- Williams and Stanford use a combination of both the Federal Methodology (using information from the FAFSA) and the Institutional Methodology using (information from the CSS Profile) in determining need based aid.
Federal Methodology is used to determine eligibility for all federal funds, such as Federal Pell
Grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), William D. Ford
Federal Direct loans, Federal Perkins loans, and Federal Work-Study. If a student is eligible for federal aid, they will receive that aid (keep in mind that FSEOG grants Perkins loans and Federal work-study budgets are different at every school and often a school does not have enough funds to give to every one who may be eligible for these awards).
The college may determine that due to certain circumstances not accounted for by the FAFSA, a family’s
financial strength is different from that reflected by the Federal Methodology calculation. They will
use an Institutional Methodology and their own professional judgment to determine eligibility for
their own institutional scholarship funds. This will make it possible for a family’s EFC to be less than the FAFSA EFC (since neither school is hurting for $$, they have the latitude to make up the difference if they choose.
I agree with Thumper that you should not count other people’s money because you are not getting a complete picture as to what the situation is that prompted the award.
- Williams College offers" merit money" in terms of the William Tyng Scholarship.
The donor of the scholarship requested that the money be used to provide scholarships and career development for students receiving financial aid. The Tyng Scholarship is awarded to approximately 10 students each year. (one student could very well be your friend’s son).
(I remember when the Tyng Scholarship paid for gradate/professional school, but that is no longer the case).
Do schools give preferential packaging? Absolutely!! In fact, I remember my D receiving a financial aid package from Williams that had no loans before they had a no loan policy (we used the Williams package as the basis for a financial review from Dartmouth, which was her fist choice. Dartmouth increased their aid, removed the loans and met the William’s package).
Muhlenberg is one of the few schools that comes straight out on post on their website that they give preferential packaging.
There was an article a on Boston University, where their financial aid person straight out said that need blind does not meet talent blind and they award money accordingly.