How to compare financial aid offer letters from colleges and other FAQs

In the spring, you’ll start receiving financial aid offer letters from the colleges you’re accepted to. These documents explain how much the college costs to attend and how much the school, state, and federal government are offering you to help lower the total cost. However, they don’t follow a single format and colleges’ offers can vary wildly, making them confusing. To find the best deal, it’s important to compare financial aid offer letters from colleges. Here’s how you can do that.

What are financial aid offer letters?

Financial aid offer letters, also known as award letters, are documents colleges send to accepted students detailing how much financial aid they’re being offered should they attend. Students rarely pay the advertised sticker price for a college thanks to this money. The exact offer depends on the school as well as the individual’s academics, demonstrated financial need, and location.

The award letters can include scholarships and grants from the institution, state, or federal government, as well as federal student loans and work-study acceptance. To be considered for all types of aid available, you’ll need to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Some schools also ask for the CSS Profile.

Parts of a college financial aid offer letter

There is no single format for financial aid offer letters – each college uses their own. However, they’ll generally have the same parts, including:

• Cost of Attendance (COA): The COA, or sticker price, is the estimate of what you can expect to pay for one academic year, including tuition, room and board, books, supplies, transportation, fees, and personal expenses
• Student Aid Index (SAI): Your SAI comes from your FAFSA. Colleges use the number, which ranges from -1500 to 999999, to determine your financial aid package. The lower the number, the more aid you could qualify for.
• Grants and scholarships: Grants and scholarships may be offered by the school, your state, or the federal government. In almost all cases, you don’t have to pay them back. They can be need-based or merit-based.
• Work-study: The federal work-study program allows you to take a job on campus or with a college partner to earn money to put towards your expenses. These positions are first-come, first-served, and the best jobs fill up quickly.
• Federal student loans: If you completed the FAFSA, you may also be eligible for federal student loans. These can help cover the cost of college, but they have to be repaid with interest. Your college determines the maximum amount you’re allowed to borrow each semester.

Keep in mind that financial aid offer letters don’t include outside scholarships, or awards from organizations, businesses, and individuals. You need to notify your college if you receive one of these scholarships as it could impact your offer.

Why should you compare financial aid offers?

To determine the best deal for your budget and education, you need to compare your financial aid offer letters. You should receive one for each college you apply to, but since colleges don’t follow a single format, comparing them is difficult. The highest offer isn’t necessarily the best deal.

For example, you might see College A is offering you $50,000 in grants and scholarships. College B will give you $20,000 in grants and scholarships. They’re equal as far as academics go, so on paper, College A appears to be the better offer.

However, once you look at the COA, you might see a different picture. College A costs $80,000 a year to attend. College B is $22,000. After you apply your award money, you need to pay $30,000 out of pocket to attend College A, but only $2,000 out of pocket to attend College B!

How to compare financial aid offer letters

To compare award letters, try our Financial Aid Offer Comparison Tool. This resource helps you understand how much financial aid a college is offering you compared to another.

You’ll also be able to review your estimated debt after graduation for each college based on a 4-year graduation timetable. However, it’s an estimate, not a guarantee. Various factors can influence your total debt, including how much your family may pay per year towards your college expenses, how many hours you participate in work-study, and the length of time you take to repay the amount.

Follow these three steps to get started:

1. Upload your financial aid offers. After you’ve registered for a College Raptor account, you can add your award letters to the Comparison tool by text messages, file uploads, or typing it in. The program accepts JPG, PNG, GIF, and PDF.
2. Check your financial aid offer summary. Once you’ve added an offer, you can see a summary that lists the tuition, total cost, grants, scholarships, net price, and estimated debt at graduation.
3. Compare offers. When you’ve uploaded all of the letters, return to the list of “Financial Aid Offers.” There you can see the full list of colleges, net price, total estimated debt, and how they compare to one another.

If you are ready to use the Financial Aid Comparison Tool but still have questions, watch this recorded demonstration where one of our experts walks you through step by step.

How does College Raptor protect your sensitive information?

College Raptor takes privacy and security seriously! We encrypt all of your information. When you add your financial aid offers to the Comparison tool, you can choose to redact any sensitive information. College Raptor will never provide personally identifiable information about you to colleges or anyone else without your permission.

College financial aid offer letters FAQs

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions we see about college financial aid offer letters.

Why is a college offer important?

A college award letter helps your family budget and plan for college expenses. College is expensive. Very few families in America can afford to pay the full cost of attendance from their personal savings. The award letter details the types and total amount of financial aid that’s being offered to the student, which gives families a better idea of how much they have to pay out of pocket, and they can budget accordingly.

Why do offer letters look different?

Colleges and universities don’t have a single format for their financial aid offer letters – each college has their own unique one. Schools also have different financial aid policies, admissions policies, and available endowment amounts, which means types of aid and the total amount can vary from school to school.

What do I need to do to receive a financial aid offer letter from a college?

In order to receive an offer letter with need-based aid from a college, students have to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and/or the CSS Profile prior to the school’s deadline. The sooner you complete the FAFSA or CSS Profile, the better – colleges’ endowments aren’t finite, and they will run out.

When completing the FAFSA, list your colleges on your StudentAid portal. Your offer letter should then come automatically from your schools at a later date. If you don’t receive one, reach out to the college’s financial aid department.

Some colleges will send offer letters with merit-based aid even if you didn’t complete the financial aid applications. However, many require the FAFSA or CSS profile even for merit-based grants and scholarships.

What’s the difference between grants, scholarships, and loans?

Grants and scholarships are types of gift aid that generally don’t have to be repaid. However, some come with stipulations. For example, a grant might require you to work within a certain state for a set period of time after you graduate college. If you don’t meet that requirement or you leave college before graduation, you might have to pay the money back.

Loans refers to the financial aid that you will need to pay back with interest. Your award letter may list different types of loans. Each has its own unique terms and conditions.

Grants and scholarships can come from schools, states, the federal government, private organizations, nonprofits, or individuals. Federal student loans come from the government, while private student loans come from financial institutions, such as banks and credit unions.

Do I have to accept all the aid offered to me?

No, generally you don’t. You can accept all, accept only a part of it, or decline all the aid offered to you. Ideally, you should accept all the grant and scholarship money in your financial aid package, as it’s money that doesn’t need to be repaid.

If you have a gap between what you have and what you owe, you may need to take out private student loans.

If you’re using a last-dollar scholarship, you’ll likely need to take all financial aid you’re offered.

Can I appeal an offer letter for more money?

Yes, you can negotiate your financial aid package and ask for more.

Colleges may consider your appeal if you can show that your financial situation has changed since you filed the FAFSA. Valid reasons include recent unemployment, loss of income, death of an earning family member, or medical expenses.

You can also simply request more money because you’d like to attend (especially if another school offered you more). If you go to a college and tell them, “I really want to attend here, but this college offered me more. Can you match it?” you might just walk away with a bigger financial aid package.

What do I do after I receive my financial aid offer letter?

Take time to read and understand the information and instructions in your award letter but don’t be in a hurry to respond. You should wait to receive award letters from the other colleges you’ve applied to, even if you received an acceptance letter and a generous package to your dream school. Once you have all of your offers in hand, compare them to determine the best option for you.

Each award letter will include instructions on how to respond to the offer and important deadlines. For most schools, you need to make a decision by May 1. Colleges don’t usually consider late responses but may under certain circumstances.

Who can I ask for help if I don’t understand my college offer letter?

If you don’t understand your financial aid offer letter, you believe there was a mistake, or you didn’t receive one, reach out to the school’s financial aid office as soon as possible.

When can I expect to receive my award letters?

Most students will receive financial aid award letters in March, though some may see them as soon as February or even November.

Many colleges send the offers with acceptance letters or shortly after. However, since schools don’t follow a set timeline, your offers will likely arrive at different times.

If your school hasn’t sent a financial aid letter yet and your decision deadline is approaching, reach out to the financial aid office.

How does a school decide financial aid?

In most cases, colleges and universities use the students’ FAFSAs and/or CSS profiles to determine financial aid packages. Some don’t require these applications for merit aid.

Schools have vastly different budgets for financial aid (called endowment), and they follow different procedures for allocating the money. If you’re curious about how your college determines offers, visit their website or reach out to the financial aid office.

Are there any important dates and deadlines for student financial aid?

Yes, there are a few important dates and deadlines for financial aid offers, including:

• FAFSA availability: The following academic year’s FAFSA opens on October 1 each year. Complete it as soon as possible. Delaying even a few months can impact your offers.
• School deadlines: Colleges have internal deadlines for the FAFSA (and CSS Profile), usually in January or February. You need to get your information in by these dates to be considered for financial aid. Find your school’s deadline on their website or contact their financial aid department.
• FAFSA deadlines: Students have until the end of the academic year to complete that year’s FAFSA. An application that opened on October 1, 2024, has a deadline of June 30, 2026. However, you’ll only be eligible for loans by this date.
• Decision day: To receive the financial aid offer, you need to submit your decision to attend by the college’s listed decision day deadline. For most schools, this is May 1.

Can colleges rescind financial aid offer letters?

Yes, colleges can rescind financial aid offers and even acceptance to a college. If you fail to meet certain deadlines or your grades slip, you could find both rescinded.

Some scholarships and grants are based on grades or other conditions and may not be renewed if the student fails to meet the requirements of the award.

Why is my college financial aid offer different from last year?

Available grants and college budgets can change from year to year, especially as income requirements change. Some schools also offer different scholarships for freshmen compared to juniors or another year.

This is why it’s important to complete the FAFSA even if you didn’t get anything last year – you never know what’s changed in the past 12 months.

Financial aid offers can save you thousands in college expenses. Some students may even get a full ride! Once you have your acceptance letters, keep an eye out for these offers so you can make the best decision for your education and budget.

Have your financial aid offer letters in hand? We can help you find the best deal. Start with our Financial Aid Offer Letter Comparison tool here.