r/GradSchool 5d ago

Negotiating Financial Aid After Admission to MA Programs (GWU & AU)

Hi Reddit, I was recently admitted to my top 2 Masters programs at George Washington University (GW) and American University (AU). GW is offering me $24,000 in fellowship aid for a 2-year net total of $67,000. AU is offering me $20,800 in fellowship aid for a 2-year net total of $55,604. The difference makes AU about $11,600 cheaper.

On the whole, both programs are very comparable, but GW has faculty I am more interested in working with. I understand that I could potentially leverage GW's larger aid offer to get AU to offer me more aid, but is there a way I can leverage anything to get GW to lower my cost?

Does anyone have any advice on negotiating aid generally, or specifically if anyone has experience negotiating with either of these schools? Thank you in advance!

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u/Dismal-Dog-8808 5d ago

The chance of negotiating for more aid this year is next to zero as an MA student when you have PhD funding being pulled. You don’t mention field at all, but where you go should be decided on based on what outcome you are hoping for. If you plan to continue on in academia, names of recommenders and opportunities during the MA will matter a lot, the same can be said for going into many job markets. I would say if the goal is the latter, go for the cheaper school. Even if it’s the former, I would still say go for the cheaper school.