomore year at college.

 

[cabanafrau]

I'm really sorry you didn't understand the difference between early decision and early action. I know, it's confusing. ED is binding, and the colleges know if you have an ED school, at least in part, because almost all schools use the Common Application; they already know where else you applied and if it was ED/EA or regular admission. Early ACTION is the one you wanted if your DD had a 1st choice school but needed to compare financial aid packages, but it's too late now for both her 1st choice and her other schools.

If you call the college to try and increase the award and they outline other scholarships she is eligible for, ASK if they are guaranteed for all 4 years or if she'll need to reapply annually, or if they are limited by status (freshman only, for example), GPA, etc. It'd be really sad if she secured the necessary financing, but had to transfer for sophomore year because the scholarships weren't for all 4 years. (I think this happens more often than people realize.)

I know it seems horrible right now, but your DD's happiness and success won't rest on this decision, I promise. My DD applied to 5 schools and was accepted to #s 3, 4, and 5, despite her 1900 SAT score and #3 class standing. She got great financial aid but it still was more affordable to go to our state university. HOWEVER, although everything else was in, her guidance counselor didn't send her transcript in time for merit money, which would have been $12000 across 4 years. She was devastated, and we all were angry and felt cheated. You know what? She went to the #5 choice (basically her safety school) and had a wonderful time, graduated summa cum laude, and has walked into a job paying $24K (reasonable for our area, GREAT for her degree/field.. I know, I know). Best of all, her loan payments will only be about $200 a month, which she knows she can manage. She loves her job and knowing that she's not swamped in debt, so she can start to live independently. Sometimes the long-term view needs to be taken to offset the immediate disappointments (and believe me, as a dancer, having to decline the NYC-based school because she didn't want to graduate with $80K in debt was HUGE at the time), but it all works out.

Congrats to your DD! I know a loooong list of dancers who would like to earn 24k annually.

 

[Sadie22]

A previous poster highlighted how important it can be for a student to follow up and make sure that, for example, the high school sends final grades and that the university has received them. This may be a lot easier now that many universities have a means to check this online.

 

[leebee]

Congrats to your DD! I know a loooong list of dancers who would like to earn 24k annually.

Ooops, sorry, I should clarify! DD's major was English, minor in dance. (her college didn't offer dance as a major) She's currently a librarian/literacy coach at a local elementary school, which is her 'real' job. However, she also has a gig with a local ballet company where she is a soloist/contributing artist. She's paid, but not $24K, for sure! Right now she's earlobe-deep in Nutcracker; they started touring last week but have been at it since auditions in early September. She is enjoying it. In addition to her own roles, she was able to choreograph and teach the "corps" parts of Russian, Arabian, and Chinese. When the season ends, she'll have made about $2K from the production. We'll see what they contract her for in the spring, but there are 2 productions, so she's optimistic (she'll still be a soloist).

Very exciting news is that DD's best friend from dance (grew up in the studio together) is in Dance Magazine this month! She is the dancer on the first page of the article on colleges... very exciting!

 

[NewRVLady]

leebee-my neighbor's DD graduated in dance....her dreams of going to NYC ended when she got engaged...so she still teaches ballet at the local school that she taught at since High school....I doubt she makes even $15000

 

[jfranklyn]

My daughter is going through the applicaiton process right now as well, and we have completely stayed away from Early Decision. The specifics of it really scared us - and the financial package is such a big part of it that we could never commit without knowing. We even had one school (RIT) that told us that they have a very "generous" policy about letting applicants out of Early Decision because they know how many parents depend on the financial package to make a decision. I still wouldn't let my daughter do it. Too risky. I've told her all along that she is basically being sold to the highest bidder

To answer the original question, though, I am told by many that if your student is appealing enought to these colleges, you CAN negotiate with them and say "I really want to come to YOUR school, but school B is offering me $10,000 more" If they want you, they will find the money.

 

[cabanafrau]

Ooops, sorry, I should clarify! DD's major was English, minor in dance. (her college didn't offer dance as a major) She's currently a librarian/literacy coach at a local elementary school, which is her 'real' job. However, she also has a gig with a local ballet company where she is a soloist/contributing artist. She's paid, but not $24K, for sure! Right now she's earlobe-deep in Nutcracker; they started touring last week but have been at it since auditions in early September. She is enjoying it. In addition to her own roles, she was able to choreograph and teach the "corps" parts of Russian, Arabian, and Chinese. When the season ends, she'll have made about $2K from the production. We'll see what they contract her for in the spring, but there are 2 productions, so she's optimistic (she'll still be a soloist).

Very exciting news is that DD's best friend from dance (grew up in the studio together) is in Dance Magazine this month! She is the dancer on the first page of the article on colleges... very exciting!

My DD's both danced for many years. We were used to that September through December grind for many years as their studio produced a benefit production of the Nutcracker for the holidays. Dance was much more older DD's thing so she was able to graduate from participating in Waltz of the Flowers and Irish to being featured in Chinese, as one of the Snow Princesses and even as one of the dolls. It broke her heart to leave ballet when she left for college and she's still known to break into chaines whenever she finds a good floor with room to move!

So wonderful your DD has both found a great starting point for her career and is able to continue her passion dancing as well.

 

[tzolkin]

My understanding (but of course it may depend on the school) is that you can back out of Early Decision if you are unable to afford it.

However, you are required to do this as soon as possible. You can't continue applying to other schools or wait until you receive other scholarship/aid packages in the spring. So once you tell them "no" this school is completely out (as if your DD got denied).

Early Decision is really for students who "absolutely must attend" a certain school and their families are willing to pay full tuition if necessary. Early Action often includes increased scholarship money because they see you were interested enough to apply early. ED students may get preferential acceptance, but not usually any extra money. Perhaps your DD's guidance counselor thought she needed the ED "boost" to get into this school, and that your family could afford the full tuition.

**One thing worth talking the the financial aid office would be their need-based aid. Perhaps even though your DD doesn't qualify for merit scholarship money, she will qualify for a significant need-based grant. Those awards are not announced until the spring (after FAFSAs completed), but maybe they could give you an estimate that might make this school more affordable. I went to a prestigious private school and they did not offer merit-based scholarships. They only gave money to the students who needed it in order to attend (but that meant that they also gave more generously than other schools).

 

[kamik86]

Honestly I would almost think applying early decision would get you less scholarship money. Kind of like if you went to a car dealership and told them you were absolutely going to buy a car there they would be less likely to offer you a good deal, if your going to buy anyway what is the point?Since early decision means you are bound to attend (I'm curious about this unless you can't afford to bit... I mean who determines you can't afford to. Couldn't you just claim you couldn't afford to and apply other places if you changed your mind?)

I do wonder how much of this is tied to high school counselors though that control transcripts and other things that can make doing this more difficult. Especially since they would care if the school started to look bad to colleges due to kids doing this often.

I know my college for example was VERY strict on not accepting a job offer and then going back on that if you got a better job. With co-op jobs which the school required us to do a min of 4 of the school would not count your co-op if a business complained that you accepted an offer even verbally and then backed out for another co-op. So once you accepted you were stuck on those. For full time they had less they could do but I know there were a few that said they would call the job you were now wanting to start at and tell them. Not sure how much that would really affect the applicant though. Most people just were very careful not to do this.

 

[Marymom]

I would call the school admissions counselor and see what other scholarships are still available to compete for. My daughter got a call from her school choice and was encouraged to apply for a scholarship that has a December decision timeline. It also allowed my daughter to question a scholarship that she qualified for ( the criteria was posted on the school admission site) but had not received. (Her SAT scores had not been converted to the ACT minimum for those scholarships.) She got two scholarship offers in the mail that week!

My brother called about his daughter and after talking to the counselor, discovered she qualified for a alumni scholarship due to the fact that he had graduated from the college's satellite law school 200 miles away!

 

[Christine]

Honestly I would almost think applying early decision would get you less scholarship money. Kind of like if you went to a car dealership and told them you were absolutely going to buy a car there they would be less likely to offer you a good deal, if your going to buy anyway what is the point?Since early decision means you are bound to attend (I'm curious about this unless you can't afford to bit... I mean who determines you can't afford to. Couldn't you just claim you couldn't afford to and apply other places if you changed your mind?)

I agree. I think ED should really be reserved for those who MUST attend a specific school, want the best chance possible to get into that certain school, and have no issues with paying tuition. I know of one or two schools that I would reserve the use of that for. If you are THAT certain of a school and know you can pay the tuition, ED will give the edge on admissions, I think, in a competitive school.

 

[bsblady01]

no this is not like buying a car, college is a set price you either pay or pick a cheaper school

 

[bcla]

no this is not like buying a car, college is a set price you either pay or pick a cheaper school

It's the financial aid that adjusts the cost.

 

[Missy1961]

no this is not like buying a car, college is a set price you either pay or pick a cheaper school

The OP is talking about financial aid packages, not tuition.

 

[AppleDumpling]

Yes but there is merit-based aid and need-based aid. I am guessing that what op refers to as a scholarship is merit aid, based on academic achievement. OP, do you qualify for need-based aid? Did you file the CSS-profile? Not sure how it works with ED and the process may depend on the school but I don't think you can file the FAFSA before Jan. 1.

Many colleges promise to meet 100% of "demonstrated need". However for some middle class families, there may be a significant difference in what you feel you can afford vs. what they determine is your estimated family contribution (EFC). I could be wrong, but this seems to be the case here.

I'm actually surprised that you have an ED acceptance already. Again, may depend on school, but I thought most of them send out ED decisions in December.

 

[DeaverTex]

Yes but there is merit-based aid and need-based aid. I am guessing that what op refers to as a scholarship is merit aid, based on academic achievement. OP, do you qualify for need-based aid? Did you file the CSS-profile? Not sure how it works with ED and the process may depend on the school but I don't think you can file the FAFSA before Jan. 1.

Many colleges promise to meet 100% of "demonstrated need". However for some middle class families, there may be a significant difference in what you feel you can afford vs. what they determine is your estimated family contribution (EFC). I could be wrong, but this seems to be the case here.

I'm actually surprised that you have an ED acceptance already. Again, may depend on school, but I thought most of them send out ED decisions in December.

I've also noticed that some colleges are deducting merit-based aid from need-based calculations, and require a FAFSA form be completed before ANY financial aid is considered. And if you haven't gone through FAFSA yet, brace yourself for the decision on how much you can afford to contribute to your student's educational costs. You'll be certain that they gave you Ivanka Trump's FAFSA results.

 

[Vernie822]

I attended a small private university in Pennsylvania. I was also considering a few major public state schools. The private one won out for a few reasons, one of them being financial aid. I'm sure your daughter has taken the SAT/ACT's. Can she take them again? In PA most of us took the SAT, but I took the ACT as well because I was also looking at schools in OH. My ACT score was much better, so when the private school found out I had taken it again, they bumped up my scholarship money based on my test score. She may be able to take them in Jan/Feb and they could do something for her. Perhaps she was only offered $1,500 because that's all she qualified for and other 'top contenders' had better grades/SAT scores, I don't know - never hurts to try and talk to the admissions counselor though.

So while you can't negotiate tuition, you may be able to find more scholarships through the school that she is eligible for. And of course, there's always the FAFSA.

 

[teller80]

OP: did you do the net price calculator on the website before you applied? If so, is it close to the actual number? If not, you'd have an easier time getting out of the ED agreement.

And if you don't mind me asking, how much more money would they have to offer for it to be affordable? Are we talking $2000 or $12,000?