You are probably right. I wouldn’t want to take the risk though.
My concern, relative to the last two posts, is whether filing a FAFSA and profile when you are confident you are not eligible for need based aid can have a negative impact on merit aid. I tend to be a rule follower and did not want to leave any money on the table, so I submitted both for my S18. We are fortunate…we are relatively high income and have substantial assets. However we did not get that way by spending money if we don’t need to, we have another S coming up in five years and my wife and I would like to be able to retire someday. We also have no intention of paying full price when our S has worked so hard as to be rewarded with significant merit offers.
Still, I can’t help but run the scenario where admissions has another applicant with a similarly worthy application but a higher EFC and ultimately awards more merit to the other student, rationalizing it as “The Pishicacas can afford the extra $X K per year.” As a result, I’m second-guessing my decision to submit the forms. Am I being paranoid or should I have gone the only truly need-blind route by not submitting the forms unless absolutely required for merit consideration?
Merit aid is based on the strength of your application, not your finances.
Yes, @thumper1, I understand the distinction. I’m just wondering if it is naive to assume that the schools keep them mutually exclusive.
Most college admissions folks do NOT have time to look at your financial aid status. They just don’t. In most cases, merit aid is determined exclusive of financial need…so the folks awarding merit aid have NO idea whether you applied for need based aid…or not.
If merit aid is guaranteed…no problem. If it’s competitive, then the strength of the application is used, or a separate application in some cases.
Just wait and see.
Some schools make the statement about filing the profile in case your circumstances change because they don’t want to be bait & switched. Sometimes a student will apply for no aid frosh year because they think it improves odds of admissikn, manage to pay one year, then turn around and apply for FA soph year and actually be eligible for a lot of aid. This is often very explicitly laid out on the international FA web pages, but they don’t want domestic students doing it, either.
Our family went through divorce, recession/stock market hit,and jobloss in a two year period that impacted our ability to pay. You never know what is going to happen. Even the 529 in it’s highest age band took a significant hit. And… the school where my kid was a sophomore did NOT give her any need based grants when we asked. They gave her work study, that was it. So think hard (especially as the stock market teeters). Fortunately I bounced back financially and she was able to stay in school. But it was a near thing.
Finally, one of my kids school’s wanted the profile every year, but they didn’t make the non-custodial parent fill out the NCP (if anyone is interested in that).
@thumper1
I do wonder about the merit component too. Wouldn’t they see on your common application in admissions that you checked not applying for aid? I want to believe it is separate. And I have called schools to ask the question, is merit separate and all (except Fordham) have said yes. But I still have the lingering doubt.
Merit is mostly used as a “sweetener” to get students who might not attend otherwise to consider attending the college. I think students who have a lot of need are probably less likely to get merit (they will get need based aid instead, to the best of the college’s ability to do so). You could be mega-rich, and your kid could still get merit if they want them for reasons like high stats or geographic diversity. Because even rich people don’t want to spend more than they have to for stuff.
There are also merit aids with a need component. Although need may be not required, but they do prioritize according to need. For those, one still needs to submit FAFSA and/or CSS.
Yes. But I think the colleges generally say if that is the case or not. And I take them at their word on it.
i know that at my daughter’s school the FA office had nothing to do with merit aid. We had an issue, I contacted FA and they sent me to admissions. I had to straighten out the issue entirely with admissions, and then they sent the correct merit aid info to FA to include it in the package. The two departments were across the hall from each other but did not seem to work together. At all.