Merit + Need policies at various schools

Paying for College
1

Perhaps we can make a list of schools based on what need-based aid categories are replaced in order when a student getting need-based aid also gets a merit scholarship (and if it differs between school-based merit scholarships and outside merit scholarships).

The need-based aid categories in question are:

Student loan (federal direct loan up to $5,500)
Student work-study or other work earnings (“student work”)
Unmet need, if any
Need-based grants (“grants”)
Expected family contribution (“EFC”)

Start of school list:

Stanford (outside scholarships): student work, grants, EFC (loans not listed in need-based aid); http://financialaid.stanford.edu/aid/outside/
UC San Diego: unmet need (CA resident), Perkins/university loan, student work, student loan, grants, EFC; https://students.ucsd.edu/finances/financial-aid/types/scholarships/

2

Do you mean outside scholarships or merit scholarships from the school? IME they are treated differently. The former often reducing loan or work study, the latter replacing need-based grants.

3

If a school has different policies for school-based versus outside scholarships, just add two entries to the list (one for each type of scholarship).

4

It is actually difficult to make such list. For UMich, there are certain scholarships funded by the Michigan state would offset the grant amount first while other external and internal scholarships would offset the loan first. We’ve seen both happening in the same year. In either case, they leave the workstudy untouched until all subsidized loan amount is gone.