<p>Do you get FA, merit scholarship after you pay for EFC? Meaning if the COA is less than EFC then you don't get any aid/scholarship. OR merit scholarship is not dependent upon the EFC but FA is?</p>
<p>Merit scholarships are not usually dependent on financial need. HOWEVER some merit scholarships do have a need component.</p>
<p>Your EFC is what your family is expected to pay towards your college costs annually. You can not receive need based aid to cover your EFC. If your EFC exceeds the cost of attending a college, then you would have no financial need…and therefore would not receive need based financial aid.</p>
<p>Merit scholarships are not dependent on need. But they do REDUCE need, so that you will often get less need based FA after getting a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>Example 1:
Total COA is 30K
your EFC is 40K
merit scholarship is 5K</p>
<p>you have no need at this school, and you pay 25K (COA minus your merit scholarship)</p>
<p>Example 2:
total COA is 60K
your EFC is 40K
merit scholarship is 5K</p>
<p>your “need” is 15K (COA - merit scholarship - EFC)</p>
<p>so your student would be eligible for up to 15K in need-based financial aid. With a 40K (hypothetical) EFC they won’t be eligible for any federal grant aid. </p>
<p>A likely financial aid package from a school that does not meet need would be
5.5K loans
2K work-study</p>
<p>7.5K gap (unmet need)</p>
<p>You pay 60K COA minus 5K merit scholarship minus 5.5k Loans = 49.5K and your student has the opportunity to earn up to 2K of that over the course of the year at a work study job</p>
<p>Example 3:
total COA is 60K
your EFC is 40K
outside merit scholarship is 5K</p>
<p>your “need” is still 15K
Which may be met by:
5.5K loans
2K work-study
7.5K grants</p>
<p>Or… sometimes if a school is generous, and the merit scholarship is “outside” they’ll still give you as much grant aid as they would have without the scholarship, and let the student reduce their self-help (loans and/or work-study). So maybe they would give 12.5K grants and only $500 in loans, and if you wanted, the student could take out the remaining 5K in loans to go toward your EFC.</p>
<p>@bella, if you consider the output of a Net Price Calculator for a school, the first section is the “Cost of Attendance”. </p>
<p>The second section is “Estimated Grants/Gifts”, which is where the financial aid and school-based merit aid would appear if you get any. My experience is that the school based merit aid simply replaces the financial aid at least mostly if not entirely. So only when your school-based merit aid exceeds your financial aid will school-based merit aid reduce the amount you owe.</p>
<p>The 3rd section is the “Estimated Self-Help”, where loans and work study show up. If you have external merit aid, many schools will first replace your work study and loans from this section before reducing your financial aid. Once your financial aid is reduced, it will start reducing your net price.</p>
<p>I’m sure folks will let me know if I am wrong.</p>