My D has received all of her college decisions. She has received several merit scholarships and has some good in state options. So all of these schools are affordable. However, one of her out of state private schools offered a grant, but no merit scholarship. I’m not really familiar with financial aid, because we didn’t file a FAFSA for our other older kids.
Am I correct that the grant money is only for the first year offered? And after that we would file the FAFSA for subsequent years and see if they offer any more grant money? This one school is very expensive and without the grant money it would be a real struggle.
Without knowing the college…it’s sort of hard to say…
If this is need based aid…it is applied for annually. So a grant would be for one year…and each year you would apply anew.
The 2018-2019 academic year will be based on 2016 tax return info…income and taxes paid. You should already know that income amount. Was it very different than 2015?
How many kiddos will you have in college in 2017-2018 vs 2018-2019 and subsequent years?
I would suggest you contact the financial aid office and ask under what circumstances could you exoect a significant change in your grant award. They might be able to,give you a general answer.
if you share the name of the school we can share more specific insight.
look at collegedata.com for under the ‘money matters’ tab to see the % need that the school meets for freshmen and also for all undergrads. this will let you know how ‘solid’ the school is at meeting need.
if your financial situation is consistent from year to year, the FA won’t vary significantly even though you have to reapply. if your finances change it will definitely change.
Scholarships are grants and grants are scholarships, the terms are really interchangeable. Some may be based on academic merit, some may be based on need. None are loans that need to be repaid or offers to work and earn up to a certain amount.
The specific things to consider are what strings are attached. Do the merit grants require a certain GPA to keep? Will the need-based grants change if their financial situation changes, or even if it doesn’t?
By all means, contact FAid office to clarify whether the grant is renewable and at what level for years after freshman year. This is something you NEED to formulate a 4-year plan do your kiddo will be able to compare net costs of the different Ys being considered, for all 4 years.
The school is Scripps College. Sounds like I need to give them a call. I think they gave us the grant because we will have so many kids in college next year. Our income is pretty stable, but we won’t have all the kids in college for all of her 4 years.
My D attends Scripps. Yes, you will apply for FA each year and yes it will vary if the number of kids in college varies. You’ll want to contact them if it’s important to you know the cost across all 4 years. I would think they would give you some idea of what the cost would be if all other things remain about the same (income, assets) but # of kids changes.
Update - Called Scripps today and they said that if we have fewer than 3 kids in college our grant will be withdrawn. So for my D’s junior and senior year it would cost us $72,560 per year. I have reluctantly cancelled our trip to accepted student’s day and Scripps is off the list. She is fortunate to have other options that are within our budget for all 4 years. Thank you to everyone for the good advice!
The NPC would have given you an estimate. You could have run different scenarios with 1, 2, and three kids in college. It would have prepared you for the sticker shock
As long as the GPA required to keep a merit scholarship is not too difficult to maintain, it is better to have merit than need based aid. Especially if income, number of children in college, number in household can change during those 4 years.
Yes, I agree merit is better. I don’t want to have to worry about what I will have to pay from year to year. She will choose an in state option or one of the other schools that gave her merit. I would never pay $72k per year for an undergraduate degree, but that’s another thread.
The NPC is an estimate of net costs. The actual awards is what matters.
When you have more than one kiddo in college…the fafsa EFC is divided amongst them about 50-50. But for Profile schools…it’s 60/60.
But when the other kids are NOT anynlonger in college, you won’t have college expenses for THEM. Did you factor that into your financial decision? If your other two kids have full rides, then you wouldn’t have any leftover college expense money once theyngraduate…but if you are paying for them…any amount…when they graduate, you would be able to divert that money to this third kid.
Just a comment to any future readers that are low-income … merit is not necessarily better … especially at top schools like Scripps. Each person’s financial situation affects the situation regarding paying for college - as do the colleges’ FA formulas under consideration.
And getting back to @ACollegeFan , you should go ahead and run the NPC with your current and future situation to know how close the estimate would have been. We found them to always be very close … of course we have a straight-forward financial situation (no business, divorce, etc) .
Merit aid is not income dependent. In most cases it is an award for all four years which is renewed if the student keeps a certain GPA. For families with fluctuating or potential fluctuating income…a merit award is more of a sure thing than need based aid…which IS income dependent.
