Get more financial aid by asking these 10 questions

By Corey Buhay | Published on February 23, 2026

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College financial aid offices often seem like white-columned fortresses: hugely valuable but completely inaccessible to average families struggling to understand the financial aid landscape.

In reality, though, financial aid and admissions officers exist to be a free resource to students and parents. If you’re brave enough to reach out and start asking questions, you’ll find they’re a fountain of knowledge on everything from student loans to federal work-study opportunities to college savings strategies. Here’s how to tap into all that free wisdom, and make sure you’re getting all the financial aid available to you.

How to Contact Your Financial Aid or Admissions Office

Most college students underutilize their financial aid office and admissions officers, leaving tons of money on the table each year. To make sure you’re maximizing the resources available, first find your admissions counselor, who will be your point of contact for all merit-based aid. Most colleges assign their admissions counselors to students by region, state, or school district. Often, you can look up your area’s admissions counselor on the admissions staff web page. No luck? Call the general number for the admissions office and ask for the officer for your hometown.

If you want to learn about need-based aid, contact the financial aid office. Many financial aid offices assign financial aid officers alphabetically by the first letters of students’ last names. If that’s the case, you’ll often be able to find the officer assigned to you online. If you can’t figure it out, don’t worry—you’ll be assigned an officer when you’re accepted. In the meantime, call the general contact number for the financial aid office.

What to Ask Before You Apply

Before you draft your college list, make sure the schools you’re applying to offer the kind of aid you’ll need to attend. Use these questions to figure out what schools might be feasible options:

Does your school offer merit scholarships?

College scholarships are one of the best ways to fund a college education. That’s because, unlike federal or private student loans, they never have to be paid back. About 47% of all scholarships and grants come from government sources, according to a 2022 study from the Education Data Initiative (EDI). Most students who rely on scholarships end up piecing together several awards from multiple sources. However, the highest-dollar scholarships tend to come from the federal government and institutions, i.e. colleges and universities.

If merit scholarships are a critical piece of your funding strategy, do your research and make sure you’re applying to colleges with these kinds of programs. Ask your admissions office if there’s a separate merit scholarship application and whether merit aid is distributed first-come, first-served. Susan Zinanti, an advisor with Colorado-based Stepwise College Consulting also recommends asking the admissions office what the profile of a typical scholarship recipient looks like. This can give you an idea of how competitive you might be.

Is your net-price calculator up to date?

While all colleges are required to supply a net-price calculator on their website, some calculators are more robust than others. If you’re relying on that number to make your application decisions, double-check that the calculator has been recently updated, Zinanti recommends. Ask your financial aid office if the listed sticker price feels accurate to them and whether they recommend you use a different number to make your comparisons.

What percent of students receive need-based aid, and what percent of need do you meet on average?

“The reality is that most colleges can’t meet 100% of need,” Zinanti says. Some are very generous with need-based scholarships. Others save their money for merit-based scholarships, which they use to entice preferred students to enroll. Ask about the aid breakdown upfront to give you a sense of how generous a school is likely to be in meeting your family’s needs.

How are outside scholarships handled?

Before you apply for private scholarships, get a sense of how your top schools will factor them into your aid package. Sometimes colleges apply that money against institutional grants, reducing your overall financial aid package. In other cases, the school might be willing to apply that money to the gap between your need and their ability to meet it, Zinanti says.

Besides automatic merit scholarships, what other institutional opportunities might be available?

Your financial aid officer will know whether the school offers athletic, leadership, or community service-based scholarships in addition to awards based on academic performance. “Sometimes there’s a lot of money left on the table because students don’t know to look for it,” says Zinanti. Make sure you understand how to apply for these, and whether any extra forms or deadlines are required.

What to Ask After You Get Your Aid Package

The time period between getting your financial aid package and committing to a school is critical. To make sure you have all the information you need to make the right decision, first examine your financial aid award letter. Figure out how much you’ve qualified for in gift aid and federal student loans, and then calculate the remaining gap in your funding. When you know how much money you still need, ask your admissions officer or financial aid officer these questions.

How much has tuition increased in recent years?

“Tuition tends to go up every year,” says Shannon Vasconcelos, a former college financial aid officer for Tufts and Boston University. She’s now the director of college finance for education advising firm Bright Horizons College Coach. “If your family can barely afford that first year of tuition, any further increases might be a dealbreaker.” Ask about past trends to get an idea of how much college costs might continue to increase. This will affect your ability to continue paying for school in future academic years.

Can I expect my award to remain the same all four years?

If your financial status stays the same, your need-based aid probably will, too. But if your family’s situation changes during your time in school — say, a parent loses a job, or your sibling starts attending college, too — then your financial aid eligibility may change. Job loss and the number of children a family has in school can all affect your expected family contribution (EFC). If a change occurs, it’s up to the financial aid office to determine how to adjust your aid. “Sometimes, the school might not be able to meet your new needs,” Vasconcelos says. That’s worth knowing upfront.

Would you be willing to consider special financial circumstances?

Oftentimes, schools will offer a student what they feel is the minimum reasonable amount, expecting the family to negotiate for more money if the original offer isn’t enough, says Vasconcelos. It’s always good practice to ask for more aid; you never know what you might get offered. Just make sure you make the request before you send in your deposit. “Otherwise, you’ve lost nearly all your leverage,” Vasconcelos says.

Is there anything you can do to increase my merit-based award?

You can also ask for more merit-based aid. As other students make their decisions and turn down offers, sometimes more scholarship money becomes available for financial aid officers to pull from.

What else can I do to mitigate the cost of tuition?

If you know what major you’re planning on pursuing, you can also ask if there are any department-specific scholarships available. However, Vasconcelos cautions that departmental scholarships, like any scholarships offered post-enrollment, tend to be small. Your financial aid officer will also be able to point you to the correct on-campus offices to look for resident advisor jobs or other on-campus work opportunities to help you cover the costs of room and board. If you can handle the workload, you may also be able to take a few extra classes each semester at no extra cost, allowing you to graduate a semester or even a whole school year early.

How to Use Private Student Loans to Fill in Funding Gaps

If you’ve maximized your federal aid, asked the right questions, submitted a financial aid appeal — and still don’t have quite enough money to cover your higher education, it’s time to look at alternative funding options.

Private student loans are one of the most popular ways to close gaps in your college savings. Unlike federal student loans, which always come from the U.S. Department of Education, private loans come from a variety of financial institutions, including banks, credit unions, and online lenders like Earnest. And whereas federal student loans have rigid funding caps, most private lenders will let you cover up to the full cost of attendance, including books, supplies, room, and board.