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Your Money|Why Did Syracuse Offer $200,000 Deals to Teens Who Had Turned It Down?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/your-money/syracuse-merit-aid.html
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your money
The university seems to have misjudged what some families would pay. Next year, maybe applicants should play their own game of chicken with such schools.
By Ron Lieber
Ron Lieber welcomes tips from insiders (or outsiders) about how colleges set their prices and dole out discounts. You can send them securely via our website.
June 14, 2025, 5:01 a.m. ET
By the time the usual May 1 college deposit deadline rolled around this year, David Berger’s daughter had already made up her mind: She would leave Alpharetta, Ga., and become a Penn State Nittany Lion.
But Syracuse University, which had also accepted her, wasn’t done with her yet. After having initially offered exactly zero merit aid, its staff began a poaching campaign.
A $20,000-per-year offer arrived on May 2. Then came a $10,000-per-year discount two days later. Weeks went by before Syracuse dangled an additional $20,000 per year.
“Spaces will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis,” that last email said.
All of this left the scores of families that received similar offers scratching their heads. “It’s almost like they’ve turned into used car salesmen,” said Mr. Berger, whose daughter is sticking with Penn State.
Syracuse appears to have played chicken with children and lost. Having lowballed their parents in March and April, the school presumably came up many heads short for its newest class. Once May rolled around, it had to offer eye-popping discounts to steal kids away from other schools.
