The College Solutions Blog

Valuable insights from Lynn O’Shaughnessy
a nationally recognized college expert.

Financial aid appeal
Featured image for “SwiftStudent: New tool to appeal financial aid awards”
April 20, 2020

SwiftStudent: New tool to appeal financial aid awards

If you want to appeal a financial aid award, there is a new resource to help you write the aid appeal letter. The free tool, called SwiftStudent, guides families through requesting more financial aid for a variety of reasons including because of financial setback due to COVID-19. The brainchild of this easy-to-use tool is Abigail Seldin, who has had a...
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Featured image for “Asking For Better Merit Aid Scholarships”
February 11, 2014

Asking For Better Merit Aid Scholarships

Today I am sharing a guest post by Bradford Pine, a financial advisor in Garden City, NY, who wrote about his experience with his daughter, who has been receiving acceptances and merit aid scholarships from schools. He explains how he lassoed a $14,000-a-year scholarship just by asking. Lynn O’Shaughnessy Here is the link to his entire blog post: My Personal...
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March 19, 2012

An Inside Look at Financial Aid Appeals

When you appeal a college’s financial aid award what happens to your request? During the last admission season, The Chronicle of Higher Education provided an inside glimpse into how a financial aid appeal is handled internally in a fascinating article entitled: When Families Ask Colleges for More Money A Chronicle reporter observed financial aid deliberations that took place among senior...
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March 31, 2011

5 Ways to Increase Your Financial Aid Award

Note: Yesterday I promised that I’d share this post that I wrote last year when my son, who is currently finishing up his freshman year in college, was awaiting his financial aid awards. It’s a timely subject since so many families are routinely disappointed at the financial aid awards they are receiving. Student aid letters are hitting mailboxes across the...
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March 25, 2010

College Scholarships: Can I Ask for More?

I heard this week from the mother of a college freshman at a private college in Texas, who posed this question: Is there any possibility of the school renegotiating my son’s scholarship if we made less money in 2009?  Do most schools give money on a year-to-year basis? Let me explain why the answer to both questions is yes. First...
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March 17, 2010

Financial Aid Award: What to Do When You Need More

Can you get a better financial aid award if you are laid off from your job? That’s the question that many parents, including my sister Julie and brother-in-law Mike are grappling with right now. Last night, I got a call from Mike, who recently received a financial aid award letter from Rockhurst University in Kansas City, where my niece Molly...
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