<p>Fendrock, here is the thing with Ithaca: it’s expensive. If the OP come up with an EFC/NPC of about $40K for Ithaca, the school may well give him a scholarship and it gets integrated into the need, so the OP still needs to come up with $40K for the school, the way fin aid works. To get any extra money, the young man needs an award that exceeds what the need is and that excess will reduce what the family is expected to pay. My son got some money from Ithaca, but it still left a huge amount to pay. He got less from our state school, but the sticker price was lower, so the net amount came out the best deal. It’s not what you get but what you have to pay that counts with each school. And loans are just future forms of payment. You can take out unsubsidized loans at any school so when they are tucked into the package, that’s just an option that has been eliminated to use to pay for your part of the cost. The same with work study. My cousin’s DD did not appreciate the $3K work study award as she was already counting on working and earning that amount to pay the EFC. The work study money just made it even more she had to work to pay her nut…</p>
<p>Integration of fin aid and merit money can be extremely frustrating, as the merit will generally reduce the finanicial aid to come out with the same net cost.</p>