<p>im a little confused on when fafsa can chip in for the difference of what "your family can pay" and what the school is asking for. </p>
<p>for example: if the fafsa form says my family can pay 30,000/year for me to go to college and i enroll in a college whose tuition in 29,000 but with room/board and fees it comes to more like 37,000 do i still get the 7,000 dollar difference?</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>if this is true, what about scholarships?
say i get a 10,000 dollar merit scholarship and the total cost for me to attend college comes down to 27,000 (and my family still "can pay 30,000"), do i get no federal aid?</p>
<p>FAFSA does not actually 'chip in' anything. The aid offer is calculated and offered by the school.</p>
<p>When you complete FAFSA it produces a number called the EFC - so the 30,000 you mentioned is your EFC. The school takes your EFC away from their COA (Cost Of Attendance). The difference is your 'need' on which financial aid is based. COA is an averaged annual student cost which usually includes costs for tuition and fees/books/room and board/ miscellaneous/travel. If the COA is $37,000 and your EFC is 30,000 then your 'need' is 7000. The school uses the 'need' figure to come up with a financial aid offer which will include federal aid that you qualify for.However with an EFC of 30,000 you will not qualify for federal grants (An EFC of a little over 4000 is required for Pell grant eligibility - Pell grant eligibility is required for other fed grants such as ACG, SEOG, SMART and also some State grants) though you may be offered loans and possibly work study. </p>
<p>
[quote]
if this is true, what about scholarships?
say i get a 10,000 dollar merit scholarship and the total cost for me to attend college comes down to 27,000 (and my family still "can pay 30,000"), do i get no federal aid?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes. A merit scholarship will generally reduce your 'need'. So if your need was $7000 and you got a $10,000 merit award you no longer have need so will not get aid. (But a scholarship is better than a loan). </p>
<p>Many schools with such high COAs also require CSS/profile which is used to calculate need for their own institutional aid.</p>