<p>If EFC is deemed to be 25K at a 40k school and D receives a 15k merit scholarship do most schools wash their hands on the need side or would she still be eligible for additional need based aid?</p>
<p>Stated another way is need aid given on top of any merit aid given?</p>
<p>*If EFC is deemed to be 25K at a 40k school and D receives a 15k merit scholarship *</p>
<p>Need is $15k</p>
<p>Merit is $15k</p>
<p>So, the school will say that “need” has been met.</p>
<p>If you want to reduce your EFC, then you need more scholarship money. </p>
<p>*Stated another way is need aid given on top of any merit aid given? *</p>
<p>If the merit aid had been $10k, then the school would have given you a $5k loan.</p>
<p>Are you talking about a school that “meets need”? Most schools don’t meet need. Many schools with a $40k COA would only give a $5500k loan to someone who has a 25k EFC. Which would give you a $9500 gap.</p>
<p>Need = COA - Merit - EFC. In our case, the estimated travel & personal expense amounts plus the tuition increase at S’s college caused us to have a small amount of need which that college met - mostly with grant moneys. The college may say your need is greater than your estimates so there is always hope.</p>
<p>Schools approach this different ways so there is really no one size fits all answer. First of all, most schools do not meet 100% of need, particularly defined by FAFSA. There are often merit within need awards at schools and how they are distributed is completely up to the college. Some colleges like BU will actually publish a matrix giving you insight on their process, but many times, there is no explanation.</p>
<p>Usually if you receive a merit award from a college, it reduces your need. Yes, it’s unfair in that those kids with no need get the extra money, and those who have need get the money to go towards the need, but that is usually the way it works. It’s not because your merit money is being reduced, but because the need money is only being given because you have need and once that need is reduced or eliminated so is the financial aid. Most schools do reduce the loan component of a package first. This also often applies to outside scholarships which gets a lot of people upset. But most of the time, financial need is just that, financial need and is given ONLY for that reason and if any money reduces that need, it reduces the aid.</p>