<p>does the amount of grants that a school offers you in their FAFSA report have ANYTHING to do with how much they want you or how good your GPA/SAT's are?? Or are the offers based ONE HUNDRED PERCENT on your level of need?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Anyone? (This is just a bump)</p>
<p>KingJames, great question. I do not know the answer. I do know that the amount of grants and the amount of loan is based upon the % of need met. You can find % of need met in the guide books. It can make a huge difference in out of pocket cost to attend (many thousands per year).</p>
<p>Yes
If for instance your school meets 100% of need say your EFC is $15,000 and cost of the two top schools is $45,000.
This would make your need $30,000.
One schools package looks like this $15,000 grant- $5,000 work study-$10,000 loan.
Another school offers $10,000 grant, $5,000 work study and $15,000 in loans.
The first school feels that you either are more desirable to their student body, or they have a larger endowment available for student aid. Possibly both. My d for instance recieves more in grants than some of her friends who seem to have greater need. The total amount of package is still the same, but it looks very different in the long run.
PLus- in case you aren't clear on this- Some schools don't offer merit seperate from need, these are usually the schools that do meet 100% of need.
Other schools may offer merit as well as need, but they * gap* that is they do not attempt to meet 100% of need.</p>
<p>EK, I have another question regarding your explanation. Lets say that your D had a drop in her gpa from freshman to sophomore year, but she was making "academic progress", b/c she had at least a 2.0 in her fall and spring sophomore year semesters. For her junior year, would that balance in grants and loans change as a result of those tough semesters?</p>
<p>we actually had that experience
although I don't know her GPA, (her school doesn't give grades unless you ask for them, unless you are having academic difficulty) in which case they will have you meet with your advisor and send a letter home.
My daughter had to take a year off- because she failed spring semester of organic chemistry and it was required for her degree.
Because it was not feasible to only take OChem at the school, nor feasible to take it senior year while she wrote her thesis, she opted to come home and retake the entire year at the community college. ( you can't take it at the university, because to be accepted in the class then you have to be accepted to university, which would then make you a transfer student when you returned to college)
When she returned senior year, even though techically she is still on academic probation, her aid package was identical to previous years in terms of grants and loans. Now, for certain majors and students, they do have additional merit based for need, scholarships which they can qualify for that replace all loans as well as I believe workstudy, but D never qualified for any of those
Its helpful to check the total student indebtness in US news.
Reed has a commitment to limiting total debt to about $15,000. I have found that to be our experience.</p>
<p>Thanks. I am glad that it worked out for your D. I knew that she took time off, but did not know why. O-chem is very tough. I remember it well :) All of those carbons!!</p>
<p>So then her package stayed the same?</p>
<p>yes her package has been the same- she did have higher income for this past years FAFSA, as she was working more while she was in school, but they didn't really raise her EFC.</p>
<p>I think when schools restrict aid to GPA it falls under more of merit aid, rather than need based, they also should be upfront about the qualifications for aid.</p>
<p>Thanks EK. I guess loosing merit aid at a school that meets 65% of need would really hurt. If one lost merit aid at a school that met 90% of need, I am thinking that it would not hurt nearly as much, if loans were kept to minimum.</p>