It didn’t say my Parents’ Contribution on my FAFSA, so I don’t know what to say for Purdue’s scholarship application. Any help is greatly appreciated!
We questioned that as well. We are waiting for the FAFSA to be processed then will enter an expected number for PC that we feel we can pay - and have been paying to our older daughter’s university. Don’t know what else to do. They don’t specify. We don’t expect much, if any aid because we are out of state and our estimated EFC falls where tuition will be, even with engineering fees included.
Thanks for responding! I’m also out-of-state and not expecting much, but best of luck to you and your daughter! 
We encountered this issue last week and daughter wrote to FA office at Purdue. The EFC is the amount that is on your FAFSA. The Parent Contribution is an amount that comes up when you run the Purdue NPC. The two amounts might or might not be the same since the NPC estimates FA that you might qualify for. In our case our EFC was higher than the total bill for Purdue but on the EFC the Parent Contribution was the total expected cost of attending Purdue which was lower than our EFC. So for us, applying for FA is simply to be eligible for the unsubsidized Stafford Loan as we certainly won’t qualify for anything else.
Does anyone know what merit based scholarships are available and the values through the Purdue Supplemental Scholarship Form.
It requires a great deal of financial information as if it is for need based however we are not applying for need based only merit based. I don’t want to fill out FAFSA, EFC, PC, and the financial aid portion of this form knowing we are not eligible for need based and it will only make us eligible for a minimal merit based scholarship. We have already revived a scholarship with our acceptance but this is the supplemental scholarships.
I don’t know the answer to that question. The benefit of doing FAFSA is that you could be eligible for an unsubsidized student loan of 5500.00. From what I understand, there might also be some departmental and institutional scholarships that you only have access to if you do the FAFSA, regardless of qualifying for FA.
Some of the merit based scholarships that went with applying by the early action deadline have been offered, however, the presidential scholarships have not been offered as of yet. Those come out mid-February.
Thank you!
Filling the FAFSA has some advantages. There are scholarships that state things like “preference given to needy left-handed students with red hair majoring in entomology.” The key is “preference.” If you are the only student that meets three out of four, you may get the nod.