College Admissions Counseling Blog

Have you wondered, maybe worried, about what goes on behind the doors of a colleges financial aid office. At this time of the year, when financial aid awards are coming out, there is an interesting behind the scenes look at financial aid offices. This look is provided by the magazine University Business which is designed for use by financial aid professionals.

The article entitled Financial Aid Appeal Pitfalls lists 5 potential problem areas for financial aid professionals.

1. Low balling the original financial aid offer. This implies that some schools intentionally start by sending inadequate financial aid offers in the hopes that the families won't appeal.

2. Having a lack of clearly defined policy. Apparently some admissions offices and financial aid offices aren't on the same page with what the colleges policies may be regarding appeals. In other words, if you have a desire to appeal your financial aid award you are probably better off going directly to the financial aid office rather than approaching admissions.

3. Allowing negotiation vs. professional judgment. All colleges are allowed to use professional judgment in the award of financial aid. Basically this means that they don't need to follow the rules set down by the federal government under special circumstances. The question of what is professional judgment vs negotiating is often blurred. This suggests, as has been discussed before, that if you are a strong candidate for that college, they may be more willing to discuss an appeal of your financial aid award than if you are a weaker candidate.

4. Cutting off communication. The article discusses reasons the college might not want to cut off discussions of an appeal such as better explaining the award to the family. I would also suggest, however, that if the college financial aid office won't talk to you as a prospective student, that does not bode well for future communications if you decide to attend that college. No, they may not be willing to look at an appeal and that is the college's right. But if they won't even talk to you about the issue, consider your other college options carefully.

5. Forgetting to track and analyze the data. This won't have much affect on you but it does give you some insight into how closely the whole financial aid award process if tracked. This is big business for most colleges and you should not forget this in dealing with a particular college.

Here is the whole article for you to review.