Q: I’m a counselor trying to help a high school senior who wants to go to an expensive college she can’t afford. She’s been accepted to both Boston College and New York University for this fall, but the financial aid they are offering is vastly different. Unfortunately, her favorite school is offering only a $5,000 Pell grant, and the college that interests her least has promised her $31,000 in scholarships. Is there anything she can do to get her favorite college to make this more affordable?
— R. H.
A: This student has a good shot at improving the financial aid at her favorite college because she clearly cannot afford the sticker price, and she’s set the groundwork in place to negotiate for a better deal by applying to two comparable colleges.
The Pell grant she’s been offered tells us that she comes from a family of modest means and cannot afford to pay about $60,000 a year in tuition, room and board and fees to attend. Pell grants are provided by the federal government and tend to go to students from families earning less than $50,000 a year. Recipients do not have to repay the money.
But a $5,000 Pell grant isn’t much at a school that costs about $60,000. So such schools typically provide additional grants and scholarships to make college more affordable. According to data gathered by Collegedata.com, the average freshman during the 2009-2010 year received about $27,600 in grants and scholarships at Boston College and about $21,300 at New York University.
Colleges give this money because they do not want their student body to be composed only of affluent students. And a diverse student body helps enrich the educational experience for all. Low-income students typically get more aid than average.
With that in mind, this student should contact the college she’d like to attend and see if she can get additional aid through grants and scholarships. This is free money beyond the federal student loans she will be expected to repay after completing college.
Since she has been accepted by another college that’s similar in prestige to the one she wants to attend, she’s in a good position to negotiate for better aid. She should call the director of financial aid (not the person who answers the telephone) and explain that she wants to attend that institution, but that money is a serious concern. She should explain that another school has offered $31,000 in grants, and she should ask the financial aid officer if he can help her out.
Success will depend on how the college perceives her family’s financial need. If the family has suffered a job loss or hardship like illness, she should explain. Also, she might get extra aid based on the individual skills or attributes needed in the freshman class. Colleges seek geographic diversity, diverse backgrounds and talents in everything from sports to arts and community leadership. Before calling the aid office, do homework to anticipate the financial aid director’s response.
Understand how much aid is likely
Based on family income, a student can do a calculation to determine aid that’s likely based on the financial aid formula that colleges use. To do this, use an “expected family contribution,” or EFC, calculator on the Internet for a ballpark estimate, possibly this one: tinyurl.com/finaidestimate. An even easier tool, if a student has a particular college in mind, is to try tinyurl.com/collegepricecalculator.
Understand how student is special
If a student’s SAT or ACT score is above the average student’s at the school she wants to attend, that can help. Colleges are ranked each year by publications like U.S. News & World Report. And colleges try to lift themselves in the rankings by attracting students with higher SAT or ACT scores than their norm. Some colleges will provide “merit” scholarships, even to affluent students with high scores, in an attempt to raise the institution’s ranking. If a student’s goal is to attend an elite college, she should keep in mind that most students admitted will have high scores.
High-scoring students considering a lower-ranked college will have more negotiating power at less-popular schools. You can find out how the college will regard certain test scores by checking the average scores in rankings at tinyurl.com/usnewsbestcolleges or in college guidebooks such as The Princeton Review’s “The Best 376 Colleges” or “Best Value Colleges.”
gmarksjarvis@tribune.com
