Reapplying for aid every year question

Paying for College
1

<p>Does your aid improve if you do really well your first year of college? Or despite how well you do your aid will remain at a relatively consistent throughout your undergraduate year (assuming your income does not change)? Or is it just dependent on the college?</p>

<p>The latter sounds a bit unfair to me considering the aid for your college education will be all dependent on how you did in high school and on standardized test and not how well you do at their institution. </p>

<p>Anyone have any direct experience with this?</p>

2

<p>For need based aid is dependent on your financial need AND your schools policy on awarding need based aid. Schools that guarantee to meet full need will continue to do so in subsequent years. Schools that do NOT guarantee to meet full need MIGHT continue to award you the same aid and they might not…but keep in mind that the cost of the school will likely increase. Need based aid is not increased due to a great GPA in college…it is based on need.</p>

<p>Merit aid awards typically have a criteria for renewal. Most are a fixed amount. You would need to check your award to see the criteria for renewal of your merit aid. Usually it is maintaining a certain GPA. Typically these awards do not increase either…unless you have something like a tuition merit scholarship that pays for tuition. Then your tuition scholarship would increase to cover an increase in tuition.</p>

<p>The best thing to do is ASK the financial aid office. We did this at every school our kids considered and we got a HUGE variety of answers. Best to ask specific schools. They will tell you their policies.</p>

3

<p>As Thumper says, each school might have a different policy. And, some majors have some scholarship money to award to top students.</p>

<p>But, typically, you don’t get a better FA package for your later years just for having good grades.</p>

4

<p>Believe me, financial aid is a rollercoaster ride each year. Scholarships come and go.</p>

5

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<p>This is not always the case. There are renewable scholarships which are re-awarded each year provided the student meets the requirements of the scholarship, usually satisfactory academic progress. Non-renewable scholarships are for one year only.</p>

6

<p>Agreed with LasMa…you need to check the provisions for renewal of merit aid. It is usually clearly stated on your award letter. If not…call finaid and ask.</p>

7

<p>Well let me comment on my situation: </p>

<p>I have an EFC of 0 and have received no merit aid from the school I could attend. They only met 65% of my need because the school is run on high school gpa and SAT scores. I’m wondering if they would increase it if I did well in their school?</p>

<p>It seems everyone is more focused on merit aid. Can merit aid be rewarded because of a good gpa in college?</p>

8

<p>Since you are talking about a specific school you should contact their FA department and ask them.</p>

9

<p>*I have an EFC of 0 and have received no merit aid from the school I could attend. They only met 65% of my need because the school is run on high school gpa and SAT scores. *</p>

<p>What school is this? Are you saying that your school gives merit aid to incoming freshmen if they have high stats? If so, that is so they can report a better freshman class for ranking purposes. They won’t likely give you merit for good grades while you’re in college…unless you apply for an offered scholarship for your major’s dept. However, such scholarships while in college are usually small and won’t make up the 35% gap.</p>

<p>What school is this?</p>

10

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<p>I think you’re confusing several different concepts. Merit aid and need-based aid are not the same thing, and they’re not interchangeable.</p>

<p>Merit aid is generally determined for incoming freshman based on, yes, their academic performance in high school. I’ve never heard of a case where a student doesn’t get merit aid as an incoming freshman, but is eligible later, based on college performance. But you could certainly ask the school.</p>

<p>EFC and demonstrated need are related to the FAFSA which you filed. This is all about family finances, not academic performance. Your school does not meet demonstrated need; that’s why they’re asking you to pay 35% even with an EFC of 0.</p>

11

<p>However, to keep even Need-Based Aid the law demands that you meet Satisfactory Academic Progress for federal money (Pell Grants, etc.)</p>

12

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<p>This suggests that your stats were not in the upper range and they are targeting only high stats kids for merit money, whether to improve rankings or not. In any case, they will not make new merit aid decisions once a student is enrolled though there may be endowed/department scholarships (which are probably going to be competitive as well). I definitely would not expect any merit money in future years from this school and would prefer to be pleasantly surprised!</p>