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Recovery Room · 03-19-2004, 12:32 PM

As someone mentioned above, you can negotiate with the schools. The comment about "there's no more money" available for tuition assistance is a crock. They aren't giving you money, they are just charging you less. Colleges are a business. They are competing for your money.

We negotiated with my daughter's school. We tried the route of asking them to match another school's offer and they replied that they don't do that. Someone mentioned to me to try a different tact. They aren't saying they won't negotiate, they are only saying that they have been directed not to match other schools offerings. I wrote them a letter stating that their school was my first choice, but needed some help in making it happen. We said that both my wife and I were working two jobs and we crunched all the numbers and $xxx is as much as we could possibly afford. If they would able to get to that amount, then she would love to attend. They wrote back with a new offer within $500 of our offer. Ironically, this brought the net tuition to $2,000 less than if they had matched the other offer.

By the way, the figure we agreed on was BEFORE any loans. It's worth a try.

On the other side of the coin, my wife works with a doctor (surgeon) who is also married to a doctor. Their daughter was just offered a full boat to Harvard. Now she's very bright, but is this really necessary ?

I think tuition assistance and scholarships should be based on need ... and deserving. If they deserve a scholarship, but don't need it, give it to someone that does.

Lastly, I hope you are being honest with your kids about the ability to go to the school of his/her choice. We told our kids that we would send them to the best school we could afford. Without some financial assistance, it may well be a state school. We were fortunate enough to be able to swing it so they both went to the school of their choice. However, they were prepared to go where they could. Don't let them get their hopes set on something that may never happen or that could break you.

Bottom line, from a professional standpoint, 5 years after they graduate, few companies will care where they went to school.

Good Luck.

03-19-2004, 12:32 PM	#15
Recovery Room Registered User Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 20	As someone mentioned above, you can negotiate with the schools. The comment about "there's no more money" available for tuition assistance is a crock. They aren't giving you money, they are just charging you less. Colleges are a business. They are competing for your money. We negotiated with my daughter's school. We tried the route of asking them to match another school's offer and they replied that they don't do that. Someone mentioned to me to try a different tact. They aren't saying they won't negotiate, they are only saying that they have been directed not to match other schools offerings. I wrote them a letter stating that their school was my first choice, but needed some help in making it happen. We said that both my wife and I were working two jobs and we crunched all the numbers and $xxx is as much as we could possibly afford. If they would able to get to that amount, then she would love to attend. They wrote back with a new offer within $500 of our offer. Ironically, this brought the net tuition to $2,000 less than if they had matched the other offer. By the way, the figure we agreed on was BEFORE any loans. It's worth a try. On the other side of the coin, my wife works with a doctor (surgeon) who is also married to a doctor. Their daughter was just offered a full boat to Harvard. Now she's very bright, but is this really necessary ? I think tuition assistance and scholarships should be based on need ... and deserving. If they deserve a scholarship, but don't need it, give it to someone that does. Lastly, I hope you are being honest with your kids about the ability to go to the school of his/her choice. We told our kids that we would send them to the best school we could afford. Without some financial assistance, it may well be a state school. We were fortunate enough to be able to swing it so they both went to the school of their choice. However, they were prepared to go where they could. Don't let them get their hopes set on something that may never happen or that could break you. Bottom line, from a professional standpoint, 5 years after they graduate, few companies will care where they went to school. Good Luck.