Appealing financial aid

[ss0112]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has had experience appealing for more financial aid. As an international student (coming from Canada), Columbia generally does not give financial aid; however, I appealed and was awarded a $5,000 Merit Scholarship. This amount is significantly lower than all the other schools I've applied to, specifically NYU & Boston College--I attached the scholarships from these two schools when I appealed for aid at Columbia. I wanted to try appealing again, but was unsure of the formality of this. Would it be cautioned against for me to try appealing for more after they agreed to give me $5,000? They've made it clear that they do not usually give aid to international students at all. 

I got to meet the Assistant Dean at the school when I went for a visit. A student I spoke to said that she had contacted him when she made an appeal. Would it be inappropriate for me to email him directly? 

Columbia is my dream school, but the $5,000 received after my initial aid appeal is simply not enough for me to afford the program. Any insight would be appreciated, thank you!

[TheCrow]

Columbia has a fairly high acceptance rate and doesn't grant much scholarship/grant funding at all.