<p>I have a question regarding Merit-based vs. Need-based awards and the FAFSA.</p>
<p>I am in the process of picking up my GPA to achieve a particular Transfer Student Scholarship that is Merit-based. ($12,000 award for a 3.2GPA renewable per year.)</p>
<p>Based off of a preliminary Financial Aid Award, I will receive roughly ~12.5k in Grant assistance and 5k in Loans (subsidized stafford & unsubsidized stafford loans) in addition to an optional 2.5k in Work Study.</p>
<p>Without the Scholarship being accounted for, the Aid Package amounts to around 20k.
The Tuition (and Housing combined) for this particular University amounts to 34k.</p>
<p>My question is this: If I achieve the GPA needed for that particular 12k transfer scholarship, would the Fin. Aid Office know about it and would that lessen the amount of Grant money I'd otherwise receive, or would the total cost of attendance truly be an estimated ~7k per year? (~2k for tuition and ~5k in loans all said and done.)</p>
<p>OR would they cut the amount of Grant money and suddenly have my parents and I looking at a 14k bill each year because I qualified for the Scholarship and figure I wouldn't know the difference? </p>
<p>If you see where I'm coming from with this plan, that merit-scholarship makes a world of difference in my situation to attend this Private University if it could mean being a better value than even my State school choice, where I wouldn't receive any Grant money nor Scholarships to attend and would be taking out the full cost of attendance in Loans (federal and private) alone, as my sister is currently being faced with.</p>
<p>Many schools might apply the scholarship money to your merit-based aid that you’re already receiving as a replacement for what comes out of their pocket; therefore, your package would not change. By doing so, they spend less on you, but have more money for someone else, assuming the funds are available. Other schools would use the scholarship to replace loans or lower your need by the scholarship amount. If you were to apply for and receive an outside scholarship, you could replace the loan with that. You have to remember that the colleges work from the FAFSA, so your need-based aid at any school would be the same. The merit-based aid is where schools have more leeway. I’ve been at a university that would reduce your need-based aid by the dollar amount received through the scholarship, which is a benefit after you graduate, but it’s likely you would not get more money for the year, per se, just reduced loans. If your financial status has changed since submitting the FAFSA, you can file an appeal. The financial aid office can tell you how to do it. Really though, someone (not just a “counselor” who may or may not be as well versed as an assistant director or director) in the FAO will answer your questions - and they won’t revisit your package unless you ask them to do it. Further, most students don’t realize the availability of outside scholarships, and that each year, money goes un-awarded - lots of money goes un-awarded. States (and some cities) often give resident scholarships, as well. Religious groups, private and community foundations (usually for specific majors), and industries are good sources. An online search can be very rewarding. </p>
<p>So, do you receive Merit-based Scholarships from the Admissions Office after you are accepted and mailed your certificate, while the universities Financial Aid Office handles your FAFSA separately? (I’ve heard that before as well.)</p>
<p>And are you predicting that the total cost of attendance (with the merit-shcolarship) would be closer to my predicted 7k or would they lean more towards the 10k+ range because they could lessen the Grant awards (or something else)? </p>
<p>You mentioned something about reducing loan offerings, but through outside scholarships. If my predictions were correct, I’d need about 2k Out-Of-Pocket or 2k in Private Loans to take out for the remaining cost after accepting the 5k in federal loans offered by the Fin Aid Package. I -could- look into outside scholarships/grants to cover the outstanding 2k at that point, or otherwise choose what to do with it…I just don’t want to be surprised after working this hard for that particular merit-scholarship (assuming that it would bring the costs down by a great amount) only to still be faced with about 7-8k Out-Of-Pocket cost, you know what I mean?</p>