I know I have read this before, but it is my understanding that you do not have to fill out FASFA for UA merit Scholarships, is this correct? What about the other scholarships that you apply to with the scholarship application? We are full pay, so I don’t want to fill this out if I don’t have to. Thanks.
No FAFSA required for the automatic merit scholarships. My daughter had a CBH fellowship and no FAFSA required for that, either. There may be some departmental and other merit scholarships that have a need component, but if you’re full pay, your student won’t get those scholarships anyway. Bottom line, we never filled out the FAFSA and I don’t think we left anything on the table by not doing so.
Thanks @beth’s mom
A great number of outside (as in outside of UA) scholarships will require FAFSA printouts, if you plan on applying for any in the future.
@aeromom do you mean at other schools or outside scholarships that my D may apply for?
“An outside scholarship is any scholarship not awarded by the government or the school, such as a scholarship provided by a private sector company, philanthropist or foundation.”
(Quote from a financial aid website)
There are plenty of outside scholarships, for continuing students anyway, that have absolutely no need component - they are based on merit only. These include both the prestigious national awards (Hollings, Truman, Goldwater) and private corporate awards (such as GEICO).
As for the many different UA scholarships, some have a need component, and some don’t. As noted above, any scholarship that requires FAFSA isn’t one your student would qualify for anyway, so don’t worry about it.
Thanks @dodgersmom. I just wanted to make sure my understanding was correct!