<p>Do you fill out a FAFSA form if you know you don't qualify for financial aid but would like to be considered for merit scholarships?</p>
<p>this totally depends on the schools to which you apply … the safe bet is to submit a FAFSA in case any school to which you apply requires it for merit aid.</p>
<p>No true merit scholarship requires financial information.</p>
<p>JennyChin…Most financial aid offices don’t require FAFSA for merit aid consideration but it’s not a bad exercise to go through even if you won’t qualify for need-based aid, especially if you’re the parent of a first-time college student. If you have other children coming along behind the current student, you may eventually qualify for need-based consideration if you have more than one student in college at the same time. If you’ve gone through the process before you’ll understand all the gyrations a little better when it might count for something.</p>
<p>No true merit scholarship requires financial information.</p>
<p>If the student had zero need, would they really be interested in a scholarship?</p>
<p>"If the student had zero need, would they really be interested in a scholarship? "</p>
<p>yes!!! Yf they have zero need they may still be interested in scholarships! College costs a lot money. Many full pay families have a lot they must do without to cover costs of college. If students can get merit money, that means more money for retirement for the partents, grad school for the kid, money for others in the family who are also headed to college, etc.</p>
<p>Just becuase a school determines there is no need does not mean the 4 year cost of attendance can be easily absorbed in a families budget!</p>
<p>Oh I wasn’t speaking of the school definition of zero need- but rather the student & their family.
Even if the EFC is $99,999, I daresay there are many on CC who would argue that they need all the grants & subsidized loans they can get.
;)</p>
<p>Jenny…</p>
<p>What schools are you considering? </p>
<p>Some schools don’t give any merit.</p>
<p>Some schools give merit purely based on stats.</p>
<p>Some do require a FAFSA.</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year?</p>
<p>Applying for financial aid even if you don’t qualify is a good idea for two reasons: your future financial situation may change and many colleges won’t consider you for financial aid unless you applied as a freshman; and, sometimes the college will grant you a little work study, which allows you to work on campus.</p>
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<p>Beyond silly …</p>
<p>Beyond silly …
Would be refusing to fill out FAFSA because of insistence that you should not have to, to earn merit aid.</p>
<p>Some schools do require you to fill out FAFSA for merit aid, perhaps only as a freshman (as we had to do for DD1).</p>
<p>kity - There’s no way to defend the statement; it’s just too silly. So good call to set up a few strawman targets and shoot at them. Maybe people will be distracted.</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad - Could the merit scholarship be earned without need? Or is need a component? I’ve been curious about finding an example of a true merit scholarship that required financial data. The topic has come up in a few threads; there was speculation, but nobody had an example.</p>
<p>^^^MisterK, a few years ago, CMU stated on its web site that there was one merit scholarship that was reserved for students who were NOT eligible for need-based aid, and in order to qualify for it, you had to submit the documents that proved it.</p>
<p>It never made much sense to me, and I don’t know if it still exists.</p>
<p>OK, here it is. It does still exist, but I don’t any of the details, such as what they mean by ‘middle income’ and how much the scholarship is for:</p>
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<p>In the absence of an explicit statement like this one, I would not submit financial data if my goal were to obtain a merit scholarship. If the school says you must, do it. If it doesn’t insist, why bother? It is a lot of work, and a lot of personal financial information lying around yet another non-secure office.</p>
<p>No true merit scholarship requires financial information.</p>
<p>Ah midmo, that’s a strange one that you found - a merit scholarship specifically for people who will only qualify for a little FA, who are “middle income.” Hmm, kind of ambiguous; not clear that it doesn’t have need requirements. Anyway, it seems a bit bizarre. The test would be to call them up and ask pointed questions - true merit or not, and if merit, why financial data? In the other threads on this topic, they either turned out to be need/merit, or else true merit (and the financial info requests were waived).</p>
<p>Edit: I googled a bit, and the CMU scholarship does have a need component, the sweet spot just above the need line. They’re looking for a few attractive students where a small merit award can make a big difference in decision to attend, cases where they know people will have other options, and will balk at the full COA.</p>
<p>So I’m asking about normal true merit scholarships that are open to everybody, and are based only on merit. Are there any such scholarships that require financial info?</p>
<p>FAFSA isn’t for merit aid.</p>
<p>Someone posted in the past, that at some schools that meet need or close to it, often want a student to submit a FAFSA, so it can first determine if the student is eligible for any state grants, fed grants (free money) and loans. That way, the awarded scholarship (if very large) can be adjusted so as to not over-award. </p>
<p>Therefore, the scholarship isn’t awarded because of need…however, the amount may be adjusted a few thousand down, if Pell/SEOG/etc and other state grants can be awarded as well.</p>
<p>Several posters are totally wrong. My DS’s school absolutely requires the FAFSA to be filled out to be eligible for institutional merit scholarships.</p>
<p>There are a number of programs that give merit awards or awards that do not require demonstration of need that still require FAFSA. FAFSA does not just give an EFC. It is a screening device of sorts. So there are merit awards out there that require it to be eligible. Some state programs like Bright Futures and the one in WV require FAFSA though the financial need results will have nothing to do with whether or not you get the awards–those are strictly determined by grades/test scores. Also if you or your child want Stafford or PLUS loans, you need to fill out FAFSA. The same with many state loans and programs. Again, you can be of Trump/ Rockefellow level in financials, but still be eligible for some of these things, but you gotta fill out FAFSA. </p>
<p>We knew the likelihood of getting anything was virtually zilch this year, even with two kids in college, but we filled it out anyways. The prior year, my college son needed the form completed for some grant money that he ended up getting. And this year there is a government internship, requires FAFSFA.</p>
<p>Also there are merit within need based awards that schools have and they can draw the financial lines where ever they choose.</p>