<p>Where does merit aid top out? I seem to recall 15-16K plus NMF, if earned. </p>
<p>Do these awards increase with tuition (ie 15K against 40K in costs has a much greater impact than when costs have risen to 50K plus)?</p>
<p>Also, how responsive has Grinnell to splitting the EFC when subsequent siblings head off for college and at what percentage?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences.</p>
<p>My son was awarded $15,000 per year in 2007 and I believe that was the top award at that time, other than for the Posse Program maybe. He would have also gotten $2,000 per year for NMS from the college except that his Dad’s company gave him one. The $15,000 award has increased every year to keep pace with tuition increases.</p>
<p>Just a point of clarification, though. Top Trustee Honor scholarship is still $15,000 for incoming students. Once a student receives an award, though, it is indexed upward based on the cost of attendance. So a first year would still get a max of $15K, but by the time he’s a senior it will be more than that (assuming costs continue to go up.)</p>
<p>On the second question, I would call the financial aid office and ask.</p>
<p>Grinnell’s endowment is huge- over $1 billion. Re: siblings: 1st one, the family gets a certain EFC. Once you have two or more sibs in coll at same time, EFC is divided among them. You’ll see this when you do the FAFSAs for each. You can play with this now, on the FAFSA Forecaster. It may not be an even split- one kid may have more resources- from a job or some major award.</p>
<p>Yes, I guess I was a bit unclear. My son’s original $15,000 merit award has increased with tuition increases. Thanks Dairy State.</p>
<p>Thanks to all for the helpful and quick responses.</p>
<p>Hi there,</p>
<p>I’m a Grinnell alumna, stopping over at CC to look up information for a younger sibling. I noticed that no one had yet answered your question about siblings. I was the first of my siblings to start college, and attended Grinnell on a Trustee Honor Scholarship (which of course significantly reduced tuition). By the time I was a senior, two of my younger siblings were also in college, both at different private schools. Grinnell split our family EFC three ways, and my family’s share of tuition dropped considerably. In addition to that, I picked up a couple extra Grinnell scholarships in my senior year, lived off campus downtown, and maintained a few major paid commitments/jobs (e.g. student government positions pay a “salary,” as do editorships of campus publications). I think my family paid about $4,000 for my senior year there. </p>
<p>My dad always commended the responsiveness and honesty of the financial aid office. I really appreciated that my hugely time-consuming extracurricular activities were compensated. I had a 4.0 senior year there, too–there is really something to be said for a school that makes it possible for students to remain focused on their academics and their passions without too many money concerns. (Though I did my time in dining services for two years, too-- a great experience in its own way.)</p>
<p>Thank you, GrinGrad. </p>
<p>That very specifically answers my question as to siblings and your perspective on your father’s experience is especially helpful.</p>
<p>My daughter is visiting next month and she is very seriously considering Grinnell so I appreciate everyone’s help.</p>
<p>If your financial need is greater than your scholarships, the scholarships don’t matter, right?</p>
<p>Unless you have no EFC at all, merit aid still matters. You can get both need-based aid and merit aid, and if I am reading the common data sets for the past two years correctly, about 12-15% of students who get need-based aid get merit aid on top of that.</p>
<p>This is all good information regarding merit aid and EFC. Thanks for sharing.</p>
<p>^^Merit aid only combines beneficially with need-based aid IF your need-based grant is less than the merit scholarship; in that case, the merit scholarship supercedes the need-based grant. So if you have a high EFC, merit aid will likely benefit you more.</p>
<p>Merit does NOT “stack” on top of need. For example, if your EFC is 10k and Grinnell awards 40k in grant, if Grinnell also awards you a 15k merit scholarship, then they will subtract 15k from your grant and your total package remains the same. However, if your EFC is 40k and Grinnell awards only 10k in grant, then a 15k scholarship would leave you with 35k to pay.</p>
<p>Illinois Dad… remember, though, where need-based aid can again come into play is when that FIRST sibling graduates and the SECOND is still in college. Presumably, at that point, your EFC would revert to applying to just ONE student. We are in that situation this year, at Grinnell - no need-based aid for out 1st year student (he did receive a Trustee Honor Scholarship and Grinnell work-study, but no need-based aid this year, as we did not qualify for any). However, next year we will have TWO in college, at the same time, and for the following three years. Thus, next year, based on our EFC we will receive some need-based aid and, of course, Grinnell will first apply the merit-based honors scholarship to meet that need. Presuming, though, that our Grinnell student graduates on time, in Year 4, we will again have just ONE in college (in Year 5). At that point, barring some change in fortune, I assume we will again will NOT qualify for need-based aid (for the second student’s 4th - and hopefully last(!) year of college). At that point, any merit-based aid offered to student #2 again becomes important because, as in Year 1 with student #1, merit-based aid comes right off the top of your bill, whether you have “need,” or not! </p>
<p>So, merit-based aid was particularly important to us in Year 1, for Student #1, and in Year 4, for Student #2 - as the merit-based aid will once again reduce our tuition bill. Bottom line: You never know when you might have a change in your situation that could affect your eligibility for need-based aid… but merit-based aid never goes away (assuming your student meets whatever guidelines the college sets out for continuing eligibility, that is).</p>