<p>I just received a 18k merit scholarship, and I'm unsure how this would affect my EFC. For example, if the my EFC is around 17-20k (total cost of school is $41k), does that mean I only pay ~2k?</p>
<p>No. Merit awards (scholarships) reduce need, not your EFC. So your $18K will go toward filling the approx $20-24K of your need. (COA-EFC=need) The only way a merit award will reduce the amount of your EFC is if the merit exceeds your computed need.</p>
<p>However, what a merit award might mean is that you will have lower amount of loans and work-study in your financial aid package–which is good thing.</p>
<p>Generally speaking merit aid will decrease your financial need… so, the 18K merit would for the most part eliminate your need…</p>
<p>see –</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1038511-i-need-financial-safety.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1038511-i-need-financial-safety.html</a></p>
<p>MANY schools “gap,” meaning they don’t meet your need. If the scholarship is from an outside source, it might not affect your financial aid package … or it might decrease your loans/work study … or it might decrease a need based grant you might otherwise have received. It depends on the school. Your family still has to come up with its EFC. Your “need” at this school is $41000-17000=24000. If they don’t meet need, you might not get anywhere close to the 24000 you need to meet that gap … so your $18,000 scholarship would be a huge bonus for you. </p>
<p>If the scholarship is from the school, they are then reducing the amount you would otherwise owe by $18,000. So if COA is $41,000 and EFC is $17,000 you could be awarded need based aid in the amount of $41000-17000=24000. So the school would then say your remaining need is 24000-18000 merit scholarship=6000. They would most likely offer you work study and Stafford loans to fill this gap. Your family still has to come up with their EFC.</p>
<p>My D received a very large endowed scholarship from her school this year, and she also received a need based grant. When the scholarship committee decided to increase her scholarship, the need based grant was reduced by that amount.</p>
<p>Aid is reduced when merit is given, soooooo…</p>
<p>if…COA = $55,000
if…EFC = $20,000</p>
<p>Determined “need” is $35,000</p>
<p>At a “full need” school, if you got $18k in merit, your aid package would look like…</p>
<p>FA Package could look like</p>
<p>$18k merit scholarship</p>
<h2>$ 17k grant</h2>
<p>$35k total aid </p>
<p>if you need merit to reduce your EFC, then the merit has to be so large that it covers all of need and then cuts into EFC.</p>
<p>$30,000 COA of an out of state public
$20,000 EFC
$10,000 “determined need”</p>
<p>Aid package…
$20,000 merit per year (for instance, a free tuition scholarship)
$2,500 merit scholarship (for instance, a dept scholarship that is stacked)</p>
<h2>$5,500 in student loans</h2>
<p>$28,000 financial aid package.</p>
<p>Since the school has a COA of $30k and your aid package is worth $28,000, then all you have to pay is $2000. You’ve cut your EFC by a LOT!</p>
<p>Ilovesoy…</p>
<p>Also, is this a one time scholarship of $18k for your freshman year? If so, then you won’t be able to count on that for future years anyway.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, it’s the Dean Scholar’s Scholarship which is renewable…</p>
<p>Thank you guys for helping me!! I’m first generation, so I’m really clueless about this. :P</p>
<p>Congratulations, that’s a great scholarship! The good news is that most schools will let it replace your student loan and works study first.</p>
<p>In my experience (many aid packages for two kids), the Dean’s Scholarship will just figure right into the overall aid package. Let’s say the school is $41,000/year and EFC is $17,000/year. The amount of need based aid you COULD receive is COA-EFC=$24,000. Your remaining need after the Dean’s Scholarship is $24000-18000=6000. You may or may not be offered a small grant in addition to the scholarship (depends on the school). You will be eligible for a mix of subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans up to $5500 for freshman year. If your need is met with less than $5500 in sub/unsub Stafford loans, you can use the remainder of your $5500 annual loan eligibility as unsub to assist in paying your EFC.</p>