<p>Hi there. I come from a very fortunate and lucky background, and I do not need, nor will I be applying for, any financial aid or scholarships. I have discussed this in depth with my parents, and we've agreed that applying for financial aid when we don't need it at all whatsoever is just taking away money and opportunity from someone who really needs it.</p>
<p>That being said- I have gotten mixed answers from people in my counseling center in my school. Do I still have to fill out forms? If so, which forms?? This is all extremely confusing to me and I don't know where to start.</p>
<p>See that’s what I thought, but when I mentioned it to my counsellor he said that if I didn’t fill out all of the FASFA forms and whatnot then college may refuse my application. It didn’t seem reasonable or right, but another counsellor agreed with him. I guess they were wrong?</p>
<p>There may be some colleges that want you to fill out financial aid forms in order for you to be considered for merit aid. That may be what the counselors are thinking of, and if you are applying somewhere that might give you merit aid, there’s really no good reason to turn it down. You could always donate the money to some other worthy cause.</p>
<p>No, you don’t have to fill out anything if you are not seeking aid, including loans. Any merit money would be independent of FA and is automatically granted, if applicable, usually along with your acceptance. We are full pay and filled out nothing.</p>
<p>P.S. Is there someone other than these counselors that you can get info from? They do not sound very knowledgable. </p>
<p>I think it might be a miscommunication. Hunt is right though – some colleges do require a form for merit aid even though it is not connected to financial aid. I don’t really understand why but maybe your school is that way. Other than that though, there is no school that requires students to accept financial aid in order to be admitted. </p>
<p>My son went to Boston University. He was a music performance major who received a music performance merit award based on his audition. As an incoming freshman, he was required to complete the FAFSA, Profile, and send two years of tax returns before his merit award would be awarded. This was a true merit award…and our EFC exceeded the cost of attendance.</p>
<p>I have a friend who works in finacial aid at another college that also has the requirement to complete these forms. She says…the school wants to be certain the student does not qualify for something like a Pell Grant, because their school will use that award first and supplement with merit. </p>
<p>For some schools, their aid packaging system will automatically pull in the merit aid when they go to award new students who have completed the necessary financial aid forms. Without the financial aid forms filled out, merit scholarships sometimes have to be added in manually. This is just one possible reason. </p>