Does Merit Money Build On Need-Based Grants?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Macalester College
1

I know it’s pretty late in the game to be considering new schools to apply to, but lately I’ve really been warming up to the idea of Macalester.

I’m sure this question has been asked before, or is just common sense, but as a first-gen college kid I’m pretty clueless on both things and have heard different schools have different policies, so I was wondering what Macalester’s is.

I’m just going to use numbers because hypotheticals are more difficult to explain:

Say my EFC is ~$12,000 (based on the NPC), if I got a merit scholarship for >$12,000 (or less than, I suppose it doesn’t really matter), would my EFC change (in this situation, become 0?). I think the likelihood of it becoming 0 is low, but would the EFC change in anyway, maybe down to like $10,000 or something, because I thought merit aid was supposed to entice applicants to choose the school, but if your EFC doesn’t change, isn’t it like you never got any money?

Thanks in advance and I hope everyone has a great night! GL to the applicants who applied ED, I’m sure you’re currently stressed out waiting for the results!

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Typically, and at Macalester, merit scholarships don’t affect a family’s expected contribution for those who have financial need. Instead, Mac uses a combination of merit and need-based aid to meet a student’s financial need as they determine it.For a particular student with financial need, you could indeed say that it’s a bit of a financial wash-- that the net is the same, just from different pots of money.

Merit scholarships only change the bottom line for families who aren’t eligible for institutional need-based aid, and they are then an incentive for those students to enroll. For those of us with financial need, the fact that Mac does pledge to meet need is pretty huge. Many institutions do not.

Just as a data point, my daughter receives both a merit scholarship and need-based aid at Macalester, and our net cost is very close to what the net price calculator predicted.