As the offers of admission arrive, the financial aid award letters will follow. If you’re a novice to the award letters, as most first time college parents are, they can be confusing and vague. Added to the confusion is that every award letter is different, making it hard to easily compare them side by side.

Thankfully, there are tools available and information to help you look at these letters for what they are: the college’s pitch for your student to accept their offer of admission. You are in control of this process and you hold the cards. It’s your decision to accept or reject their offer based on the amount of aid they are willing to give your student. Money, in this situation, is everything.

If a college wants your student to attend, they will back it up with money. No money, means their offer is probably based on filling a quota and them expecting you will decline to attend. And you should. Who wants to attend a college that doesn’t place value in your student?

But before you accept, reject, or negotiate with the college, you need to understand the award letter and its components.

Want to know more? Read an article I wrote for TeenLife:

How to Break Down the Financial Aid Award Letter