How-tos on negotiating for funding

[hola2288]

Hey all, just some general questions on how to approach funding negotiation. Who exactly do we email - the office of financial aid, the admissions team of our program, etc? Do we need to show proof of counter offers? Should we do it as soon as possible, or does it not matter? Any tips on how to word the email or formulate our request?

Thanks! 

[chocolatecheesecake]

I wrote a pretty comprehensive response about how to negotiate funding here, with some thoughts on strategies - take a look. Others have chimed in on school-specific threads about how to negotiate with them. You should search around with your particular school in mind.

To respond to your specific questions:

• You should email the admissions team directly. They may ask for proof of counter offers, and you should be prepared to share it.
• You should email them as soon as you've made a decision about who you want to ask for more money from (see my other post), whether it's just one school or multiple. Asking earlier makes it clear that they're your top priority. Plus it's pretty chaotic hearing back from 300 accepted students, so I imagine your request will be a little less likely to get lost in the email inbox.
• How to word it depends on how you feel about this school (ideally, it's your top choice) and what leverage/ competing offers you have. What I'll provide is the email I wrote back in the day, along with the response I got from Duke (with names and amounts redacted). Please don't copy it verbatim; that's just lazy. Rewrite this in your voice:

My email:
"My name is -----, and I am an admitted MPP student for fall 2014. My thanks to you and the other members of the admissions and financial aid team who have worked on our admission packages this spring! I am writing in hope you can help me adjust my fellowship package from Duke. I have been granted a $[amount] fellowship for the first year with a $[amount] assistantship in the second semester. Duke’s program is a better fit for me, but I have been accepted to USC’s program as well, and they have offered me a $[amount] merit scholarship. I would prefer to attend Duke, but it is currently out of financial range for me. I would need a larger fellowship amount of at least $[amount] in order to afford tuition. Is it possible to request this increase? I very much appreciate your help and advice on this situation and an understanding of the timeline involved in making this request, as the deadline to enroll is about a month away. Please let me know if you need any additional information. My FAFSA has been filed and processed. Thank you for all your consideration and help."

Duke's response:
"Congratulations again on your admission! Closer to our April 15 deadline, we will re-evaluate our funding status to determine whether there is the possibility of reassigning any scholarship awards that are declined. We have added you to our scholarship reconsideration list, though please note that students who receive additional funding typically do not receive more than a few thousand more per year than their original award offer. Students requesting additional funding often send documentation of their competing offers. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. We hope you will be enrolling with us this fall!" 

If other people have negotiated successfully with some useful scripts and emails, please share! I think it's useful for everyone to share freely our experience with this kind of negotiation. 

[hola2288]

@chocolatecheesecake Thanks so much - this is exactly what I was looking for. 

[pauljames200116]

Hopefully not hijacking this too much, but any advice on negotiating a renegotiated offer? I got an initial offer from Harris (15k a year), submitted my form request for an additional 15k (was offered 75% at another school), but Harris only came back with 5k more, so 20k a year. I would commit to Harris in a heartbeat if I got 25k a yr. Any advice on going back and requesting an additional 5k at this point? Does that happen? 

[chocolatecheesecake]

5 hours ago, pauljames200116 said:

Hopefully not hijacking this too much, but any advice on negotiating a renegotiated offer? I got an initial offer from Harris (15k a year), submitted my form request for an additional 15k (was offered 75% at another school), but Harris only came back with 5k more, so 20k a year. I would commit to Harris in a heartbeat if I got 25k a yr. Any advice on going back and requesting an additional 5k at this point? Does that happen? 

As I wrote in the other thread, "It's just like any other negotiation - you may not get what you ask for, and you may not get anything, but it's always worth it to ask. I originally asked them to match the offer that USC made, but even though they didn't, it saved me $10K overall." 

My gut response is not to go back to re-negotiate this. You made your ask, they made their decision (and gave you some). Ball's now in your court to accept or go somewhere else. If you kept pushing the issue, it could seem really impolite from the school's perspective. Remember that the decision-makers are usually people who are intimately familiar with the program, and likely to be people you see on a regular basis and develop a professional relationship with, not some nameless financial aid admin at the university that you'll never see in your two years. Besides, they're unlikely to have new resources to consider redistributing at this point. 

Overall, I suggest you weigh the offer against other factors (remember that cost of living in Chicago is pretty darn low compared to other cities like DC/ NYC/ SF/ LA), and make your decision.  

[yoh_rrg]

9 hours ago, pauljames200116 said:

Hopefully not hijacking this too much, but any advice on negotiating a renegotiated offer? I got an initial offer from Harris (15k a year), submitted my form request for an additional 15k (was offered 75% at another school), but Harris only came back with 5k more, so 20k a year. I would commit to Harris in a heartbeat if I got 25k a yr. Any advice on going back and requesting an additional 5k at this point? Does that happen? 

3 hours ago, chocolatecheesecake said:

My gut response is not to go back to re-negotiate this. You made your ask, they made their decision (and gave you some). Ball's now in your court to accept or go somewhere else. If you kept pushing the issue, it could seem really impolite from the school's perspective. Remember that the decision-makers are usually people who are intimately familiar with the program, and likely to be people you see on a regular basis and develop a professional relationship with, not some nameless financial aid admin at the university that you'll never see in your two years. Besides, they're unlikely to have new resources to consider redistributing at this point. 

I kind of disagree, and think they're more likely to have new resources than before as people should have heard from schools by now and might have turned down their own funding offers. I know I just turned down $10,000 this week, and that's not to say that they will necessarily turn around and give it away immediately (they may have been over-extended as is) but the worst they can say is no. It's still a negotiation-- you asked for something, they offered something else, you're trying to find that sweet spot in the middle that works for both of you.

In this case it seems that the best approach would be to consider exactly how much $$ you need and be really prepared to turn down any offer less than that. If you can say definitively "I need $25,000 or I'm going to have to turn this down for ______" then I feel like that's compelling and reasonable (especially since they didn't meet your full match). I wouldn't say this unless it's 100% true, but their resources and finances are going to continue changing until everyone makes their choice and 5k is a relatively small amount compared to what I'm sure some others are requesting. It just depends on how certain you are that would make such a big difference.

 

[subtle]

This is all super helpful information, thanks everyone.

 

Is it true that generally, second year tuition increases substantially? If so, does anyone know about how much? I am going to Georgetown, if that's helpful.

[chocolatecheesecake]

On 4/11/2018 at 3:44 AM, subtle said:

This is all super helpful information, thanks everyone.

 

Is it true that generally, second year tuition increases substantially? If so, does anyone know about how much? I am going to Georgetown, if that's helpful.

If you've already accepted the offer, go straight to the admissions and financial aid people at Georgetown and ask. It'll be a lot more accurate.