Scholarship negotiation advice

celina697

Hi everyone,

I haven't posted here in a very long time. I got accepted into my top choice/the school where I currently live (thank you 7 sage) and got a small scholarship offer. I'd like to try and negotiate for more money, but the problem is, I didn't apply anywhere else. I have nothing to compare my offer to. I figured if I didn't get in I'd sit out a cycle and try again. My numbers are both above the school's 75th percentiles. How should I go about asking? Should I even bother? Not sure if I'm posting this in the right forum, I'm sorry if I didn't!

Thanks!!

10000019

Go ahead and ask. I think you could:
1) Tell them you're unlikely to attend unless the scholarship offer is higher.
2) Some schools still have applications open. Apply to schools where you're likely to get a significant scholarship. Use those scholarships as leverage.

_oshun1_

Something you can try to throw in to your plea is that you have to take living expenses into consideration and you were accepted into a school in an area with cheaper living expenses. Or you cannot afford to move out of where you live now bc the living expenses are cheaper where you live than at the school's area. I read that someone asked for a living expenses stipend in a school where he was above the 75th percentiles and he succesfully got it, I thought that was a great idea. I think it's odd that you only got a small scholly when you're so high in their rankings. Theyre probably just being stingy and hoping to make money off of people who don't think to ask for more.

Leah M B

You can always plead your case and say something like, this is my top choice of schools (though I wouldn't mention not applying elsewhere) and I would love to commit, but have to take finances into consideration. As I'm financing my education primarily through loans, it's a main priority of mine to to keep my indebtedness to a manageable level. If there was a possibility of increasing the scholarship amount, it would really help in making my final decision to commit to your school.

Etc Etc. Re-phrase to how it sounds natural to you. But let them know that you are ready to sign, just hesitating over finances. Throw in a couple reasons why you really want to attend there (like a LOCI) so they know you are serious. And as someone else mentioned, it wouldn't hurt to try sending out a couple applications to peer schools to see if you can get another offer.

celina697

@10000019 said:
Go ahead and ask. I think you could:
1) Tell them you're unlikely to attend unless the scholarship offer is higher.
2) Some schools still have applications open. Apply to schools where you're likely to get a significant scholarship. Use those scholarships as leverage.

Thank you for your help, I am considering applying to other schools..

celina697

@"surfy surf" said:
Something you can try to throw in to your plea is that you have to take living expenses into consideration and you were accepted into a school in an area with cheaper living expenses. Or you cannot afford to move out of where you live now bc the living expenses are cheaper where you live than at the school's area. I read that someone asked for a living expenses stipend in a school where he was above the 75th percentiles and he succesfully got it, I thought that was a great idea. I think it's odd that you only got a small scholly when you're so high in their rankings. Theyre probably just being stingy and hoping to make money off of people who don't think to ask for more.

I really appreciate your advice, seems like I don't have much to lose by asking!

celina697

@"Leah M B" said:
You can always plead your case and say something like, this is my top choice of schools (though I wouldn't mention not applying elsewhere) and I would love to commit, but have to take finances into consideration. As I'm financing my education primarily through loans, it's a main priority of mine to to keep my indebtedness to a manageable level. If there was a possibility of increasing the scholarship amount, it would really help in making my final decision to commit to your school.

Etc Etc. Re-phrase to how it sounds natural to you. But let them know that you are ready to sign, just hesitating over finances. Throw in a couple reasons why you really want to attend there (like a LOCI) so they know you are serious. And as someone else mentioned, it wouldn't hurt to try sending out a couple applications to peer schools to see if you can get another offer.

Thank you for your well thought out response. I am thinking of applying to other schools, but at this point in the cycle I may just take your advice and try to write out a well thought letter and hope for the best!

jowens7317

If you have a US News account, or there may be other sources but I'm not sure, you can check what percentage of students each law school offers greater than half but less than full tuition, full, and greater than full tuition scholarships too which may help in getting a better idea of just how good their offer was relative to every one else they offer. Sadly some law schools don't give out full tuition scholarships

doyera

The worst that can happen is they'll say no! Surely it's worth a shot.

Jane1990

@jowens7317 You can also Google "School Name ABA 509 Report" for that information, FYI.

Seeking Perfection

Negotiate. Even if you don't apply to other schools, they know you could sit out altogether and apply to other schools. I might actually phrase it that way if you are willing to sit out for a year. You could admit that they are your number one school and that you only applied to them since you really want to end up in the region, but that you think the costs might be prohibitive and that at the current cost of attendance you might have to sit out for a year both to try to earn money and to try to obtain a scholarship at some law school which won't leave you deeply in debt.

This way they would know that if they offer tou more money you are not just going to use it to get someone else to raise their offer. Of course, by not applying elsewhere you do lose the ability to get other places to up their offers in response so there is something to lose too.