<p>Hi guys, I just received my NMS letter saying that I got a $2000 college-sponsored merit scholarship towards my UChicago education, renewable for 4 years-- I'm wondering, however, if this value will somehow be subtracted from my financial aid package (the majority of which is the UofC Grant, which is need-based I'm assuming, and also includes the Odyssey Scholarship and Federal Work/Study Program)?</p>
<p>Call your university financial aid office and ask them.</p>
<p>bump........</p>
<p>edit- and yeah, i don't know if i wanna call them and say 'hey, can you bring up my financial aid package and consider decreasing it in light of this new award I got?'</p>
<p>Happymom had it right. Ask the question in terms of "I want to make sure my need based financial aid quote is still valid in light of my merit award". It's not like they won't notice it if you don't mention it.</p>
<p>I made the same false assumption last year. If you receive merit aid, that reduces your need. You need less aid since you received merit aid. </p>
<p>That's why need based aid benefits the poor, merit aid benefits the wealthy, and, you guessed it, the middle class is caught in the middle.</p>
<p>The reason I'm asking, though, is that I remember either reading or hearing that the college-sponsored merit scholarship awards and corporate-sponsored merit scholarship awards are special in that they are independent awards and do not affect need-based aid (unlike other outside merit awards/$2500 national merit scholarschip -- also, the college-sponsored award is chosen by the university itself, so it should not be considered 'an otside award,;</p>
<p>It depends on the school's policy. If the policy is that merit awards reduce need It does not neccessarily matter whether it is an outside award or an institutional one. My daughter received a higher merit based scholarship from her school after her initial financial aid award. it did decrease her need based award but it was loans that were decreased so it was still good.</p>
<p>Schools policies may vary and whether you have full need (as calculated by them) met may make a difference also. The only people who can give you a definitive answer are your financial aid officers.</p>
<p>It really depends on the school. My son also had a college-sponsored NM award, and it was added ON TOP of his college grant and nothing was taken away. At his college, we were told that he would only have had aid reduced if the total grant amount had exceeded the amount needed to meet his FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>If your package from Chicago did already meet your full need as determined by FAFSA, then it is likely that you will get the extra $2K of grant money but either loans or work-study would be reduced.</p>
<p>It does depend on the FA. You might as well find out now. Doesn't the award go to the school, not to you?</p>
<p>"The reason I'm asking, though, is that I remember either reading or hearing that the college-sponsored merit scholarship awards and corporate-sponsored merit scholarship awards are special in that they are independent awards and do not affect need-based aid"</p>
<p>There's no way we can know that. Call the school.</p>
<p>Yeah, call Chicago and ask. I'll be at Vandy next year and they're reducing my grants by the amount of my NM scholarship, so it does nothing for me unfortunately. I believe I remember reading that at UChicago the merit awards (from them) are on top of need-based and do not subtract from it unless need-based+merit is more than the cost of attendance, but you should definitely call and check.</p>
<p>Normally it replaces the student summer earnings and any student loans first, then reduces the grant.</p>