<p>Are there any scholarship money that covers EFC?</p>
<p>Scholarships generally reduce your need before they reduce your EFC. This is because federal rules do not allow federal aid + EFC + scholarships to exceed the COA of the school. Most schools will reduce loans and self help (such as WS) before they reduce any grant aid.</p>
<p>Merit scholarships can reduce your EFC but only after you earned enough to cover any need. So if you have no need, every dollar of merit $ will lower your EFC. If you do have need and have a financial aid package, it depends on the school but merit $ is often applied like this:</p>
<p>1- to any unmet need (gap)
2- to any self-help need (loans/ work-study)
3- to any need-based grants</p>
<p>THEN, when there is no need, the $ would lower your EFC. </p>
<p>In case that’s not clear… Let’s say your school is $50K and you have need of $20K awarded as follows: $8K grant, $5K loan, 3K work-study, leaving you with $4K unmet need. </p>
<p>You can earn up to $4K in scholarship money without it affecting your package. It would take away your gap. You can earn up to $12K in scholarship $ without it affecting your grant. It would take away your gap, loan and work-study. Once you win from $12K-$20K, your grant would decrease. If you win over $20K, all your need-based aid would disappear and it would start to decrease your EFC.</p>
<p>Again, this depends on the school. Talk to the financial aid office for your specific situation.</p>
<p>This frustrates me as this really disincentives me from getting scholarships past work study and loans. Especially if the EFC is 4x what you expect and can afford and have to work additionally to make up for that.</p>
<p>how true! Most grant or scholarship money (free) comes from the school. Also, outside scholarships are usually for the first year. They help in two areas. 1) help reduce loads and self help. 2) if you have no FA, additional amounts will help EFC</p>