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from: Negotiating For The Best Financial Aid Package
Brandon Hansen - www.myschoolplans.com
For most people applying for financial aid, now is the time that
you are starting to receive your award letters. Around this time
of the year colleges begin to look at applicants and make
initial offers to prospective students and send out the award
letters.
By now you have probably sent in the FAFSA (Free Application For
Federal Student Aid) and that has been forwarded to your
preferred school(s) of choice. When they make their decision on
what to offer you, don't be surprised if it is less than you
expected. Here are a few tips to help you negotiate for a better
package.
1. Don't be afraid to negotiate. Think about the last time that
you bought a car or your home. Very rarely do you agree to pay
full price. There are always some negotiating that goes on and
the financial aid offices are willing to talk. You just need to
know the right way to approach it. Don't go into the negotiating
screaming and threatning, but don't be soft either.
2. Send a pre-approach letter before you make any phone calls.
In the letter, express gratitude for being accepted and that you
appreciate their consideration. Then explain any financial
hardships that you or our family may be going through.
3. When you see your award packages, take all the free money
they offer. If they offer certain loans, try and get them to
change those to grants. If you are un-successful then be slow in
accepting their loans. Sometimes you can find better deals or
more scholarships from third party sources and this may be a
better route to go. There are some thir party places that are
pretty good like ScholarshipExperts.com, or FastWeb's Free
Scholarships Search.
4. It's okay to live at the dorms and sell your car or not drive
quite a nice car. I think that many parents and students think
that the student should live the same lifestyle at school as
they did at home when the fact of the matter is that student
life is different then home life in many ways, financially is
one of them. Get rid of the credit cards for shopping and
dinners. Live on a cash budget and control your spending.
Most importantly, don't automatically accept that because you
think you should receive a great package you are going to. There
are thousands of students applying for the limited funds that
are available, but many of them do not realize that you can and
should negotiate.
Take a proactive role and you might be surprised at what you can
accomplish.
About the author:
Brandon Hansen is the owner of www.MySchoolPlans.com. He has
been in the college financial planning business for 10 years and
has helped parents learn the little known secrets to getting the
maximum amount of money for their children's college education.
For a FREE CD explaining how you can send your child to the
college of their choice without spending your hard earned money,
visit him online at www.MySchoolPlans.com.
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