aid stackability at these schools?

Paying for College
21

That may be the source of confusion. Net price = EFC + student contribution ( + unmet need if any). Student contribution is federal direct loans and/or student work earnings. The “estimated remaining cost” after subtracting “self help” is EFC or EFC + unmet need.

Some schools will apply scholarships to replace student contribution (and unmet need if any) before reducing grants. Check each school to find out.

22

Be sure to include some schools that you know FOR SURE will give you huge merit for stats so that the remaining costs are what you can afford. Those can be your safeties.

23

Right, thanks @ucbalumnus for clarifying. The NPC calculators don’t actually use the term EFC at all so I was making a false assumption. Their “net price” (which is COA minus their need-based grant/scholarship) is NOT EFC until they also subtract the “student contribution” portion of their need based package.

Of course two meet-need schools, even if they determine EFC to be exactly the same, may still be varying in the generosity of their aid package based on whether they include direct loans or no loans (or smaller loans) in the student contribution portion of the package. It is a bit confusing that schools include the “student contribution” loans in THEIR need-based aid package, b/c other than Pell loans, it is my understanding they don’t have skin in that game, and even if they DIDN’T include direct loans in the student contribution portion of their aid package, the student would still be eligible to take out those direct loans, theoretically then it would be applying toward the EFC, hmmm. Am I off base on this?

24

^^ a student IS expected to have “skin in the game”- either with loans they take our and/ or with work/ study programs.
Either way, the calculation of what the student is expected to contribute to the cost of HIS education IS included in the calculations- as it should be[ unless the student has landed a full ride scholarship]
and Pells are grants, not loans.

25

I absolutely agree, students SHOULD have skin in the game, I was only finding it interesting that colleges include the student financial obligation in their aid package when it is no, principally, their aid. And yes Pell are grants thanks for that correction, I meant Perkins.

26

Re: #22

Yes, in most cases, it is simplest to just compare the net prices; a student and family has some leeway in terms of what the AFC (actual family contribution) and ASC (actual student contribution) will be, as long as they add up to EFC + ESC.

However, in the merit scholarship situation, if the colleges allow merit scholarships to replace ESC, then a college which puts a larger part of the net price as ESC rather than EFC would allow for greater reduction of net price through merit scholarships.

Example (suppose they “meet need” as they define it, and apply merit against the ESC first):



College A               No merit        $5,000 merit    $10,000 merit

<h2>List price              $60,000         $60,000         $60,000</h2>

EFC                     $20,000         $20,000         $20,000
ESC                     $ 6,000         $ 1,000         $     0
Scholarship             $     0         $ 5,000         $10,000

<h2>Grants                  $34,000         $34,000         $30,000</h2>

Net price               $26,000         $21,000         $20,000

=====================================================================

College B               No merit        $5,000 merit    $10,000 merit

<h2>List price              $60,000         $60,000         $60,000</h2>

EFC                     $16,000         $16,000         $16,000
ESC                     $10,000         $ 5,000         $     0
Scholarship             $     0         $ 5,000         $10,000

<h2>Grants                  $34,000         $34,000         $34,000</h2>

Net price               $26,000         $21,000         $16,000

College A and College B cost the same in the no merit case and the smaller merit case. But College B costs less in the larger merit case because its net price has a higher ESC (that merit can be applied to) and smaller EFC than College A.

27

If you need to ask the college how it handles merit with need-based financial aid (because it is not clear from the web site), you may want to run the net price calculator to get some sample numbers. Say the EFC = $F and ESC = $S, with financial aid grants = $G. You may want to ask:

“The net price calculator says that the student self help contribution is $S and the parent contribution is $S. If the student earns a merit scholarship up to $S, will it replace the loans or work in the student self help contribution first, while the grants remain at $G? If the merit scholarship exceeds $S, will the grants remain at $G or be reduced?”

28

But the OP wants the merit to lower the cost beneath the EFC. In your examples that doesn’t happen in any scenario. The one example you didn’t share which perhaps is the best case - a full tuition merit scholarship and no need based aid whatsoever. That would yield the lowest net cost.

29

“The one example you didn’t share which perhaps is the best case - a full tuition merit scholarship and no need based aid whatsoever.”

^well yeah, many have already suggested THAT option, numerous times.
because what the OP is asking for is NOT realistic without his kid landing a big MERIT scholarships, which happens only if he applies to colleges that OFFER them.

30

"But the OP wants the merit to lower the cost beneath the EFC.
He’s going to have to follow the Rolling Stones advise-
i.e., you cant always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need…

not trying to be clever here- the reality is it is going to be VERY hard to get what he wants at the colleges on his list. As many other parents have found out.
So somethings going to have to give…

31

The elusive college that beats need without a major merit scholarship. I would think that is quite rare and the kid who receives that would have to be checking a lot of boxes and truly be extraordinary.

I would imagine schools could get themselves into a lot of sticky situations if they exceeded need for some and didn’t meet need for others in a stacked aid circumstance.

32

I really think in most cases the merit aid (from the school) is awarded before the need is calculated, so it really isn’t know what need aid could have been without the merit. The schools are pretty good about making the ‘feel good’ package. If it is an outside award, a little more maneuvering must take place (unless full tuition).

I get what OP is trying to figure out, but I don’t think there is a formula, I think it is school by school, student by student. Most of the schools listed aren’t meet need schools, so all this might be for naught - there is going to be a gap even if there is need, so any merit award would mean real money in the OP’s pocket.

33

@twoinanddone

What do you mean by that? Last year S2 had several FA packages which all included a mix of merit and need based aid and still none of the schools met our demonstrated need. The merit did not help fill the “gap” it merely replaced need based aid, certainly no “real money in our pocket.” The only real winners in the merit aid game are full pay students, or students that get big enough merit aid to surpass need based aid. (For example if a student is eligible for 15k in need based aid, but gets a 25k merit scholarship-they are getting 25k, not 40k, but they are still ahead 10k)

S2 has a merit scholarship at the school he attends which requires a certain gpa to maintain. I asked FA what would happen to our package if he lost the merit aid. I was told that it would be replaced by need based aid. It’s kind of a joke. I am not complaining, I am appreciative of the aid no matter what form it is in, but it does seem like a bit of a misrepresentation.

34

However, if he loses the scholarship, would the replacement need-based aid be grants, or loans and/or work-study?

35

Thanks again everyone, I think I have a good sense of the diversity of perspective on this. As #31 says, there really isn’t a formula or list, and “stackability” along with other FA qualities will need to be investigated school by school.

This thread has been a bit eye-opening too, in the level of response indicating high unlikelihood of getting total aid packages that lower the EFC. Other threads and conversations I’ve had (including with admissions and FA offices) suggest it’s not so uncommon for high-achieving students, and in fact that is what merit scholarships are often about - sweetening the pot, whether that means getting closer to “meeting need” or going beyond it.

So for other parents that may be looking at this in the future, here are a few things I (think) I have learned: (and with the caveat that I’m a parent with first kid in the college search, and still learning):

  1. Many of the more selective schools that claim to meet 100% of need also claim to provide NO merit aid, making the stacking question theoretically irrelevant. EXCEPT, their methodologies vary enough that their estimation of family need may vary by $10K or more, AND some may include large loans while others may include no loans. All of that adds up to some highly selective "100% meet-need" institutions being potentially affordable and others likely not (all this assumes, of course, that a student can get in!) BUT add to that that some may match a peer institution's award, which could potentially make that less affordable school affordable ... and the gray areas get even grayer.
  2. The universe of great and good schools that DO provide merit aid is much larger than those that don't, and include probably the majority of schools outside the "top 20", or however you may want to define it. Most of those schools do NOT claim to meet 100% of need, but many do provide combinations of need-based and merit-based aid, and it can be hard to tell the difference. But a fundamental point is that beyond the most selective schools, everyone else (say with acceptance rates above 25 or 30%) is competing pretty hard for the students they really want - whether they be academic, or performing arts, or sports, or what-not, and aid packages represent that. Whether they call the aid need or merit or a combo is less relevant than the total, the balance between grant/loan (obviously), and the permanence (do they guarantee the same package for four years, under what conditions?)
  3. Which brings us to "stackability" of aid, and whether merit awards/scholarships are added on to an existing need-based aid package (which could help bring the total aid package up to OR EXCEEDING EFC) or whether merit aid simply reduces the need-based package (which doesn't provide a financial benefit unless it is replacing loans or work-study and the student then would still be eligible to take those loans and WS in addition). Some do, some don't, and each school must be investigated. But the key question of interest here to many of us parents is really, will a school allow merit awards (in-school or outside) that alone or in combination with need packages exceed a families need, in other words that reduce a family's EFC? The answer there too is that some do, some don't, you have to ask the school, and some give a clear answer and some don't.
  4. I understand admissions and FA officer frustrations and perceptions that families are pushing the limits, playing the game, etc, but really IMHO the schools are in the drivers seat here. I think we all wish the system were different but it has evolved this way and won't evolve to a "perfect world" however we may define that anytime soon. Suggestions that schools won't - or shouldn't - provide aid packages that lower EFC and that merit scholarships should just replace need aid for families with need ring hollow when considering the extensive cases of full-pay families (ie NO NEED) receiving merit scholarships that then reduce their cost of attendance. And, the fact that many schools (including many of the most selective, that say they provide NO merit) will match a peer institution's aid offer, or the fact that the percentage of aid awards "re-calculated" upon appeal ranges from 25-50% at many schools, also indicates the fluid nature of the game, and the degree to which students and parents need to be well-informed advocates.

Apologies for the length, and the fact that most of this is probably old hat to most readers. I hope it may be helpful perspective to a few other parents trying to sort through similar things. One of the upshots is that students increasingly need to apply to more schools in hopes of a winning combination of both acceptance and affordability.

36

@ucbalumnus

It would be grant aid as the merit aid directly replaced a portion of grants he would otherwise have been eligible for. He already has loans and work study in his package as well as a gap.

37

Re: #35

That is a rather stingy school which makes merit money meaningless (unless it exceeds the total grant amount). Some other schools will apply the merit money to replace student loans, work study or work earnings expectations, and unmet need (if these categories are included in the package) before reducing grants. Examples:

https://students.ucsd.edu/finances/financial-aid/types/scholarships/
http://financialaid.stanford.edu/aid/outside/
https://admission.princeton.edu/financialaid/financial-aid-faq