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I did! Honestly, all I did was have a phone call with the person in charge of finaid, tell the person in question why I liked their program / how much I liked it, and then told them my other offers. I didn't have a number in mind but apparently others have. I only spoke earnestly, honestly, and transparently and they seemed to appreciate that. My offer was upped a few days ago. Still unsure if it's enough to take it over some of my others, but it was a massive bump.

I feel like it sort of depends on how much debt you'd take with the 'other school' as well though as well as how much debt you currently have. If your top school leaves you just $10k in debt with the other school free, I feel like that's a lot more palatable (IMO) than if it's $30k vs $40k, if that's on top of like $20k loans from undergrad. $10k of debt might take a few years to pay off with aggressing saving (probably longer tbh). But you'd want to work your first job, get settled into your new environment, etc. for about that long anyways. But would you feel okay with not having options after a decade? Two? What if you want to be a stay at home parent some day or decide you're more passionate about a lower paying position? I've personally been looking as debt as a question of time, not money strictly. I agree with above poster though. If it's going to make a lifetime of satisfaction, I've definitely seen people blow $10k on much more frivolous things simply for life satisfaction.

Penn's Urban Design program is probably also super solid though, right? It has that whole Louis Kahn legacy ? Where else would you consider going?

Sounds about right! I applied specifically because I had understood that their transportation planning was ? Their smart cities program also looks really fascinating as well. @Designplanning what concentration are you going for, if you feel comfortable sharing?

Hi! Also considering UPenn's MCP!

Finally heard back from Rutgers! Full tuition and stipend! I think that's pretty much the end of my cycle, unless UCLA comes through with something crazy!

I'm with you. I'm definitely going to visit when I narrow down to two or three schools. TBH, when I was an undergrad, I don't think visiting campuses made any meaningful impact on my decision, but certainly the city itself will define my lifestyle in a big way, and there's also the added aspect of being an urban planning student (i.e. the city probably defines what issues you might look at, what kind of environment you look at, etc.) I can't imagine making a decision (barring a really strong financial offer) without visiting.

Dang am I one of the only ones who hasn't heard from UCLA. I'll assume that means a reject then. Guess I'm heading to USC if I want to stay in CA. Also late update but: $20k from UPenn! Still way beyond my means but very grateful. I suppose it can't hurt to try to appeal for more but I feel like that's probably as high as they'd go (for me).

I am very tunnel vision on becoming a Service Planner for a transit agency of any size. I'm not sure exactly how traditional or nontraditional or not that's considered to be. I assume v. traditional

If it makes you feel better, I felt like I flopped my virtual interview with UPenn and still got in. I think they're well aware that all the applicants are stressed / nobody seems to really be good at doing virtual interviews specifically.

I think USC's estimated cost of attendance is approximately 27k, and its tuition is roughly 48k, per year. So overall 75k a year.

I just got an Email telling me to check my portal!

For anybody who applied to Portland State: in at Portland State!

Yeah I'm just here to concur with @planning. I got an Email - a separate one albeit - but my admissions portal has not changed a bit. I'm guessing they're a bit overwhelmed. And in the second Email, they attached my original offer letter, but in the body of the Email mentioned my new funding total.

Yeah, so initially I got the $1,000 offer that a bunch of us seem to have gotten and then they basically just sent me an updated offer. Just to reiterate, it makes sense that they might be waiting a bit before handing out larger sums, or maybe just haven't gotten around to dispersing it all yet. COVID hit hard, but I don't think they suddenly ran out of money entirely! I'd be willing to bet good money that you're still in the running for funding consideration!