Some schools strongly advise to file FASFA to receive a full range of MERIT awards. There are specifics at each school that applicants / parents will never know. However, follow the strong advice of adcom that was received as a letter specifically devoted to this subject is very very smart. I am talking from experience. You never know, school might use the same computer file (as one reason), as FASFA indicates that applicant at least is interested in some kind of FA. We file FASFA religiously while being very remote from any eligibility for need based FA. D. was on full tuition Merit award for all 4 years and received additional Merit awards as a upper classman. Again, it varies from school to school, read ALL communications from your college very closely and follow thier strong recommendations.
@MiamiDAP, are you saying parents should follow each schoolâs posted instructions on merit aid applications and submit the FASFA if âstrongly advisedâ to do so, regardless of whether the family is actually a candidate for FA? Or should parents investigate further and actually contact the school to ask for guidance on whether to submit the FASFA?
Iâm certain we arenât eligible for any FA, based on our income and having saved enough money to pay for school in full, with no extenuating circumstance. Filling out the FASFA seems pointless, unless it is necessary for merit aid. Thanks for sharing your experience with this.
Just FYI. We certainly were not going to be eligible for any financial aid. D had received a merit award at the school. H spoke to the financial aid admissions officer and she asked us to file the FAFSA. I was very reluctant to do so, even told her that our EFC was likely to hit the max number reported on the FAFSA. She still asked us to file - and then D was given an additional âgrantâ of a few thousand dollars.
We had the same experience as arisamp. We were not going to fill out the FAFSA, thought it was a big fat waste of time. School said to fill it out, and we received $6000.00 in OOS aid from school and offers of loans from government.
@arisamp and @soonmtnest, I never would have imagined that filling out the FAFSA would lead to additional aid when the family can easily meet the EFC so thanks for sharing your experience. Do you think itâs reasonable to wait until the student is offered merit aid and then complete FAFSA only if school requests it? Thanks
I would say just do it. The FAFSAâs not so bad. Just have your tax return right there when you do it & it will go very quickly.
@putterer - canât say whether itâs better to wait or fill it out right now. In our case, D had a merit offer and was seriously considering going to this school. When H talked to the financial aid office, they suggested this and it kind of helped push this school to the top. Donât know if they did so as to âsweetenâ the deal!
"reasonable to wait until the student is offered merit aid and then complete FAFSA only if school requests it? " - some schools based their Merit offer on existance of FASFA. Dâs school did. We were advised strongly fto file every year and we did. We are very far from any need based. D. was on full tuition Merit for all 4 years, receiving more in junior = senior year. Do not hesitate to follow what school is advising.
OK, Iâm convinced that the possible benefit of filing the FAFSA outweighs the hassle. Weâll just file the FASFA at the outset. I do our income taxes myself, so this canât be too much worse, right? Many thanks to everyone for making me and others aware of the odd way in which some schools use the FASFA to supplement merit aid.
There is no hassle, few minutes. My H. has been doing it for 7 years now. Never a peep of complain. He has never conlained about taxes either, he things it is just filling in the blanks.
Being in IT, it does not look to me odd at all that some schools are using FASFA applications to offer full range of Merit awards. I tend to think from IT prospective, what if they use the same file? They got to use some file to run the Merit offerrings against the student body listing. Running it agianst the whole entire file of studnet body would be a nightmare of the program. At least, they limit to the people with certain information already availble in electronic form. However, apparently, it is not done by all colleges. Just need to pay attention to all communications including snail mail that comes to you from the UG that is being considered, it may cost you few thousands if you do not. It did in our family as one year D. has missed the deadline for the Returning Student Merit awards application. She missed it only for couple of days, but it was it. Pay attention, tell your kid to pay attention while at college. I can tell you that this specific peice of info was worth $4k in the year that D. applied on time.
I have 3 older siblings, and theyâve told me a bunch of colleges they applied to that have good merit aid. Hereâs the top 5 they told me:
Tulane
University of Dayton
DePaul
Marist
University of Rochester
University of Rochester has good aid, my D got $17,000. Even with 17, the price is still way to high for us. Good school though.
I agree with you soonmtnest! My D got 15k from University of Rochester, but the overall cost made that a drop in the bucket.
Doesnât merit aid just drop the amount of financial aid colleges pay?
If thatâs the case, wouldnât merit aid essentially still charge you the same cost for attending?
What would the point of merit aid be then?
It depends. For families whose merit aid exceeds any financial aid they would have gotten, itâs simply less money they pay. A few schools may stack merit aid and financial aid to make a larger package.
@Apollo11 - No, merit aid is always a good thing. These are the possibilities:
<ol>
<li>
The person was getting no financial aid - then it is real savings, plus a recognition to put on the studentâs resume.
</li>
<li>
The person was getting some financial aid, which was then reduced to get the merit aid (often happens for âoutsideâ sources of merit aid, such as NMS) - this is still savings, to the extent that the merit grant replaces loans. Even if it replaces another grant, again, itâs recognition to put on the studentâs resume.
</li>
<li>
The person was getting some financial aid, which gets added to the merit grant (this happens at a lot of the colleges weâre discussing, based on grades/scores/application) - this is the most obvious boon, i.e. more money, and the recognition. This case is the one that most people on CC are interested in on this thread, so weâre trying to figure out what colleges will be âgoodâ at this. (Also case #1 for some families reading here.)
</li>
<li>
The person was getting a lot of financial aid, so much that the merit aid either replaces some of that (again, if loans, this is a financial benefit) or gets added on top as a âsalaryâ for attending college - in either case, it is always better than not getting it, even if itâs just the recognition.
</li>
</ol>
An additional benefit is that merit aid, if it is recurring, will not be adjusted over time as is the case with need based aid (or will only be adjusted up as would be the case with full tuition or a full ride). So, it is more reliable than FA. The trade-off is that some forms of merit aid require the student to maintain a minimum GPA or some other requirement that is not typically tied to FA
The biggest issue with a great many schools on this list is that they only offer the scholarships to a fraction of the qualified candidates. Most of the money is reserved for needs-based aid.
Look at schools that offer scholarships to all who meet their qualifications.
Be sure to differentiate between actual awards and loans. Loans are not aid, but will be listed as such by most colleges.
I donât have links, but my son was offered nice merit scholarships from Willamette, Eckerd, Guilford, and New College of Florida. He was offered a modest one from Whitman. For BFA students, I know UArts (Philadelphia) awards a lot of $13k talent grants, also. Temple is a public university, but is quite generous to out-of-state students with strong stats, which makes it quite affordable for strong applicants.
Woogzmama, my D too received a good merit offer from Willamette. Also University of Redlands, University of Portland, University of Puget Sound and Carroll College in Montana. We hear Lawrence University is generous.