Your Timing Could Cost You Thousands in Financial Aid
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- in College Pete
Over the past week, several parents have asked me essentially the same question:
“We just received a financial aid offer. Should we appeal it now?”
The short answer is usually no — and the reason has everything to do with timing.
Financial aid appeals (often called requests for reconsideration) can absolutely make sense under the right circumstances. But appealing too early is one of the most common mistakes families make, and it often weakens their position rather than improves it.
Here’s the guidance I give families every year: wait until you’ve received all of your student’s financial aid offers — or at least the most important ones — before submitting an appeal. For most families, that means mid-March.
Why appealing too early rarely helps
A financial aid appeal isn’t just a request for “more money.” It’s a conversation that happens in context — and that context matters.
When a college reviews an appeal, it’s looking at:
- Its own budget and enrollment goals
- How competitive the student is within the admitted pool
- What other institutions are offering
If you appeal as soon as the first offer arrives, you usually aren’t bringing anything new to the table. There’s no comparative data. No broader picture. No urgency for the school to reassess its position.
In those cases, the response is often polite but predictable: we’ve reviewed your file and believe the original offer is appropriate.
Why waiting gives you leverage
Waiting until most offers are in hand changes the dynamic.
First, it allows families to evaluate true net cost, not just headline numbers. Grants, loans, work-study expectations, and renewable versus one-time awards all matter — and they don’t always become clear until multiple offers can be compared side by side.
Second, it helps identify which schools are actually in contention. Not every college deserves an appeal. Families are far better served focusing on one or two priority schools where affordability is the primary obstacle to enrollment.
Third, and this is critical: colleges respond differently when they understand that cost, not interest or fit, is the barrier. A well-timed appeal supported by other offers provides that clarity.
Fourth, waiting can put more pressure on the school to pony up and deliver, especially if you are seeking a boost to a merit scholarship. If your child is in the upper echelon of the applicant pool, then as you get closer to the May 1 deposit deadline the admissions office feels more pressure to lock you in and improve their yield. You might call this old-fashioned brinksmanship.
What waiting does not mean
Waiting does not mean doing nothing.
This is the window when families should:
- Carefully review each financial aid offer in detail
- Compare net costs, not sticker prices
- Identify meaningful differences between packages
- Decide which schools are worth further conversation
Once that work is done, appeals should be submitted promptly and professionally. Late March and early April are entirely normal, and expected, timing for reconsideration requests.
{NOTE: If your child was admitted Early Decision and you are seeking a reconsideration request, then do not hesitate to initiate the appeal. There is no reason to wait until March or April. If you can identify a change of circumstances from when you initially applied for aid, or if the aid package is far less than what was expected, then it’s time to put together your thoughtful reconsideration request and send it to the financial aid office as soon as possible.}
When you’re ready, your appeal should be professional, specific, and data-driven. If you want a step-by-step guide to how to structure a successful appeal — including what to say, what to include, and what to avoid — we’ve outlined it here.
And if you’re wondering whether appeals actually work, you can review real examples of awards we’ve successfully negotiated for families here.
“What if we miss our chance?”
This is a common concern, and it’s understandable. But in practice, colleges build their aid review process around the admissions calendar. They do not expect appeals before families have had the opportunity to see competing offers.
The bigger risk is not waiting too long — it’s appealing too soon, without enough information to make a compelling case.
The bottom line
Financial aid appeals are most effective when they are informed, targeted, and well-timed. Waiting until you have the full picture allows you to approach the process strategically rather than reactively.
When it comes to securing the best financial aid offer, patience should not be confused with hesitation.
If you need help evaluating offers or deciding whether, and when, an appeal makes sense, that guidance is often just as valuable as the appeal itself.
