Howdy - is there a line somewhere in the college data sets or maybe some keyword that I could use that would enable me to see – without having to call every prospective school – which colleges reduce EFC when an outside scholarship is awarded? I understand there are not many of them…
I ask because there are a couple of work-related scholarships that my kids will be eligible for, but there’s quite a bit of competition and jumping through hoops involved. If the scholarships only reduce ESC, I’m not sure they’re worth killing ourselves over.
Where did you hear there are “not that many of them”?
All colleges require that you report outside scholarships your kid receives. The question you want answered is HOW they deal,with your need based aid when you do this.
It really does vary from college to college and if the information isn’t available on the college’s website, you will need to call each one. Some, like Macalester College, provide specific information:
It’s good that you are thinking about this now. So many posts on CC from parents who are upset when they realize that the outside scholarship their child won does not reduce their EFC but, instead, reduces the college grant or loan portion.
However, the least generous schools (which reduce grants, rather than loans or work study, first) are less likely to state their policies publicly on their web sites.
As stated previously, if the policy is not on the web site, ask the college directly.
Thanks, I guess I was trying to avoid a lot of phone calls but it doesn’t appear that I can, in some cases … though I guess if the policy isn’t on the website it might be a good indicator
@mom2collegekids – you wrote:
"If your kids are apply to schools that don’t meet need, then those outside scholarships can help fill in gaps.
If your EFC is high, then merit scholarships can reduce the amount that you have to pay.
Outside merit can reduce loans or work study as well."
I get that outside merit could go toward lopping off loans or work study. But if the school doesn’t meet need, say it’s $60k, and our EFC is $25k, so there’s a $35k gap and the school only offers $30k, and D gets a $5k scholarship, is it a given that the $5k would fill the gap and would not be used by the school to reduce its $30k?
Sorry if I’m asking dumb questions. I’m trying to wrap my head around a lot of variables and not even sure I’m thinking straight some days…
No standard answer. Remember, getting an outside scholarship for $5000 reduces your financial need. Even schools where your full need isn’t met, the schools could reduce loans, and work study…and maybe grants…because your need is less.
1st are we talking about financial aid or merit aid? Both will be treated differently. If it merit aid then your EFC doesn’t matter. You have to ask the school about stacking merit aid. People might be able to help more if they knew what schools you are talking about.
Oldest kid is only halfway through sophomore year and I have no idea where she’ll be stat-wise, whether she’ll still be interested in her current passions, and whether we’ll have money for anything above community college. Our life is that unsettled right now.
So I was really just curious if there was a shortcut that folks employed to get the scholarship vs EFC information – since it doesn’t appear that there is, I will just add it to the “research steps to take” list I’m trying to compile. Which is getting pretty bloody long, I must say.
One thing that I somehow missed on D1, but now am using for D2. EFC almost always comes out much higher than you think that it will for middle income folks. There are plenty of threads about looking for quarters under couches on CC. If you think that you will need merit aid to close the gap, remember that merit aid is given when your child’s stats are above the mean. In our family’s case, our DD’s stats are good, so she started looking at some reach colleges. In these cases (e.g. Tufts, Vassar, Yale, etc) NOONE is above the stats, and many schools simply don’t award merit aide - period. She then thought about the financial realities, and is now looking at schools where her stats are above the mean. For example, one school’s avg GPA is a 3.6, and their AVG ACT scores are 25 - 30. Since she will likely have a significantly higher GPA, and her ACT score on her first practice was a 30, she is a good bet for merit aide at this school. Lurk around here to find info on what schools give merit aide. For example, in our area, Chapman University is known for its extremely generous merit aid. Look for schools that are strong, and invested in building their reputation with stronger students.
Very helpful and a great strategy, @shoot4moon - so I guess the trifecta is finding a good school where the kid is in the higher echelon vis a vis stats AND one that stacks merit & need aid? That’s gonna be a short list for us… but worth pursuing.
Even if it is only ONE school of the choices she has that will stack that outside scholarship on top of merit or even need based aid, don’t you want to have the option to go to that school? If all the Harvards and Yales and Williams say they will not reduce loans or work study or self help, but your state school or a small LAC that your daughter likes will let you use that outside scholarship to eliminate the loans or meet your EFC, don’t you want to have gone through the scholarship process so that you can decide which school is the best, academically and financially, for your child?
My kids each got a $2000 scholarship from an organization my father belongs to. Grabbed it (as did my nieces and nephews). My daughter applied for a few small grants in our area. They all stacked up like cord wood and were very helpful.
I don’t agree that ‘most’ schools will not stack outside awards. The full meets needs school usually reduce your need based grants because your need is reduced, but since most schools don’t meet full need, there are plenty of schools where those outside scholarships really help. Merit aid is not usually reduced. At D’s school, as long as the total doesn’t exceed the billed amount, they just keep stacking it.
I know a kid who won one of the most prestigious scholarships in our state a few years ago. If he had used the scholarship in the state, it is 100% of the COA. He chose to go to Yale, which reduced the scholarship some (I think tuition only, not COA) and I’m sure Yale reduced his aid (I’m fairly sure he wasn’t full pay). Still, he won that very prestigious award and that’s on his resume. It also gave him a lot of options for college.
Usually, your EFC would be the last be affected by scholarships. However, it is up to the schools and specific scholarships. For my D, the school reduce her loan and work-study first and then grant by multiple internal and external scholarships.
Well yes @twoinanddone - I think that’s what I was saying, that the strategy is worth pursing. Sorry if it wasn’t clear.
And no, I don’t know off the top of my head how many reduce ESC over EFC; that’s what I’m trying to find out. I thought I had read someplace that schools will reduce their aid to you first if you come in with outside scholarships, but there is no way I can trace back to what I read, because every brain cell is just hanging on by a thread at this point, and there are years to go yet.
our family: we have 2 in college. It’s our own damn fault; we didn’t save enough for kids college as we just had no idea costs were so much. So both kids had to go merit route, and take merit money. Both are thoroughly enjoying their experiences too. Both schools they attend require only FAFSA, neither kid gets any sort of grant aid; both got tuition scholarships. They’ve both received other small outside scholarships which were applied to their school balance and reduced or covered the amount due on their school accounts (including fees and books and etc.). For us, because there was no need based aid, the scholarships were helpful. At this point, we are hoping both will graduate with no loans. 1 kid will need to go to grad school; that’s another story.
The FAFSA computed EFC doesn’t change based on your scholarships or grants. It is what it is. My daughter’s EFC is the same even though the EFC is paid with scholarships and grants and not out of my checkbook.
I thought you were asking if it is even worth going for outside scholarships if the Meets Need schools are just going to take away the ‘need’ award and substitute your outside scholarship, and if there was a way to know which schools did that so that you’d know whether it was worth the effort to go for the outside scholarships. My answer was it IS worth it because so many more schools don’t meet need than do, you don’t know which schools a hs sophomore is going to get into, and don’t know what your level of need will be if she gets into those schools. I think the outside scholarships are always worth pursuing because it give you more choices. If you know she’s going to Yale, then it might be wasted effort to gather a lot of outside scholarships. Do you know where she’s going?
Some outside scholarships can also be saved for grad school.
