<p>Just a quick question - does anybody know when/how merit aid scholarships are announced for accepted students? </p>
<p>I checked on ESTHER and there was nothing said about them. Are they mailed in the official acceptance package?</p>
<p>For me, my merit scholarships are listed on ESTHER - When I log in, I can view them when I go to Financial Aid Requirements → Award Status → Award History (or you can go to the specific year.) If you go here, and see a Rice grant/loan but no merit, that may mean you were not awarded any. Congrats on your admission!</p>
<p>So if we applied for financial aid but the awards page says it is not available yet, there’s still a chance of winning a merit scholarship?</p>
<p>*Or that it wasn’t processed yet! Might be affected if your financial aid requirements were not 100% completed…not sure!</p>
<p>Apoc - you have to choose the award year… you are looking at the wrong page. I think everyone’s FA info is available now.</p>
<p>was the IDOC required for merit scholarships, or only need-based aid?</p>
<p>IDOC is only required if you applied for financial aid</p>
<p>S was accepted 
but very surprised and disappointed he wasn’t awarded a merit scholarship. He has received one from every school he has been accepted at thus far and Rice would go right to the top of his list with one. Does anyone have any experience in asking to re-consider? We did not apply for FA.</p>
<p>NJ Mom of 2- I will say that Merit Scholarships have nothing to do with financial aid. My son and one other student from his high school were admitted to Rice last year. My son was given the Trustee Scholarship and was told in his admit letter that his community service was the reason for his scholarship and we also received substantial grant money as well. The other student received no grant money but was also awarded the Trustee Scholarship for his robotics awards. We are from Ca so not sure if they used the scholarships to try and lure us!</p>
<p>Mine were on ESTHER - under the “Awards” tab in the “Financial Aid” section. Century and Trustee!</p>
<p>Are need-based financial aid awards listed here too?</p>
<p>batfan- yes, need-based financial aid awards are listed there.</p>
<p>What is the difference between scholarship and grant? My son received both and I was puzzled by the names.</p>
<p>grants are based on financial need, while scholarships are based purely on “merit”, not your financial need</p>
<p>mine financial aid section says no information is available right now .Does anyone knows what this means.</p>
<p>Octaves- scholarships or merit awards can never be taken away. Grants are based on yearly income so if your income increases or decreases these can vary year to year.</p>
<p>^ scholarships or merit awards are often conditional based on a certain gpa or satisfactory academic performance. I do not think that any offer for this upcoming school year would be cahnged, but the scholarship may not be renewed if certain conditions are not met.</p>
<p>Does merit aid cancel out need-based financial aid? I don’t have any financial aid offers listed in ESTHER, but I don’t know if it’s because I updated my FAFSA again recently (as in, last week) or if it’s because my merit aid allows me to pay less than the FAFSA-calculated EFC. Thanks!</p>
<p>Merit aid usually cancels out financial aid so if you got more merit aid than what you would have gotten from financial aid, you will not receive any financial aid.</p>
<p>If you did not complete the FAFSA, could you still receive merit aid?</p>
<p>yes^ i didnt.</p>