<p>Are most need based scholarships based on a specific EFC? Ours came back as $1096 EFC. Will that qualify our son for most need based scholarships? The one we are looking at particularly is the STEM one. TIA</p>
<p>It depends on the school. Keep in mind that the majority of schools in the US do not meet 100% demonstrated need. Those that do meet 100% demonstrated need with large institutional based scholarships/grants are also amongst the most competitive when it comes to admissions. In addition they will require the CSS profile or their own institutional aid form to have a deeper look at your finances.</p>
<p>Based on what you wrote the only thing that you will be assured of is that your son will qualify for $4500 a year (2250 per term ) in pell grants based on this year’s table. if your state gives aid, he may be eligible for state aid. Many fafsa only schools may give merit aid for students at the tippy top of the application pool, otherwise they di not have a lot as far as need based institutional aid.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ccbcmd.edu/media/financialaid/forms/pelltable1112.pdf[/url]”>Broken Link;
<p>Be sure that your son cast a wide net of school where he could be eligible for merit money and make sure that his list of schools includes a financial safety.</p>
<p>Need based grants are what you may be asking about. Scholarships are mostly merit-based.</p>
<p>With your EFC of 1096 your child would qualify for a small federal Pell grant (less than $5k per year). Obviously, that’s not enough to pay for college.</p>
<p>How much more your son gets will depend on the schools he applies to and maybe what his SAT/ACT and GPA are.</p>
<p>As Sybbie mentioned, most schools do not meet need…most schools do not that much “free money” to give away on their own. They mostly rely on federal grants, work-study, and loans to put in their aid packages. </p>
<p>Where did your son apply and what were his stats?</p>
<p>What do you mean by…the one we’re looking mostly at is the STEM one? What are you looking at? STEM is a reference to a particular set of majors…science, tech, engineering, math. It’s not a scholarship or grant.</p>
<p>Are you asking about a scholarship at your child’s school that is a STEM-related scholarship?</p>
<p>Yes, it is a STEM scholars program. His ACT is a 29, with math the highest at 34 and his GPA is 3.75. Most of the scholarships he has looked at are merit based, but also say they are need based. The STEM one included. His ACT and GPA both meet the qualifications easily, but we weren’t sure about the need part of it. Minnesota also has an academic scholarship, but it involves need, too. They are called scholarships, I don’t know if they are actually considered grants or not, but the titles are scholarships.</p>
<p>He is going into engineering. He eventually will be attending NDSU in Fargo, but has applications into some MN state schools and a smaller ND school to see how the aid falls before deciding if he will go straight to NDSU this year.</p>
<p>It is perfectly OK for you to contact the specific institutions that your son is looking at, and ask if there are cut-offs and what those cut-offs are. Each place sets its own policies about this kind of thing, so you really do need to ask them individually.</p>
<p>Yes, it is a STEM scholars program. His ACT is a 29, with math the highest at 34 and his GPA is 3.75. Most of the scholarships he has looked at are merit based, but also say they are need based. The STEM one included. His ACT and GPA both meet the qualifications easily, but we weren’t sure about the need part of it. Minnesota also has an academic scholarship, but it involves need, too. </p>
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<p>So, it sounds like your son is being considered for some merit-based scholarships that may or may not have some kind of “need component.” The schools may be looking at need to determine scholarship awards to help “meet need” for low-income students with good stats. </p>
<p>It would seem to me that your EFC is quite low enough to meet the consideration of having large need. </p>
<p>Do you know how many of these scholarships are awarded? </p>
<p>Anyway…to hopefully further clarify…merit academic scholarships (whether or not they have a need component) come from a different pool of money than purely need-based aid.</p>
<p>If the state of Minn has state aid, you need to find out if that can be used OOS. Many states will not let you use state grants outside of the state.</p>
<p>We reside in Minnesota and you are correct, MN aid is only available for instate schools. That is why he has applied to some instate schools. Cost is a big factor for us, so we are looking at all options and seeing what kind of aid is offered. Not sure if we are doing this right, but that is our plan so far.</p>
<p>I think your strategy is a fine one. You have some back-ups in place in case NDSU-Fargo doesn’t work out.</p>
<p>Since the ACT middle quartiles of NDSU are 21 - 26, your son’s ACT 29 is nicely penetrated into the upper quartile…so hopefully that will give him a strong consideration for that STEM scholarship. Do you know how many are awarded? </p>
<p>Do you know how much the STEM scholarship is for?</p>
<p>Have you run the NPC calculator for NDSU?</p>
<p>Does your state have any tuition reciprocity with NDSU? Or will you be charged OOS rates? (I looked at the website and it looks like your son will be charged OOS rates.)</p>
<p>It’s OOS COA is about $28k, but if your son gets big merit and other aid, that may be possible.</p>
<p>Have you determined how much you can contribute?</p>