It’s that time of year when students are starting to rip open envelopes to see if they’ve been accepted to the college of their dreams.
But most cash-strapped parents can be excused if they’re more interested in what might also be inside the envelope: a college’s financial-aid offer.
"For a lot of parents, this is make or break," said Maurice Tanner, a regional advisor for College Funding Solutions, a higher-education consulting firm that helps kids prepare for college and helps parents find ways to pay for it.
With college tuition easily exceeding $25,000 or more at many schools, a financial-aid package can determine where a student will go - or not go - to college.
But Tanner, whose company is part of a growing industry geared to helping teens and adults prepare for college, said parents shouldn’t assume that the first financial-aid offer is the last.
"The majority of people who negotiate for more (assistance) end up getting it," said Tanner, noting schools have scholarships, grants and other financial tools to help ease the financial burden of sending children to college.
Ned Bigelow, a consultant with Dunbar Educational Consultants in Dedham, agrees that colleges have become "much much more" amenable to tinkering with financial-aid offers.
But he cautioned: "Don’t call up and just say, ‘I need more money.’ It won’t work."
What parents need to do is be diplomatic, clear and honest about why they can’t afford a college, despite a school’s offered aid package, he said.
Some Colleges simply won’t haggle, said Robert Weinerman, director of college financing at College Coach in Newton.
But smaller ambitious schools, which are competing with larger institutions for the best students, are sometimes more flexible on what they can offer, said Weinerman.
"If two schools admit the same student and the aid (packages are different), I do believe it’s okay to contact a school’s financial-aid office," said Weinerman.
Tim Lee, a director at Advocates for Human Potential in Sudbury, said colleges have generally become more competitive in trying to attract top students - not just top athletes.
As a result, colleges are not just looking at the financial needs of a student when making aid offers. They’re also eyeing the "merit" of a student and how they’ll fit into the school, he said.
