How to compare financial aid offers and ask for more aid

Put every offer into four lines

1. Cost of attendance: the college's full price for a year. Federal rules count tuition and fees, food and housing, books, supplies, transportation, loan fees and "miscellaneous expenses" (studentaid.gov). If the offer leaves the cost out, studentaid.gov says to "ask the financial aid office for this figure."
2. Grants and scholarships: money you don't pay back. Subtract these.
3. Your net price: what's left. That's the number to compare. In studentaid.gov's words, "you should always compare net price, not sticker price."
4. How you'd pay it: savings, earnings, work-study and loans. Work-study isn't cash up front: "you need to find and apply for a job and will work to receive these funds" (studentaid.gov).

Read the abbreviations. On many offers, "L" or "LN" means a loan, and "Sub" and "Unsub" mean subsidized and unsubsidized loans (studentaid.gov). Some offers add a loan to the "aid" total, which makes the college look cheaper than it is.

Check whether the costs match. One college may list a cheaper dorm or leave out travel. Use the same housing choice for each, and add the trip home if one college is a flight away.

The same family can pay very different prices

Families at the same income paid very different amounts at colleges with similar sticker prices. Each figure is the average a family in that income band paid for a year after grants, among students who got federal aid, in 2024-25, from the federal College Scorecard. Each college's name opens its cost page here, which shows all five income bands.

Princeton and Boston University both report meeting all or nearly all need (100% and 98%), yet families earning $48,000 to $75,000 paid an average of $1,346 at Princeton University and $52,880 at Boston University. "Meets full need" means the college covers the gap between its price and the amount its aid office expects your family to pay, and each aid office works out that amount its own way. That gap can be filled partly with loans and work-study, and the percentage is an average across aided students, not a promise to each family. The "need met" column is each college's own figure from its Common Data Set; 61 colleges report 100%, and they're on our full-need list.

Public universities charge in-state students far less than out-of-state students. The table shows the in-state price for Michigan and UNC-Chapel Hill.

The loans in an offer

Federal student loans have fixed yearly limits. For a dependent first-year student, the limit is "$5,500 (not more than $3,500 can be subsidized)" (studentaid.gov, updated 30 October 2026). Subsidized means the government pays the interest while you're in school at least half time; unsubsidized loans build interest from the start.

Parent PLUS loans changed on July 1, 2026. "For each academic year beginning on or after July 1, 2026, the maximum amount of all Direct PLUS Loans that may be borrowed by all parents on behalf of each dependent student may not exceed $20,000," with a limit of "$65,000 per child" across college (studentaid.gov). An offer that leans on a large parent loan may now leave a gap the family has to fill another way.

For loans first paid out from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, the fixed rate is 6.52% for undergraduate loans and 9.07% for Parent PLUS loans (studentaid.gov). Rates for 2027-28, the year a fall 2027 student starts, are set each spring.

How to ask for more aid

Federal rules let a college's aid office adjust your FAFSA figures for "unusual situations or special circumstances", "on a case-by-case basis and with adequate documentation" (studentaid.gov). This is called professional judgment, and colleges call the request an appeal, a review or a special circumstances request. The federal examples include "a pay cut or loss of employment, tuition expenses at an elementary or secondary school, or high amounts of medical or dental expenses not covered by insurance."

1. Wait for the first offer. Tufts, Cornell, USC and Carnegie Mellon all say to appeal only once you have one.
2. Find the college's form. Most want their own form, not an email: Boston University says "Appeals received via email will not be reviewed."
3. Explain what changed or what the forms missed, in a short letter, with proof: tax returns, a layoff notice, medical bills. Cornell puts it plainly: "Documentation (as opposed to persuasion) is key."
4. Send it early. Northwestern has asked admitted students to send materials "no later than April 17" (its page gives no year) and says it can't extend the deposit deadline while a review is pending. Tufts: "Appeals must be submitted before your deposit deadline." Last spring, Boston University reviewed regular decision appeals from April 10 to April 30, and it takes none after you deposit.
5. If the answer comes after May 1, ask the college for a deposit extension. Cornell says to request one in its admission portal.

You can't take the school's answer to the federal government: "Any decision by the school is final and can't be appealed to the U.S. Department of Education" (studentaid.gov). Reviews take one to three weeks at most colleges here.

Will a college match another college's offer?

Many won't, and they say so. These colleges list other colleges' offers as something they won't consider:

• Vanderbilt: "Aid offers from other colleges and universities, whether those offers are based on need or merit/honor."
• Duke: "Financial aid offers from other institutions."
• Tufts: "Tufts does not offer merit-based aid or match financial aid offers from other institutions."
• Emory: "Aid or scholarships awarded by other institutions."

Cornell says it does not negotiate, but its appeal form lists "More favorable award from another institution" as a reason, with a limit: "Cornell will only review financial aid offers from any of the Ivy League institutions, Stanford University, Duke University, and MIT." Early decision admits can't use that reason.

Penn, Carnegie Mellon, Boston University, Northwestern, Rice and USC don't say either way on their appeal pages. If a college you'd attend offers less than a close rival, ask its aid office whether it reviews other offers. Send the other offer as a copy, and explain any difference in your family's figures between the two applications.

Before you decide

Most colleges want your decision by May 1, and NACAC's ethics guide asks them not to require it before you've seen every aid offer. See decision day for what to do before and after. Comparing colleges before you apply? Each college's cost page shows what families at your income paid, and the planner keeps your list in one place.