Do colleges take already awarded merit scholarships into account when awarding need-based financial aid?
(I plan on attending Rutgers and I’ve already received a merit scholarship.)
The short answer is…sometimes.
At some schools, merit reduces your financial need…and therefore your need based aid is reduced.
At some schools, you can “stack” need based and merit awards.
You need to find out the policies at your colleges.
Yes, because your need is reduced as some of your need has been met. Say you ‘need’ $20k to attend based on your EFC. You get a $10k merit scholarship. Now you need $10k.
You need to find out how Rutgers handles this. Sometimes the school website says, but often you have to call and ask.
If a school allows you to stack need based and merit awards, you can likely do that up to the cost of attendance. If a school stacks awards, your need based aid won’t get reduced…unless your full award would exceed the cost of attendance at the school.
You need to ask at each college. Policies about this vary.
the financial package may be revised many times over the summer. The merit scholarships may affect your need and therefore the need based aids. In addition, tuition, fees, R&B cost may also be adjusted for the next year. At the end, you will have a final aid package that includes everything.