Uncovering the Many Secrets of Financial Aid
Use these strategies to make college more affordable
Competition: Schools are more likely to give generously to students who set off bidding wars. David Lang, an economist at California State University-Sacramento, found preliminary evidence that students accepted at several schools get as much as 30 percent more in grants than similarly qualified students who get into just one college. The head of financial aid for a medium-sized private university in the Midwest, who did not want to reveal his own school's practices, said many aid officers will look at a student's FAFSA to see what other schools are listed. "It is not so much how many schools as what schools you've applied to," he says. If the student has listed schools with similar costs and rankings in the same geographic region, the officer may say: "Wow, we compete with those, and we have to up the ante," he says.
Applying to several schools also pays off for students who think their initial aid offers were too low. More schools now up awards to students who have better offers from competing schools. In April, Harvard, which gives aid only to meet need, announced that it would match more-generous awards to low-income students.
Gender: At math-heavy schools like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where females are in short supply, being a woman is one of about 100 factors that can increase a student's award. "We love women," Nondorf says. But he says other qualities can boost aid as much or even more, joking that the scholarship jackpot would be hit by "a harpist from North Dakota who is a woman and applies to nuclear engineering." Laura Wontrop, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering, says she wishes that applicants were simply judged on their merits. But, she adds, "my dad told me to use what I've got." So she's getting merit and need-based grants from Rensselaer.
A growing number of universities are using aid to address the opposite problem: a shortage of males. Just 43 percent of all current college students are men. And at not-quite-elite liberal arts schools, the male shortage is becoming acute. "At just below the top tier, men are such a scarce commodity that those schools who engage in differential packaging end up putting more money toward the males," says John Maguire, a physics professor turned enrollment manager.
Talent or major: Students know, of course, that there are scholarships set aside for those with in-demand athletic, musical, or other skills. But they may not realize that there is extra aid for students who choose majors that governments, schools, or donors want to encourage. The federal government is starting to hand out grants of up to $4,000 to low-income students who study math, science, or foreign languages. And many colleges funnel extra aid to students who beef up majors the school wants to strengthen. Kellie Laurenzi, dean of enrollment services at Robert Morris University in western Pennsylvania, says she awards more aid to students who apply to the school's new majors such as actuarial sciences or media arts. "We are trying to entice students" who wouldn't have considered the school before it started those courses of study, she says.
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