In recent weeks, I've received phone calls and e-mails from many happy students who've been admitted to their favorite colleges. Many of them have also been awarded generous merit scholarships or financial aid packages.

That's important, because getting into a school you can't afford to attend is often more disappointing than not being admitted. More families completed the FAFSA this year, and the level of need has clearly increased.

Many private colleges have boosted financial aid budgets this year, and they are also trying to keep tuition increases to a minimum. If your financial aid package is not what you expected, it is possible to appeal. They may be able to improve the package, especially if family financial circumstances have changed.

The U.S. Department of Education has just sent a letter to colleges allowing financial aid offices to use a 12-month window for projected future earnings rather than using the calendar year. This means that if you lost your job in October 2008, instead of counting your income for all of 2008, financial aid administrators can use November 2008 through October 2009 to project income when determining your eligibility for aid.

Financial aid officers want to help you attend their college, but there's a right and a wrong way to ask for more money.

I was sitting next to an admissions officer at dinner recently, and he told me a story about the father of a newly admitted student coming into the financial aid office. The father had tears in his eyes as he said his child desperately wanted to attend this school but the family just couldn't pay the cost. The financial aid officer felt terrible but had to tell the father that there wasn't anything he could do about the aid package. The father then pulled a prewritten enrollment deposit check out of his pocket and cheerfully said, "I had to try."

This is the kind of behavior that makes financial aid officers cynical.

Your best bet is to approach them respectfully and honestly. If another school has offered a financial aid package that has more grants and fewer loans, you can send a copy of the better offer, and the financial aid office may match the other school's offer. Some colleges engage in preferential packaging, where the best aid packages go to the students they want the most.

Since more students are likely to turn to lowercost public universities, admissions officers at many liberal arts colleges are worried about reaching their enrollment target.

At a small college, even 10 fewer freshmen can significantly impact the school's budget.

Admissions officers anticipate more double deposits this year, a practice that is considered unethical and, if discovered, can result in both colleges rescinding admission.

In an effort to make their school more financially attractive, many liberal arts colleges are increasing merit scholarships. Some colleges that were offering $5,000 to $10,000ayear scholarships last year are now offering $15,000 to $17,000.

For students who will be applying to college in the fall, it's more important than ever to do your research and apply to a number of similar colleges that are likely to award good financial aid packages or merit scholarships so that you can then take those offers to the school you prefer.

If that college matches the better offer, you have the school you want at a more affordable cost. If your preferred college does not match the offer, you can decide whether the school would provide a significantly better college experience that is worth the extra money or whether you would be just as happy at one of the schools that will cost less.

Audrey Kahane, MS, MFA, is a private college admissions counselor in West Hills. She can be reached at (818) 704-7545 or audrey@audreykahane.com.