How to Write a Financial Aid Appeal Letter
January 31, 2025
For students lacking inexhaustible higher education funds, finding out whether or not you are accepted into your dream college is only one battle in a broader, fast-unfolding conflict. Upon learning of one鈥檚 acceptance (congrats!), the locus quickly shifts to the other envelope/email before you鈥攖he financial aid letter. However, a lower-than-expected offer can be a genuine dream-crusher, every bit as much as an outright rejection on the admissions end. While upsetting, there may still be actions to take that can lead to a better outcome. In the following blog, we’ll cover聽 how to write a financial aid appeal letter, including:
- Should I appeal my financial aid award?
- How do I write a strong appeal letter?
- Who will decide my fate?
- How often do college financial aid appeals work?
Let鈥檚 begin with how to evaluate whether or not you should enter the appeal process.
Should I write a financial aid appeal letter?
Students and families truly want to ponder this one for more than just a few emotionally charged minutes. Undoubtedly, it鈥檚 a blow to receive a financial aid letter below expectations, but the first step is to circle back to the starting point and examine whether your expectations were realistic in the first place. Financial aid officers do in fact have the power to reverse previous decisions, but they will not be inclined to grant you serious consideration based solely on your natural human desire to avoid paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for your teen鈥檚 education.
Legitimate Reasons to Write a Financial Aid Appeal Letter
1) Your financial circumstances have significantly changed in the past year.
Events that should trigger an appeal on your family鈥檚 behalf include tragic events like the death of a caregiver or hardships like a parent being laid off from their job. Other relevant game-changing financial events include: a massive medical bill not covered by insurance, the impact of a natural disaster, or increased costs related to care of a special needs or elderly relative.
2) You received a better offer from another college.
If one or more competing schools to which you applied offered a significantly better aid package, you may have a legitimate appeal on your hands. Of course, the only way this would be worth your time is if the lowball offer happened to come from your clear number one choice.
However, when comparing offers, only compare like to like (i.e., private to private and public to public). For example, comparing your $25k scholarship offer from a private school that costs $86k per year against the $15k scholarship offer from a public school that costs $30k per year is not a basis for a legitimate appeal due to vast differences in tuition costs and funding.
3) You made an error on your .
Some typos/miscalculations are more significant than others. In 1962, a lone missing hyphen in the computer code caused an 80 million dollar NASA spacecraft, Mariner I, to explode. An incorrectly entered income level ($600,000 instead of $60,000) could be just as disastrous on a personal level. If you messed up your original form, a financial aid officer can correct the error and may be able to offer you a significantly different Student Aid Index (SAI) as a result.
How do I write a strong financial aid appeal letter?
This task will require some degree of parental assistance since adult financial information is at the heart of this process. However, it is preferable for the student to be the one making direct contact with college officials.
Firstly, students should call the college鈥檚 financial aid office to learn about the appeals process, since it varies from school to school. Once you have more information, you’ll be able to tailor your financial aid appeal letter accordingly (and ensure you submit the correct documentation alongside your letter).
In your appeal letter itself, thank the financial aid office for their original offer, reiterate your strong interest in attending the institution, and be specific about the aid you would need in order to be able to attend. Need-based financial aid is very much a formulaic process鈥攆inancial info gets inputted and your SAI is the output. Therefore, your documentation (pay stubs, bills, etc.) will ultimately have to support your requested amount.
If you are appealing on the grounds that you received a better offer from another university, be sure to include an official copy of the aid award from that institution(s).
In terms of the letter’s tone, it is essential that you are gracious and respectful. Your approach should not come across as haggling or a 鈥渘egotiation.鈥� Financial aid offices are dealing with thousands or even tens of thousands of accepted applicants and do not enjoy spending their time on cases where the applicants would simply prefer to pay a better price. Actual need (e.g. you cannot attend this college without a reduction in cost) must drive the appeal process. This is not a time to be adversarial or demanding鈥攜ou need them more than they need you.
Who decides your financial aid fate?
The federal government has bestowed each individual college鈥檚 financial aid officer with the authority to unilaterally make changes to applicants鈥� FAFSA and SAI. There is no other layer of appeal beyond this individual and you should take this as good news. No labyrinthine bureaucratic process is ahead of you鈥攊t鈥檚 just you and the institutional aid officer. For better or worse, their ruling is final.
How often do financial aid appeal letters work?
Statistically, the number of financial aid appeal letters written to American institutions of higher learning that result in award changes is not terribly encouraging鈥攕omewhere in the single digits. One recent survey conducted during the pandemic-fueled recession of 2020 found that 6% of appeals were successful for an average discount of $3,500. This number tends to be higher at private colleges with larger endowments than at public universities. Reporting for the New York Times back in 2014, Ron Lieber found that Occidental College increased aid offerings for one-third of those who appealed, while Cornell University and Sarah Lawrence College did so for roughly one-half of petitioners.
Looking for further positive news, if you shaved away the number of appeals that do not follow all or any of the previously stated rules, that percentage of successful aid-seekers would sharply rise. Legitimate, compelling, need-driven, well-documented financial aid appeals are an entirely different species than their 鈥淚 want more because I want more鈥� peers. Also, it is important to note that a successful appeal may not result in a straightforward discount. The revised package could include student loans, work study, or a combination of the two.
Final Thoughts 鈥� How to Write a Financial Aid Appeal Letter
The decision to enter the financial aid appeal process should be made judiciously. Remember, this is not a negotiation at Crazy Eddie鈥檚 used Subaru lot or for a three-legged armoire at a flea market鈥攖his is an official process where a financial aid officer has been granted congressional power to make critical financial determinations. While the probability of success is uninspiringly low at many colleges, appeals that are sincere in nature, 100% truthful, and supported by ample documentation have the best odds of success.
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