How to negotiate merit aid, and a few photos from my first semester!
A secret to negotiating is to make much of the conversation about the other person
Hi, thanks for joining me today as I demystify the legal profession! Today’s article is about asking for money from your law school once you’re accepted. And if you scroll to the end, you’ll see photos from my first semester at Cornell Law School.
Law schools award both need-based and merit aid. The former is based on your financial forms, like the FAFSA or school-specific documentation. The latter is based on your strengths as a candidate, like your GPA and LSAT score. I want to show you how to take advantage of the latter practice of “tuition discounting” — getting more merit aid.
I have two data points to speak of:
30,000/year from NYU, negotiated up from 25,000/year. I applied January 9, was accepted February 9, and received my initial package March 1
45,000/year from Cornell. I applied Jan 9, was accepted March 17, and received my package on March 24, 2 hours after I asked for it
My negotiation advice isn’t just based on my personal experience, but on my time on the “other side of the table” fielding these requests at a tech consulting company. When I was working for IBM, I managed about 150 subcontractors. The people we gave raises to weren’t necessarily the most merited— they were the ones who asked. Asking for money feels awkward, so it’s the biggest hurdle for you to clear.
Follow these three tips:
Make an impression
Sell yourself
Just ask
Make an impression
Right now, you’re a faceless collection of statistics. Make yourself a real human in the eyes of the financial aid officer. This means having a live meeting, whether it be over the phone (OK), video (better) or in person if you can manage it (best). (You can find the email of the financial aid office of your school online. If you have any trouble, I’ll give you a hand, just shoot me an email— allisoninwonderland@substack.com).
I met both of my financial aid officers in person. I went to Cornell’s Admitted Students Day on March 24 and into New York City on March 29.
I met NYU’s financial aid officer even though asking for more aid entailed filing a written petition. Why? I wanted him to know who I was. I had to differentiate myself so that when the time came, he’d see my petition, remember who I was, and be willing to give me more. I think meeting in person is why he gave me more aid when I finally handed in my formal petition.
As for the Cornell financial aid officer, at the time I met the financial aid officer, I didn’t have the package in hand yet. I signed up for a slot to meet him during Admitted Students Day. Two hours after we met, he emailed it to me. I think I made an impression.
How to make an impression
Remember, impressions aren’t made on conveying information, so body language and mannerisms matter. I try to appear respectful, dignified but down to earth, and sincere but lighthearted.
What happens after you show up at the officer’s door? Start with a knock, and as soon as you open the door, make eye contact and smile. Start with “Thank you so much for making time to meet with me.” Speak as if you deserved none of this. (Which is true because not all schools are amenable to having an open conversation.) “I’m so appreciative that you let prospective students meet with you.” Make sure to shake his hand— this closes the distance between you and makes you more familiar. Keep maintaining eye contact and make sure to smile after you say something or ask a question. Smiling is important because it gives you confidence and prevents the officer from feeling like you’re confronting him to ask for money.
Impressions also aren’t made just by talking about yourself. Hang onto any opportunity to make him talk about himself. If you make the admissions officer feel like he matters, then he’s more likely to be your champion and look for ways to give you more money. Also, he’ll let down his guard, which makes it easier for you to ask for money.
For instance, when I walk into the room, I usually ask the person what I interrupted. Then I ask him to elaborate. Some of my readers might find that intrusive, but I’ve never seen people reluctant to share. In fact, I usually learn some interesting information, like the fact that Cornell is revamping its public service loan repayment assistance program this year.
When you’re talking, try to notice in your peripheral if there are any photos of children or family or bands or sports teams over which you could connect. I talked extensively with one of the admissions officers about his daughters and their dreams.
Aim to make 30% of the conversation about the other person in the room.
Sell yourself
The people who choose your financial aid package are likely not the same people who approved your acceptance. This is your chance to shape the financial aid officer’s impression of you.
I talked about my vision of what I’d do with my law degree. I have a very specific vision that entails going into public interest, allowing me to play that card to show I won’t have the financial resources to pay off loans.
Practice your 90-second pitch. Try to ease into it in the course of conversation. For instance, I said something like “I’m really impressed with NYU’s dedication to public interest.” Then, I segue into the pitch: “I am planning to open my own housing and employment center serving immigrants, farmworkers, and low wage workers. My hope is to holistically meet people’s needs, not just throw legal solutions at them.”
If you don’t know what you want to do after school, focus instead on how you envision contributing to the school. I think I said something like: “I met with Professor X earlier today to talk about her new book on degradation of low wage work through automation and its offshoring. At IBM, I saw this happening firsthand as management took more and more creative agency away from developers and had them do little more than translate technical requirements into code. Since I’ll be working with low wage workers impacted by these trends in the future, I can’t wait to take Professor X’s class and work with her in person! I also think I’ll bring a rare firsthand perspective to the class.”
Just ask
I said it already but I’ll say it again: The hardest hurdle to clear is working up the courage to ask. Some people are really good at receiving money, and it’s not their merits but their shamelessness that leads to them having a higher package than you.
I even asked the NYU professor I met with, subtly, by saying “I’m just having trouble with the big price difference between the schools.” She quickly held up her hands and insisted she had nothing to do with the process, but I firmly believe it never hurts to ask.
You can ask directly or indirectly. I didn’t ask either officer directly while meeting in person. For NYU, I just made my intentions clear that I wanted to ask for more money: “Is there anything I need to know about filing the petition to adjust my merit aid award?” If there were no opportunity to ask formally, though, I would have spoken explicitly about the amount in my competing Cornell offer.
For Cornell, I name-dropped that I received a scholarship from NYU and that NYU had a generous program for public interest loan repayments. He sent me my package two hours after our meeting. It was higher than NYU’s because Cornell is lower ranked than NYU, so I’m a more competitive candidate in the pool. In other words, I don’t think mentioning NYU affected the dollar amount, but I think meeting in person helped expedite my package.
One way to ask for a real dollar figure is to play offers against each other. After I had the Cornell package in hand, I then asked for 55,000/year from NYU in the formal petition. They obviously didn’t match that but gave me 5,000 more a year.
What if you don’t have offers to play off each other? You should still ask for more money with phrasing that goes something like this: “I would absolutely love to come to X school, I just feel held back by the price. I would really love to come here, and if the price were X, it’d be more possible for me.“ I learned this from Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. You need to lead people to believe that they’ve sold you, so that they do the work of figuring out how to get you in the door. You needed to have already done the work of showing why you are a good fit with the school, though, per my tips above on selling yourself.
I should have used the Never Split the Difference tactic for Cornell, but honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d go to Cornell, and I also read the admissions officer wrong. I thought he’d be resistant to an ask, but now I realize I should have just asked. Do as I say, not as I do!
Remember, the worst thing that can happen when you ask for money is to be told “no.” They can’t rescind their offer or retaliate by decreasing the package they’ve already given to you.
Good luck!
Photos
Paying tribute to my teachers
I had an incredible ensemble of professors this semester:
Professor Sheri Lynn Johnson, my Constitutional Law professor, leads a nationally renowned death penalty clinic that has argued several cases up to the Supreme Court. A diamond in the rough, she went from University of Minnesota undergrad to Yale Law School and became faculty at Cornell at 27 years of age. And, she’s a Christian!
Professor Stewart Schwab, my Torts professor, was previously the Dean of the law school and won awards for his teaching. His pedagogy was the best I’d seen, and I hope to take his Employment Law class next semester.
Professor Robert “Bob” Hillman, my Contracts professor, came out of retirement to teach our class. At only a few years younger than Biden, he still has the physical capacity to play tennis. A legend in Contracts, he wrote the textbook we used which jokingly referred to him as “a very astute author” whenever it excerpted a paper of his.
Professor Barbara Holden Smith, a Civil Procedure maven, taught her last semester after a lifetime of beating the odds and leading by example. An African American woman, she cast light on the racist underbelly of Supreme Court decisions that warped history: For instance, because the Court wanted to prevent slaves from showing they were descended from free women and thus free themselves, it twisted an entire category of evidence in a way that is still unnatural and counterintuitive today (Queen v. Hepburn). Civil Procedure with Professor BHS was by far my favorite class.
Professor Estelle McKee, my Lawyering professor, circled back to the basics to show us how to structure our thoughts and write. Her background is in serving underserved populations. She currently runs the refugee and asylee appellate clinic.