Financial Aid vs PTE Deadlines

[ibl210]

I’m sorry for the multiple posts recently, but this is the last one and something that has confused me a lot.

Given that I have multiple As at the moment, what am I meant to do about negotiating financial aid when some schools will not have their full merit/need packages out until after 4/30, when most schools mandate that you narrow your As down to one? I understand that this system is rigged heavily against applicants, but I feel like I must be missing some piece here as this seems a bit strange.

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[Lifeblood_20]

Yeah schools are not obligated to give us financial packages before PTE, which sucks. The best we can do is reach out to the school’s Financial aid office and ask for a better idea.

 

[KnightDoc]

I’m sorry for the multiple posts recently, but this is the last one and something that has confused me a lot.

Given that I have multiple As at the moment, what am I meant to do about negotiating financial aid when some schools will not have their full merit/need packages out until after 4/30, when most schools mandate that you narrow your As down to one? I understand that this system is rigged heavily against applicants, but I feel like I must be missing some piece here as this seems a bit strange.

Nope -- you aren't missing anything. Schools have ZERO interest in making it easy for you to negotiate financial aid.

I totally agree and have said multiple times over the past few years that there ought to be a law prohibiting schools from requiring a decision before providing net cost information. Every time I say that I am shot down by adcoms who point out that it's a seller's market, and schools don't have to do anything, since they have multiple full pay people chomping at the bit to grab every seat every person like you wants to negotiate over.

Hopefully, you will have what you need from at least one school, and you will use that to leverage other schools to either accelerate your package or give you an extension. If you cannot get either, you either have to assume you are getting nothing, since you will totally be at their mercy after 4/30, with no competing offers, or you can tell them what to do with a deadline with no price transparency, just like you would do with any other major purchase.