Revised Financial Aid Offer After Decline???

[chupakabrik]

Morning, everyone,

So I was debating between University of Washington, University of Minnesota and Columbia University Teachers College for Masters in Educational Psychology (with Quantitative Focus). Visited the first two but not Columbia, their visitation days aren't until April 20th and I wasn't going to go there unless they offer some scholarship.

Long story short, I fell in love with Seattle and the UW, waited to receive fin aid offers, got nothing but 6k in work study from Columbia. So, my decision was made. Yesterday, I officially accepted UW (no funding, but seems to be possible to get RA/TA when it gets closer to fall) and declined everything else.

Today, Columbia sends me a REVISED financial aid package!! After I declined! Has anyone else had that happen? They didn't offer me full funding, but 15k in scholarship + 6k in work study, which brings tuition down to about the same as UW.

I am stumped. What do I do? I was so confident about my decision, and now I am all confused

Thanks for your feed back.

[Olga Childs]

they must really like you (why didnt i apply to columbia teachers college?!). columbia is a really great school, and generally its reputation is probably way above that of UW, no offense. if the school is offering you money that means it wants you and is ready to appreciate you a a student -- while in fact, at UW you may or may not get a GA and/or end up answering phones in the ncourse of that GA -- while in Columbia, you could be teaching.

I am not sure why you were going to snob Columbia like that from the get go, but I don't think you are in any position to ignore it now

Edited April 13, 2012 by Olga Childs

[Eigen]

Either that, or lines got crossed.

I had a fellowship offer for one school arrive the day after I declined. It wasn't an attempt to get me to reconsider, but rather the person sending out the offer hadn't heard that I'd declined yet.

[ILuvPsych2013]

I agree with Olga Childs: a degree from Columbia is highly marketable in the job market and a dream school for many scholars. Obviously I would contact them to make sure that no miscommunication has taken place. If it really is a revised offer, I would take it! Finding funding for a masters program is like looking for a needle in a haystack and if you find one, you should take notice.

You can always move to Seattle for work after your Masters, if you are drawn to that area.