<p>Do colleges prefer to award merit scholarships to students who have financial need over students who do not? It seems like it would make more financial sense to the school because they would probably be awarding those students grants anyway as opposed to students with high efcs who would otherwise receive very little.</p>
<p>Am I crazy or just self-centered?</p>
<p>Some schools do require FA forms to apply for merit scholarships. Others do not. We didn’t qualify for need, but my d got some very nice merit awards (some before we even filed FAFSA). </p>
<p>The flip side of your rationale is that some colleges realize that the “need” numbers and the financial realities for a lot of families are wildly different. (It was for us; even though we didn’t qualify for “need-based aid”, we were and are in no position to pay full price at a private college.) Therefore, they want to lure the students that they want to come, knowing that even those who don’t qualify for aid might not be able to afford them.</p>
<p>The answer to your question, therefore, is “It depends on the school.”</p>
<p>My Daughter was awarded merit aid, but Financial need was a factor, so it really wasn’t beneficial.
It is a game.</p>
<p>It depends on the school…and it depends on the type of merit award at some schools. Most schools have at least a few competitive scholarships that do not consider need. Some schools award departmental scholarships solely on the basis of merit (e.g. music performance scholarships).</p>
<p>Many schools award lots of merit to kids with no need because they are aware many will not enroll at full price.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the school. I have a low EFC, and was offered ALL need-based aid from my school. In no way I have received any merit aid from my school, and my stats were pretty good.</p>
<p>It all depends on the school. And even within a given school there can be pure merit aid which does not take into account need at all, financial aid that is purely need driven and something called merit within need that takes need into consideration but at varying degrees in varying situations. </p>
<p>When you need or want money, whether you qualify for financial aid or not, you need to cast a wide net covering a number of categories. There are schools that have excellent need packages that guarantee to meet 100% of need that could be your best deal despite high sticker prices. There are schools with poor overall financial aid packages that give generous merit money to those student they want the most.</p>