What do you do when you get a crappy financial aid letter?

Question

I m a high school senior and i recently recieved my financial aid letter from my first choice college. It only pay for have of the cost of attendance. however, my third choice gives me alot of aid. How can i get more aid from my first choice college?

Both colleges are both in New York.

Answer 1

You could approach the college's financial aid department of your first choice and share the letter you got from the third choice. Some schools might match. However, each college or university handles financial aid packages differently. I recommend if you still want to attend your first choice school to start applying for outside scholarships, but it is pretty late in the scholarship application season for seniors in regards to deadlines. I will list some free resources to help you locate money for college.

First, the college's financial aid office and website has a list of private scholarships offered from outside organizations and companies. Sometimes a college major's website will list scholarships, too.

Second, the public library has a book listing scholarships with some not even listed on the web.

Third, current high school students can locate local scholarship information at the high school guidance office.

Finally, I recommend joining several free membership scholarship search websites, but the best I have located is Scholarship Experts since they have a very thorough and lengthy survey to complete compared to Fastweb. There are scholarships for a variety of things including ethnicity, clubs, hobbies, and even wearing duct tape to the high school prom. Most are updated on a regular basis. Most offer a customized search based on information entered onto a form on the website.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I am assuming you didn't apply for scholarships? Usually grants alone will not cover all of your tuition. Some Colleges and states have special grants/scholarships but don't count on every College having them. What you could do is get a student loan. There are two types of student loans, Stafford and Perkins. Basically the Perkins loan is for people in need, it has a fixed interest rate and a nice grace period, while the Stafford loan is somewhat like a normal loan. You do not pay back any student loan money until you graduate. You should go get a hold of a college counselor and ask them about the loans, so they can give you more details. Next time you should plan ahead and look for scholarships way ahead of time.

Answer 3

Well, you are not giving a really good description of your situation. Are the colleges in two different states? if so, that is a reason why your aid can be significantly different? However, if both colleges are in the same state, is one private while the other college is public? And they may have different deadlines, so you probably missed out on some good aid.

Answer 4

You should be happy it covers half. I am a us citizen but i live in the caribbean.

I may not even get any. And its not my fault i grew up here. If i had a chance i'd only come here for vacation. I hate living in a 3rd world country sometimes...but thats just life.

just be happy u got someting, cus some of us dont have anything. At least where ur staying ur currency isnt of less value than the US dollar. I have that to deal with as well

Answer 5

Now you want to watch for the attractiveness letter. FAFSA will mail it to you. you are able to also consistently pass on your college's economic help branch and verify on your FAFSA status each and each and every time you want.