February 2025

There's literally no reason NOT to attempt a financial aid negotiation ... and not just for your first year. Aid is something that should be negotiated year-after-year. The most important thing when attempting an aid negotiation is figuring out what it is you may qualify for and who to contact. If your FAFSA calculated a very low SAI (Student Aid Index), its worth bringing to the attention of the school's financial aid office and asking them to explain their award in relation to your SAI, especially if they only offered you loans without offering you need-based grants and scholarships. The financial aid office should also be your point of contact if your prior-prior year taxes (used when filling out the FAFSA) do not accurately reflect your current financial situation. Additionally, if you have a legitimate change of circumstances - e.g., unexpected medical expenses, recent divorce, death of a parent, newly unemployed, recent care of an elderly relative, etc. - you should bring such to the attention of the financial aid office. In these situations, you should expect to have to fill out a specific school form or write a letter to the financial aid office and be able to document whatever changes you're claiming. This typically requires providing the school with copies of your most recent tax returns including all schedules, W-2s, 1099s, medical bills, EOBs, termination letters, etc. Appeals for additional financial aid are best made by a parent, not by the student.

If your SAI is on the high side and you do not have legitimate circumstance changes as outlined above, it may not be necessary to appeal to the financial aid office. Instead, we suggest having the student appeal to the Admissions Office, preferably to the regional rep you would have become familiar with during the application process. When requesting a  reconsideration of additional scholarship money, it helps if you can provide reasons for why you are deserving of such. Detail any changes to your family's financial health and specifically explain how you see yourself contributing to the campus community. These sorts of appeals meet with greater success when initiated by the student, not by the parent.

Regardless of which approach you take, appeals should always be typed and snail mailed. Be sure not just to include your name, but more importantly, your assigned school student ID number. Take note of the date on which you mail your appeal - the earlier the better and certainly no later than early April for incoming freshman, and as soon as possible for upperclassmen. If you don't receive a reply within 7-10 days, follow up with a phone call.

Most importantly, if your making any sort of appeal, do so before making any sort of deposit - tuition, housing or otherwise. Once you make a deposit, the school has no incentive to negotiate as you've already indicated your intent to enroll. And remember: you have nothing to lose. Schools don't rescind initial offers of aid simply because you've asked to have your need reconsidered. The worst that can happen is that you ask for more money and your told you can't have it.

For those students who applied Early Decision or Early Action and are deferred to Regular Decision, we encourage you to take the following steps to strengthen your admissions chances:
1.    Reach out to Your Admissions Counselor
We highly recommend students connect with their specific state's/region's admissions counselor to build a relationship that may result in greater advocacy for the applicant throughout the admissions process. If you don't already have a relationship with a specific school's counselor, use google to search for a specific school's admissions officers and find the representative specific to your state/region. Send this person an email and ask what more you can do to be seriously considered for admission. Do they allow for an interview? Would they like additional letters of recommendation? Would they like to know of additional achievements since having submitted your application? Would they like to see your mid-term grades?

2.    Show Greater Demonstrated Interest
Send an email to your specific admissions officer, (re)visit the school, spend more time on their website.

3.    Submit Mid-Year Grades
Even without having asked a school's specific admissions officer, we encourage students to submit mid-year grades, as they most always play an important role in the Regular Decision review of an application. 

Here are 5 general things to be mindful of when filling out these financial aid forms:

1) The FAFSA must be submitted, regardless of the schools to which you apply, in order to qualify for $5500 worth of federal student loans for freshmen, $6500 for sophomores, and $7500 for juniors and seniors and for other government aid such as the Pell and FSEO grants. The CSS Profile is required by select colleges and universities in order to determine aid and scholarships. Check here for a list of Profile schools.

2) Aid is said to be determined on a first come, first serve basis; therefore, it is in your best interest to file these forms sooner, rather than later. Having your forms filed no later than Jan. 1 is wise. Check specific school websites for financial aid form deadlines. 

3) These forms must be filed every year, for every college-bound or college-enrolled student who seeks financial aid. Additionally, many schools are not transparent about requiring these forms in order to consider a student for merit based awards. If unsure whether or not to submit these forms to a particular school, contact the specific school's admissions office and/or financial aid office.

4) While the FAFSA only requires financial information as reported in tax year 2023, the CSS Profile requires both 2023 tax information as well as estimates for 2024.

5) The number one reason students don't receive the aid they rightly qualify for is because their forms were not filled out correctly. Pay close attention to detail when working on your forms and be sure to read the instructions in full for each section and question. 

After successfully submitting your applications, most schools will send you a confirmation email and invite you to establish a student portal on their website, often by providing a hyperlink. It is extremely important to follow through with this step in the admissions process. Most schools communicate the status of your application only through the portal, so if you don't login, you may not be made aware of pieces of your application that haven't been received or are required in order to be considered complete. Admissions Officers will not review an application until all the necessary accompanying materials have been received. This includes transcripts, letters of recommendation, standardized test scores (only if you indicated that you wanted them considered in the process and official score reports are required or you didn't self report scores on your application), and (if a school requires it) the self reported academic record (SRAR). Student portals may also communicate the status of your financial aid materials, so it is really important to check each school's student portal on a regular basis. 

How do we decide whether to apply Early Decision, Early Action, Restricted Early Action, or Regular Decision? This is a question we hear quite frequently at this time of year. Because the admissions process is not one size fits all, the answer to this question varies from applicant to applicant. Generally speaking, any school that offers an Early round - whether ED or EA or both - tends to accept anywhere from 30%-50% of its incoming freshman class in that/those rounds. So applying in an early round can significantly increase your chances of admission. That being said, students who have not earned B- or better grades consistently over 9th, 10th and 11th grades or who have not shown an upward grade trend from the start of high school through junior year, should NOT apply in an early round as colleges will not only need to see their senior year course list but will also want to see their senior year 1st semester grades to look for improvement over previous years. Simply put, if you were a consistent A/B student your 1st three years of high school, you should apply Early Action. Early Action is non-binding and you may apply to as many schools in an EA round as you like. Early Decision is a different animal. ED is contractually binding. If you apply to a school ED you are agreeing to attend if admitted regardless of what it will cost you. We describe this as Mom and Dad having to be comfortable signing their name to a blank check. Students should only ED to a school if they've fallen in love with it, want to increase their chance of gaining admission, and feel that they can afford it regardless of the cost. When trying to determine whether or not a school is affordable, you should use the school's Net Price Calculator (NPC). This tool is available on every college's website. While most of them are grossly inaccurate, we do still encourage families to use them. Just be sure to print the final page and understand that these calculators are notoriously unreliable. Students can only ever apply ED to one school at a time and if admitted, must rescind any other applications they've already submitted. Restricted Early Action is typically offered by elite schools, and while not binding, places restrictions on the ability to apply to any other schools in an early round, so read the fine print carefully. 

Most schools have a tool/resource called the Common Data Set (CDS). Using it can be immensely helpful in determining whether or not you are the right fit for a particular school and it can also provide some insight into whether you have what is needed to be admitted. Some statistics the CDS provides relate to cost: average tuition cost, average need-based and merit based awards; demographic info: percentages of in-state vs. out-of-state students, ethnicity, gender; standardized testing info: 25% vs 75% scores for SAT and ACT takers, percentage of students accepted who submit scores; what factors are most important in considering an applicant: GPA, test scores, extracurriculars, interviews, legacy, 1st generation, etc. All you have to do to access a school's CDS is google the name of the school and "Common Data Set." While not a perfect science, referencing the CDS can help you to figure out if you can afford the school and what your chances are for being admitted. It can also answer questions about enrolled students' outcomes. The more information you have, the better prepared you'll be throughout the process. 

This scholarship will be awarded to one graduating high school senior (class of 2024) who has worked with Access Success at least once during his/her high school career. It is a one-time, non-renewable scholarship that will be paid by August 31st on the recipient's behalf directly to the college or university to which the recipient is enrolled. Scholarship applicants should submit the following materials to Access Success. The final day of application submissions is July 31st. 

To be considered for this award you must send all of the following materials together (applicants who submit in dribs and drabs or are missing a required element will not be considered): 

• cover letter naming the school you've chosen to attend and why; your intended major or field of interest
• how Access Success did or didn't help you in the college process - we're looking for honesty, here, not praise (please keep to 1 paragraph) 
  
• copy of FINAL high school transcript - unofficial is fine but must include grades for all 4 years
  
• resume (do not simply submit a list of extracurricular activities)
  
• copy of your common app essay (or equivalent)
  

These materials may be emailed to francesca@accessuccess.com or mailed to:
Francesca Morrissey
Access Success LLC
143 West St.
Box 20
New Milford, CT 06776

We confirm all applications as they are received. If you do not receive a confirmation within 24 hours of submission, please contact us at 203-788-5971.

The award recipient will be notified by mid-August and announced publicly in our September newsletter.

Bard, Belmont, Bentley, Bowling Green State, Bridgewater State, Central CT (3), Chapman (2), Clark, Clemson, CU Boulder, Connecticut College (2), CUNY City College, Dickinson, Drexel, Eastern CT State (2), Elon, Embry-Riddle, Emerson, Endicott, Fairfield (2), Florida Tech, Fordham (2), Franklin & Marshall, Franklin Pierce, George Washington, Hampshire, High Point (3), Idaho State, Indiana State, Iona (2), Indiana University (2), Ithaca, Jacksonville University, James Madison (4), Keene State, Lafayette, Loyola Maryland (2), Loyola Marymount, Marist (2), Montana State, New Jersey Institute of Technology, NYU, Northeastern (2), Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Penn State (5), Pepperdine, Quinnipiac (7), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, Sacred Heart, St. Joseph's,  St. Lawrence, Salve Regina (2), Seton Hall (3), Skidmore, Southern CT, SMU, SUNY New Paltz (2), SUNY Purchas, Stevens Institute of Technology, Stony Brook, Suffolk, Temple, Union, University of Alabama - Huntsville, University of Connecticut - Storrs (13), University of Connecticut - Waterbury (3), University of Hartford, University of Delaware (3), University of Massachusetts Amherst (2), UMASS Boston, University of Miami, University of Mississippi, University of New Hampshire (4), University of New Haven, University of Notre Dame, University of Pittsburgh, University of Rhode Island (5), University of South Carolina (3), University of Vermont (3), Utah State, Villanova (2), Virginia Tech, Western Carolina, Western CT State (5), WPI (4), Worcester State, and William and Mary.