You did it. Applications are done, decisions are in, and you’re holding multiple financial aid award letters. This should be the exciting part.

Instead, it’s one of the most confusing moments in the entire process. Every school formats their letter differently. Some bury loans inside the “aid” total to make the package look bigger. Some include work-study as if it’s free money. And almost none of them make it easy to compare one offer against another.

One of our families, Julie, used this exact comparison approach and secured an additional $56,000 in scholarships. The negotiation took less than a week. The money lasted four years.

This free worksheet gives you a side-by-side framework to compare what each school actually costs, identifies the tricks schools use, and walks you through exactly how to ask for more.