<p>My D received a merit scholarship offer of free tuition, fees, room and board. </p>
<p>One of the requirements for yearly renewal is that we fill out the FAFSA every year; for one thing, this allows the school to see if she qualifies for federal grants (she doesn’t, but the school is not being unreasonable to ask us to fill out the form).</p>
<p>If she accepts the offer, we will certainly fill out the FAFSA every year.</p>
<p>Brandeis requires all applicants for merit aid to file the Profile form.</p>
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<p>[Brandeis</a> Admissions | Costs/Financial Aid | Scholarships and Fellowships](<a href=“Scholarships and Fellowships | Affordability | Undergraduate Admissions | Brandeis University”>Scholarships and Fellowships | Affordability | Undergraduate Admissions | Brandeis University)</p>
<p>I’m sure that some other schools require the Profile and/or FAFSA for merit aid. It’s up to the applicant to check requirements carefully. Our family does not qualify for need-based aid, but a number of schools on D1’s list offer merit aid. I checked very carefully (web sites and calling the admissions/FA offices) to confirm that those schools didn’t want us to file FAFSA or Profile.</p>
<p>So it seems that in some cases, a scholarship might be offered with the requirement that FAFSA be filed (to check other eligibility). That makes a little bit of sense, but it’ss different than what I’m asking about. Still looking for examples of true merit-based scholarships that require finances a priori.</p>
<p>The Brandeis example clearly has a need component, so not true merit. Anything with FAFSA as a screening device is not true merit. Lots of folks don’t realize that their kids’ “scholarships” are in fact need-based (money is money), so it’s hard to get good info. Agreed that the very best policy is to carefully to read the requirements of each target school (and then call for the real story, as in prior threads).</p>
<p>Filing the FAFSA is always a wise move to make. You just never know what shows up on the horizon requiring it.</p>
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In our case it was the Paschal Carter Scholarship at Denison, reserved for NMFs and there is no need component (otherwise we would not qualify). We only had to fill out the FAFSA for the freshman year.</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad - Now that’s the kind of example I was looking for. Did you need to fill out the FAFSA ahead of time, or were you requested to do this based on the scholarship offer?</p>
<p>cptofthehouse - On basic principles of privacy and identity protection, it’s always advisable to be cautious about disclosing personal/financial information to third parties, even if their intentions seem to be good. Before making such disclosures, I would want to be sure that there’s a very good reason.</p>
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<p>No. Brandeis offers merit aid that doesn’t depend at all on finances. What they are asking for is that in order to be considered for merit aid that you file the forms needed for need-based aid as well. If you look at the details of the Brandeis scholarships, you will see that need is not listed as a criterion. Only merit. One award, for instance, is offfered to the top four graduating students at Waltham High School. Still, applicants must submit FA forms. </p>
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<p>When your EFC is above the COA and you receive a scholarship, that’s a pretty good indicator that you received merit aid. Even if you filed a FAFSA or Profile.</p>
<p>You are right, if that is a pressing concern. But if you want full advantage for money for college, FAFSA is something that is good have on tap. It is one place to put the information and you only give it out as needed. I completed FAFSA a few years without having to send it anywhere.</p>
<p>When D1 applied to Ursinus, they required FAFSA and CSS/Profile to be filled out in order to be considered for merit aid. Our EFC was calculated well above COA. D1 was awarded a scholarship that covers about half of tuition. That has to be true merit aid.</p>
<p>*We only had to fill out the FA forms for freshman year. Haven’t done it since.</p>
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They directed me to fill out the FAFSA before the school year in order to get the merit aid in place. It was well after the financials were offered to us and just before the school year.</p>
<p>I did not fill out FAFSA for a number of years because there was no need to do so. It was a rude shock that I had to do so with my third son, and our scholarship application was late because it took time to do it, getting all of the PINs and info together and getting it to some small scholarship committees. He may have lost out on a number of awards for that reason. He got one small award, that they doubled because they decided to end the program that year and wanted to deplete the funds, so it was truly worth the effort. Also, it turned out that we wanted PLUS funds and found out that we now have to fill out FAFSA to get those monies. So though we do not qualify for a dime of financial aid, we did get money out of filling out FAFSA. In later years, the FAFSA was needed for some internships and grant money that the federal government helps pay for. Again, need was not the issue at all. I think the FAFSA is used as a clearing house for other issues like being registered for the draft, being a citizen or legal resident, not having certain drug convictions or being in default for other federal funds or programs. I say this because we got a big fat 99999 EFC and still got money from the programs.</p>
<p>You can be required to complete the FAFSA for a true merit scholarship!!</p>
<p>This is a specific school issue. My DS is a freshman at Miami Ohio. He received a $9,000 per year renewable merit scholarship. It was entirely based upon his GPA and ACT score. The formula is on the school website. To obtain the $9,000, we needed to file the FAFSA - even though we have an EFC of 99,999 !! I called the school and explained the 99,999 EFC and was told they still needed me to file. Their story is that they want the FAFSA so they can also consider the merit students for all available need based aid. I wanted the $9,000, so I filed the FAFSA.</p>
<p>The OP still hasn’t given us any updates yet. It has been 3 days already. Is she a ■■■■■?</p>