Diabetes Talking

Question:

I am the Boston correspondent for a major financial magazine.  I would like to interview someone who has recently increased their initial college financial aid offer by negotiating with the school, or who simply decided to choose a more lucrative offer elsewhere.

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Response:

I am the Boston correspondent for a major financial magazine.  I would like to interview someone who has recently increased their initial college financial aid offer by negotiating with the school, or who simply decided to choose a more lucrative offer elsewhere.  (I would prefer students entering their freshman year of college in the fall, although I would consider students already in school if they have re-negotiated their package or improved it in some way.) We’re looking primarily for candidates who have: 1.) Informed the college of competing offers from rivals. e.g, Stanford is giving me a grant of $5,000 and $10,000 in loans; can you do better than the $3,000 grant and $7,000 loan you have offered? We do not want examples of star athletes. Rather, we want students who are desirable for their excellent scholarship  (they may have top scores or plan to major in a department that needs more bodies), artistic talents (they play the oboe), or they would add to the college’s geographic or ethnic diversity. 2) Rejected a top school l (Harvard, U. Penn, or Swarthmore, for example) that offered a decent but not wonderful package in favor of a less prestigious but quality school, (say, Boston University or U. of Texas at Austin’s scholar program), which offered a more generous aid package. Perhaps this candidate has a goal of saving money for a big-name graduate school later on. 3.) Pointed out an error in the college’s calculation of their financial need. For example: the college may have included aid from a divorced parent who will not be contributing; or they may have counted a pension rollover as income; or they may not have properly recognized a parent’s unreimbursed business expenses. 4.) Told the college of a change in circumstances since the initial aid offer, such as a parent’s divorce or job loss. In addition, we would be interested in two other types of candidates: students who feel they were misled by a school about its financial aid policies in its materials and brochures, e.g., that it would not take financial need into account in admissions, but in fact did, or which awards aid that does meet the student’s full need; and students whose financial aid letters were so confusingly worded as to suggest more assistance would be available than was actually awarded. A bit of background: colleges and universities are getting more competitive in awarding aid to attract desirable students; and students and their parents are increasingly savvy about getting the best possible deals. Schools are also becoming more sensitive to criticisms that their costs are too high for middle- class families, who are penalized for saving by financial aid formulas. Many students are opting instead for less prestigious schools that offer better aid packages or simply cost less. For that reason, Princeton, Yale and Stanford, among other schools, increased aid for middle class families this year. And Harvard for the first time told students admitted to its freshman class that it might be willing to match a better offer from another school. If someone you know fits any of these categories, please let me know.         Thanks         Donald Caplin         (781) 894-8225, 893-3881; (800) 366-5325

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