I understand that both merit and talent money are renewable for four years, dependent upon grades. One school has also offered a “university grant”, which I think is FAFSA based, relative to income. 2016-17 is the only year we will have two kids in college (never had a means-based grant before as EFC has been high). My question is, will the university grant disappear after year one? Also, we’ve applied for some outside scholarships–if we get them, will that “grant” be reduced by the amount of the outside scholarships? Would we be better off trying to negotiate a higher talent award, even if it reduces the university grant?
Great questions and my son was also offered the University grant. I plan to call the financial aid office to ask about it. I’m sure it differs my school, but I can let you know my answer when I speak to them this week.
Depends on the school – call and ask all your questions of the financial aid office so your picture will be clear before you decide on final school.
I agree that calling the school is the best path to find out. But keep in mind that the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is the key to grants. School’s cost minus EFC determines your ‘need’ for financial aid. Schools decide how much of this need they will fulfill through grants and other aid after any merit or other scholarships you have.
It is a strange game to play until you learn the rules, but then each school determines how they address fulfilling need. My guess is that if your EFC goes up after your older kid graduates then you probably will receive less in grants. This is why you have to do the FAFSA every year - because your financial situation may change each year. But other things can impact that too - loss of a parent’s job or other significant change in income level, etc. Financial aid departments are there to help you wade through all that.
some schools let you stack both talent and merit into one big award while others only allow you to take the larger of the two awards – always check with the school to know what is renewable / stackable, etc.
Good point about stacking, you need to find out about that.
In my response above about FAFSA I was specifically talking about grants and other need-based aid. From what I’ve seen those tend to be stackable with merit aid up to the point where your EFC kicks in. But again check with each school as results vary.
To the OP question whether it is better to negotiate merit/talent awards - yes, do that if the schools allow it (not all schools negotiate). Merit and talent tend to renew automatically if the student meets certain criteria. And they usually don’t depend on FAFSA and EFC. The general rule is the more merit/talent you can get, the better off you are. Some schools may be exceptions, but this will be true for the vast majority of schools.
Thanks everyone. This gives me some good questions to ask when we visit our first-choice school.