<p>Is it true that if you get merit based scholarships you are not eligible for need based? This has happened to me and the cost of attending is still high despite the merit based scholarship.</p>
<p>No. Not as an absolute rule. The way it usually works is that merit awards are given by Admissions Offices and financial aid is awarded by the financial aid office at most colleges. Merit is usually given without regard to need–a Trump can get a merit award, and given to the students the college most wants to have attend. Financial AId is given based on need either defined by FAFSA or PROFILE and however the college wants to use those numbers. Few colleges guarantee to meet full need and very few students get their full need met. The way most colleges give out the financial aid is that they look at what the need is for a student, and if any merit is given, it reduces that need, and then the office decides what they have to give towards that need. So, it is entirely possible to get merit money and still not have your need met. I know one local school who is now focusing their funding towards merit rather than need, and this happens a lot. </p>
<p>Typically, you cannot get more money from a school than what your need is UNLESS your merit award exceeds need and you no longer need any financial aid. For instance if your Cost of Attendance (COA) is $50K and your EFC is $20K and you get a $40K merit award, your need is met and some, so you aren’t getting anything from financial aid. If you get a $25K merit award, with that $20K EFC, you still have need of $5K and financial aid can either meet that need with some awards or gap you. </p>
<p>So though you are still eligible for need based aid after you get that merit scholarship, if that scholarship wipes out the need, or the school does not meet full need and decides not to meet the gap, you may not get any need based aid. This happens quite a bit with OOS publics that will award “discounts” to top students via scholarships, but won’t give financial aid as a rule beyond what the federal government guarantees for OOS kids.</p>
<p>Is it true that if you get merit based scholarships you are not eligible for need based? This has happened to me and the cost of attending is still high despite the merit based scholarship.</p>
<p>That is not a rule. However, we need more info…</p>
<p>How much is the COA at this school?</p>
<p>What is your EFC?</p>
<p>How much merit did you get for freshman year?</p>
<p>COA - EFC = “need”.</p>
<p>If your “need” was covered by the amount of the merit award, then you have no more need. So, no more “need-based” aid can be awarded. However, you can still take out a $5500 unsub student loan to put towards the remaining costs.</p>
<p>If you qualify for a Pell Grant, you’ll get that no matter what.</p>
<p>We need more info.</p>
<p>cpt, what you described is exactly the way I thought aid packages would work. Most of my D’s schools have offered packages that come in right around our EFC, a couple have offered only the standard $5,500 leaving a large gap. </p>
<p>But now we have one school (thankfully in her top 2) that seems to have done its own thing. It is a FAFSA only school and does not promise to meet need. My D received a merit award (4 years) with acceptance, and that merit award was subsequently increased a little. A month later, she received a financial aid package that includes a student loan and an Achievement Award that takes our net price down to 80% of our EFC.</p>
<p>I’m not complaining of course, but I’m concerned. We called the FA office to inquire about the “Achievement Award” and were told it was considered need based (so I’m not sure why they are calling it an Achievement Award), and would be re-evaluated each year per our FAFSA. But the dollar amount more than covers our need according to FAFSA, so this school presumably has its own calculation of need.</p>
<p>This is a large university and not a CSS Profile school. Any idea why they would offer this package? I’m trying not to be sceptical, but I’m worried about the “Achievement Award” going away in subsequent years. The only thing I can think of is that they may be calculating my D’s individual COA higher than the average because we are on opposite coasts from this school (and that would be correct - travel is very costly to this school).</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>It’s just a thought, but if the loan is a direct loan, those go to everyone who fills out a FAFSA. The school can meet need with the Achievement Award and still offer you the direct loan toward your EFC.</p>
<p>If the loan is a Stafford Direct loan, as Ordinarylives mentions, that could just be something the college offers all students. In your DD’s case when the time comes to take out that loan, her interest would not be subsidized on that loan if it is going towards meeting EFC, though she can still take out the loan towards her EFC as most anyone is allowed to do so… It’s the subsidy that makes that loan financial aid and that is not established till it is actually taken out, as students are still getting outside scholarships that could be reducing need further. </p>
<p>Can you look up the specific award on the school website to see if more info is given on it? It seems to be a merit within need award. She’ll have to have need for it to be renewed but only so much of it. That is my guess.</p>
<p>Thanks for the thoughts. Her loan offer is partially subsidized and partially unsubsidized, which is the same thing she has received from most of her schools. You may be right, cpt, that only the subsidized portion of the loan is being considered need based. That plus the Achievement Award plus the scholarship puts us close to our EFC. The unsubsidized portion is a little less than 20% of our EFC.</p>
<p>We could not find this award named on the website, whereas her scholarship has a specific university name that is prominent on the website. This is part of the reason we called (and because we haven’t received the actual award letter yet, just the framework of the award in her account through the website). The person in financial aid confirmed that it was intended to be need based, and that she could expect it to continue in future years if our FAFSA stayed about the same. I’m looking forward to receiving the actual letter with the terms. The person in financial aid said she was not able to email it.</p>
<p>Thanks much for your input.</p>