<p>We’ve filled out the FAFSA and the CSS Profile for both kids, knowing that we didn’t qualify for financial aid unless both went to very expensive LACs. My understanding of why it was required was that the colleges wanted to be sure that any financial aid (grants) that you may qualify for are given before they hand out merit money. </p>
<p>Tuition 30K
qualify for fin aid grant of 10K
School offers no more than 20K in merit money </p>
<p>I could be wrong about my line of reasoning.</p>
<p>Here is our experience. We didn’t fill out any financial aid forms thinking we didn’t qualify for need-based aid and figuring that my D, while smart and capable wasn’t really stellar enough to get any merit aid to the schools she was aiming at. She applied to six private LACs, all in the US News top 25, and got into four. Of the four, three gave her merit aid.</p>
<p>Two things–I believe that the reason for having every family fill out the FAFSA for merit aid is that though they guarantee the amount of aid, if the school can affirm that the student qualifies for fed or state grants, then they can ascertain that the student gets that money, then they can then make up the rest with institutional aid to the same amount as if they gave it all as scholarship. that stretches their institutional dollars farther.</p>
<p>And as far as filling out frosh year–we didn’t because our income definitely put as out of the running. Partway through, our income dropped a lot, and i called my son’s school to see about filing for the next year (Jr year). Not only were the FA people surprised that I wasn’t sure if I’d be “allowed” to, they also wanted to know if I’d like to file for the current year, as the income had already dropped. i assured them that we were okay for now, but I thought it said a lot that their concern was for our situation, not whether they wanted to allow us into their FA system.</p>
<p>Massmomm…BOTH of my kids’ universities required the FAFSA and the Profile filed as entering freshmen for consideration for ALL kinds of aid…merit and need based. We did not qualify for need based aid but kids got merit awards. We did as the school requested.</p>
<p>The answer <em>I</em> got was that schools want to be sure that if a student is eligible for any kind of need based aid (e.g. Pell grants) that these awards are given first…that way the school has $5500 less to award the child out of their own funds.</p>
<p>Oh…and FYI…my son’s FAFSA was verified for FOUR straight years even though the only aid he got via filing the FAFSA was an unsubsidized Stafford loan.</p>
<p>DD’s school required the FAFSA and Profile ALL FOUR YEARS for any kind of aid.</p>
<p>I was going to say what garland and thumper1 just said. I can see a college wanting you to file a FAFSA before they give you a full ride, so they can save themselves the amount of a the Pell. It makes sense.</p>
<p>So it seems like if you are sure you won’t qualify for need-based aid, you should check with the individual schools being applied to that might offer merit aid to see if they require the FAFSA. If they don’t, then there should be no need to fill it out. We did fill it out for one kid and didn’t get aid and my husband really doesn’t want to do it again. He feels it’s intrusive and a hassle and it’s not because he can’t access the information.</p>
<p>Speaking for myself, Snowdog, we had fairly simple finances at our house–salary based and money in the bank, no weird assets, businesses, or anything like that. So I used the Princeton U calculator, because my S’s school handled it’s finances similarly. It put our EFC about 5000 above the school’s cost. (this was seven years ago.) I used it again when our income dropped, and it figured almost to the dollar what s’s school figured when we had a lower EFC and got aid, so for our purposes, it proved to be pretty accurate.</p>
<p>Thanks garland. I used the Princeton calculator too. So with our EFC coming in below the schools’ cost, I’m going to “check the box.” Even if it decreases the chances of acceptance to do that, we’ll have to risk it I think.</p>
<p>DS applied EA to Miami back when we were mere “babes” regarding scholarships and financial aid. So, we checked “yes”. At the time, I didn’t know what an EFC was. He also applied to several super expensive private schools- so at the time we figured why not. </p>
<p>It didn’t impact his acceptance and when I called about the FAFSA after figuring out how high it was, they said they still needed the FAFSA. This year I had to submit again for the renewal, but at least the FAFSA was not due until mid-March.</p>
<p>Just want in on this discussion. Pretty sure we wouldn’t qualify but I do think my son would qualify for Merit Aid. I think it is inappropriate to use FAFSA as a way to verify or really check whether you child should get Merit aid if they qualify for money from elsewhere. </p>
<p>Why do they call it Merit aid if the school wants to make sure your student can’t get more need based money?</p>
<p>Lakemom, I agree with you on the ethics of this. If a kid is smart/hard-working enough to qualify for a merit scholarship, then he should receive it. Either you’re good enough or you’re not. Need-based aid should be something entirely separate.</p>
<p>Lakemom and Massmomm, go back and read the previous answers on the thread. Thumper1 and garland said it best. The schools want to confirm for themselves that the student doesn’t qualify for a pell GRANT first, before they award merit money on top of the financial aid grant. Why is that an ethical issue?</p>
<p>according to their website:
The Federal Pell Grant Program provides need-based grants to low-income undergraduate and certain postbaccalaureate students to promote access to postsecondary education. </p>
<p>So what does need based have to do with Merit aid? And if a school doesn’t want to give money to a Pell Grant recipient, simply put a disclaimer in that Pell Grant recipients will need further evaluation rather than have every parent who thinks their kid may qualify for merit aid fill out FA paperwork.</p>
<p>A family that would qualify for Pell Grant would certainly apply for FA. As a family that is full pay, I would not want to supply any financial information to a school. A true merit aid is based on merit, not on our family financial situation. D1 did get a full tuition scholarship without her applying for it.</p>
<p>" Many schools mix the merit and need-based approaches, using the techniques simply to guarantee that they have enough students and revenue to stay afloat."</p>
<p>The above is not a surprise to me, but for those new to college admissions and costs, this article may be enlightening.</p>
<p>Does true merit aid even come through the schools? I got a scholarship through my father’s employer. It covered about 25% of my total expenses -basically all my in-state tution. The checks came to me at the beginning of each year or semester. It didn’t go through the school, and it didn’t come in my dad’s name either. That is what I call merit aid. I also could have used it at any college I wanted. But that was years ago.</p>