<p>I am curious about this. If a family has no chance of getting any need based financial aid, is it necessary to fill out the FAFSA to be considered for merit scholarships?</p>
<p>I know that many will say, you never know if you'll get need based, so it is best to submit just in case. In our case, though, there truly is no way we'd be eligible for any need based. I can say that with 100% certainty. </p>
<p>Has anyone on here received Merit awards without the FAFSA?</p>
<p>It depends. For some merit scholarships you have to fill out FAFSA, for others you don’t. My D has a full tuition merit scholarship and we did not have to (and didn’t) fill out FAFSA. We knew we had no chance whatsoever at need based aid, and the school that granted her scholarship didn’t require a FAFSA for merit aid.</p>
<p>You’ll need to check each school’s policies on merit aid. Some may require a FAFSA, but most won’t.</p>
<p>My experience is somewhat limited here, but in our experience, the one university that wanted us to complete CSS Profile to be considered for merit aid was really interested in giving merit aid only to high-achieving students who also had need.</p>
<p>My kid did get significant scholarship offers from two universities that didn’t request FAFSA or Profile.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC</p>
<p>Our personal experience has been that none of the merit awards that our sons have been offered required FAFSA. I also did not see any that required FAFSA at the schools that they considered. That does not mean that there are no merit awards out there that do require FAFSA, and I have read about some that do. I know that there are auto state awards like the Bright Futures, Promise, Hope that do require FAFSA even though income/assets are not used in giving the awards. They are a screening device so that only citizens and others that are eligible for Federal aid are left through that filter.</p>
<p>Some schools may request FAFSA and PROFILE for those interested in merit aid, if there are a awards that can benefit kids even if there need is very small. SOmetimes one dollar of need can be enough to make one eligible for larger scholarships, the way they are set up.</p>
<p>My D has received merit scholarships from 3 schools so far and we have not filled out the FAFSA. There are a couple schools that have not issued anything pending our filing, so it all depends on the school. I’ve done the preFAFSA and I’m sure we won’t qualify for anything either, but we plan to complete it none the less.</p>
<p>Check with the school. We had to fill out the FAFSA for DD1’s freshman year, none after that. It was a pure merit (NMF) scholarship.</p>
<p>At Happykid’s CC, the FAFSA results determined which merit-based scholarship(s) students could be considered for. Some had need components.</p>
<p>We have never filled out FASFA, yet my kids got large merit awards from many of the colleges that they applied to.</p>
<p>What are your stats? If you tell us your GPA and SAT/ACT (include SAT breakdown), we can tell you who will give you merit for your stats.</p>
<p>How much merit do you need? How much will your family pay?</p>
<p>What is your major?</p>
<p>Some schools DO require the FAFSA even for strict merit awards. Check.</p>
<p>Did you end up making NMSF?</p>
<p>Are you in NY?</p>
<p>in another thread you indicate that you have a 2300 SAT. What is your GPA? What is your major.</p>
<p>If you give us more info, we can lead you to a number of large scholarships from colleges for your stats.</p>
<p>What are your parents saying? How much will they pay each year? We need to know this so we can figure out how much merit you need.</p>
<p>For instance, if they’ll pay about $15k per year, then that would mean that you’d need a full tuition scholarship so that your parents’ money would pay for room, board, books, and fees.</p>
<p>We had to fill out fafsa for merit T daughters school. I would be prepared.</p>
<p>could somebody list the names of the schools that they’ve encountered that have required merit. I know that some of the Jesuit schools do, and maybe some of the schools that give lots of need-based aid.</p>
<p>however, I’ve run across few publics that require FAFSA for merit consideration.</p>
<p>Hi, again. Thanks for your replies. They are helpful. Yes, I am NMSF. GPA 4.2/4.33. I don’t “have to” have any merit aid as my parents will pay my full cost. But, I would like to be considered for merit scholarships because I have worked hard and would like to lessen the amount that my parents have to pay. I won’t be applying to any colleges based only on the amount of merit aid available. I’m just curious about if I will even be considered for merit aid if my parents don’t fill out the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Silly question maybe…but why wouldn’t you/your parents fill out FAFSA? That way you wouldn’t need to wonder or worry about which schools do or don’t require it. If your parents’ tax situation is particularly complicated it may take somewhat longer to get it completed, but it’s not a difficult process. I know some parents are reluctant to give out information regarding income and assets, so that might factor in as well. </p>
<p>If you know for certain the schools you are considering don’t require FAFSA for merit aid consideration, then it shouldn’t be a big deal. But why would you limit your possibilities for merit aid by ruling out schools that do require it? </p>
<p>You are blessed to be in a position where your family has the wherewithal to pay for your college expenses outright, but I think it’s great that you’re grounded enough to want to explore merit aid options both to help offset your parents’ costs and to have your own hard work recognized and rewarded. Since that’s the case, my advice would be to complete the FAFSA and increase your potential sources of merit aid.</p>
<p>*Hi, again. Thanks for your replies. They are helpful. Yes, I am NMSF. GPA 4.2/4.33. I don’t “have to” have any merit aid as my parents will pay my full cost.</p>
<p>But, I would like to be considered for merit scholarships because I have worked hard and would like to lessen the amount that my parents have to pay.
<p>Well, what schools are you applying to? Many top schools don’t give any merit or may only award a few merit scholarships to a few very targeted students that help with their diversity (URMs or students from states that send few students to their schools).</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>I won’t be applying to any colleges based only on the amount of merit aid available. I’m just curious about if I will even be considered for merit aid if my parents don’t fill out the FAFSA.*</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone is suggesting that you apply to a school based ONLY on merit. There are enough schools out there that award large merit for your stats that surely there are 1 or 2 of them that, along with great merit, offer other things that would interest you. </p>
<p>What is your major? Career goals? What do you like in a college? What colleges are on your current list?</p>
<p>There are many colleges that offer need-blind merit-aid. Chapman University is one of them. Need-blind means if you qualify, you’ll get one regardless if you file for fafsa or not.</p>
<p>It varies from school to school. There are some schools that give NO merit awards, so you don’t have to worry about missing out on scholarships from there, though depending on your parents’ financials, it is possible that even some high income/asset families qualify for need based aid at some of them such as Harvard where the aid is very generous and covers families that would not qualify for aid in most schools. In such cases, you have to have a FAFSA and whatever else the school requires for consideration. But a school like Harvard or any of the ivies are clear that they do NOT give any merit money. </p>
<p>But each school has their own criteria for scholarships, and you should be reading up on what each school on your list has to offer and what you have to do for consideration. THough we did not run into any schools requiring the FAFSA for merit money, there were some scholarships that needed a separate application and had deadlines prior to the admissions application. Georgia Tech comes to mind bu there were others. You had better check those out because you won’t be considered for some awards if you don’t do exactly as the school tells students to do for consideration for the money. You’ll also find out if a FAFSA is needed for any of the awards, but as I said, that did not come in my personal experience. THough all applicants are considered for some merit awards, it’s not the case for all of them. You have to go through your list and check each school to see what each one has to offer and requires. The Georgia Tech deadline for the Presidential Awards was very early, I remember.</p>
<p>Many of the schools that I have applied to do not offer any merit based scholarships. I will check with the public schools that I have applied to and see what they have to say. I’m not comfortable going into too much detail on line, but please know that everyone’s responses are very helpful. Thanks.</p>
<p>Hi Mom2CollegeKids. I have two in High School. D is sophomore and Son is a senior with a 2240, GPA >4.0 with AP classes and a NMSF. He dreams of going to Ivys and he is under the impression that they will bend financial aid guidelines for kids they want. We have saved some and can do 20k a year, but the EFC calculators all seem to think I can just pull 55k out of the bank each year. At that rate, I would be flat broke by the time they both graduate. Any suggestions for prestigious schools that actually give non-need based merit scholarships? Thanks,</p>