<p>It doesn’t seem fair that we have saved, because of what we did, then our kids are not eligible for FA. We actually had to work (earn) to save that money, so is it fair then our kids are not eligible for FA? No different than merit aid, it gives you more money, therefore your need goes down and FA amount goes down.</p>
<p>^^^but what about those of us(like myself) who need merit IN ADDITION TO need based aid. Our EFC is in the 9k ball park, but is still too big for me to handle. (my parents are not giving me a dime)So, I applied specifically to schools with merit and “full need”</p>
<p>If my merit would disappear in my “need” package I would be screwed. I would have been better off applying to higher tiered schools with better need based aid, but no merit. </p>
<p>I did my research and chose accordingly. Colleges should not advertise merit if it will disappear in a need package</p>
<p>Many of the most selective colleges have a policy of not granting “merit” scholarships at all, in order to maximize resources for students who most need help. To these schools, in principle, if you get an outside merit scholarship it is just one more resource to reduce your need. </p>
<p>Slightly less selective schools (many Midwestern LACS for example) use merit scholarships to attract top students away from more prestigious schools in the East. I’d like to see some data on need and merit patterns but I suspect these schools are either stacking merit onto need-based, or awarding merit aid to kids who wouldn’t qualify for need-based, not reducing need-based by the amount of the merit award. That would defeat the strategic purpose of merit scholarships for these schools. If a $10K “Presidential Scholarship” in December gets some kid to seriously consider Grinnell or Whitman over Williams or Middlebury, how better to burst that balloon than to deduct the amount from his aid package in April?</p>
<p>So Rocket are you running on the assumption that you are replacing your family contribution (EFC $9,000) with merit scholarships or are you assuming that you will pay 9,000 and everything will stack up to meet the tuition, room and board?</p>
<p>I"m hoping(not assuming…i realize it’s a long shot) to replace my EFC with merit. My top two schools(Smith and Scripps) both allow you to do this. They first erase work, then loans, then EFC. So, while it may not replace everything, it’ll surely help</p>
<p>There are some really good, insightful points in this thread, it makes me wish that financial aid committees could read the things that parents have to say about this. All I know is that I don’t think I ever received any merit-based aid, but I did receive a little need-based for my first 3 years. My family’s EFC was around 20K/year (for a 50K/year school) but since things have taken a turn for the worst, my dad hasn’t been employed basically for 2 years and my mom makes minimum wage, they re-evaluated my need this year and lets just say I could pay for the entire year with a $20 bill and get change back. They probably only did this because I’m a senior and about to graduate, but it certainly is interesting.</p>
<p>Of course it’s not “fair” in the sense that everyone gets everything. The schools take money donated by generous alums and use it for the purpose that the alum dictated. (A classics major from Indiana). Or they take endowment funds and use it for their own purposes (rural LAC’s who want to boost enrollment from certain geographic regions).</p>
<p>The mistake is assuming that because it’s called “merit” it will be awarded to the most meritorious students (namely yours.) Of course it’s not. For sure there will be students paying more who have better stats. Call it “strategic funding” instead of merit and you’ll all be happier and sleep better at night. It is money used for strategic enrollment purposes. It has GPA requirements because if your kid is determined to be strategically advantageous to the school, that advantage goes away if your kid flunks out or is on academic probation. And frankly, because imposing a GPA requirement allows people bragging rights “Little Jimmy got a merit award”. Nobody brags that their kid got money because they live in Tulsa but went to school in Wisconsin. Nobody brags that their kid got money because they’re broke and just getting by so the kid qualifies for need, plus Pell, plus Merit which reduces the loans. Nobody brags that their kid got money because it is hard to attract Vietnamese students to Maine or Vermont.</p>
<p>So the schools call it Merit aid, everyone gets to applaud little Jimmy’s 3.8 GPA, parents get to feel good getting a break off of tuition, and the schools get more flexibility with enrollment management than they do with just need based aid.</p>
<p>If you don’t like it, apply to need only schools. And then you can complain about the tax cheats who live in McMansions but get more money than you do. Always someone who thinks the system isn’t fair. (It’s not, but try coming up with a better one.)</p>
<p>The question of outside scholarships is an interesting one. My dd goes to a school that doesn’t give merit aid. Her outside scholarships reduced our need, so our need-based aid went down. I understand that, and I agree with it.</p>
<p>However, do the people at my job who donated money to a scholarship fund in memory of a co-worker who passed away know this? NO. I’m sure they imagine the son/daughter of a co-worker is benefiting directly from their generosity. Of course, when dd was applying for scholarships, we had no idea she’d end up at a school which met full need.</p>
<p>I haven’t read all the posts on this thread, but I DO know that Boston University is one of the schools that does not offer merit aid without applying for/being eligible for FA for most of their awards (there are one or two extremely competitive ones that are pure merit but I think they go to the top .05% of applicants)…</p>
<p>“I understand if merit takes away free money (permanently), but if it removed loans/gaps, work-study, then I don’t see the problem. If it takes away free money (grants), I would ask if the grants would be restored if the scholarship goes away.”</p>
<p>I’m betting the answer is no… But anyone with first hand knowledge please let us know.</p>
<p>Well, I did post an example with work-study that was taken away and then returned once the scholarship went away. I would think that someone who had “need” that was partly filled with a scholarship, would at least be awarded work-study if he lost his scholarship (because the scholarship would have likely replaced gap, loans or work-study to begin with.) </p>
<p>My oldest got a “small” scholarship from his high school at the end of the year and yes, his out of state public had granted him an equal amount of work/study which they removed. The scholarship was a one time one year sort of thing and the work/study was added back in sophomore year.</p>
<p>Hopefully, someone with a grant situation could post. I have no idea. My point was then the “need” would reappear.</p>
<p>No one is really considering that the smart kid who got the scholarship, should be able to keep the scholarship with some careful balancing of hard/easier classes each semester.</p>
<p>I know someone who “saved” a few hard classes for their last semester, because they were concerned that their GPA would drop below the needed 3.3 GPA. Obviously, if a student gets a 2.5 in his last semester, he’s lost nothing. LOL Obviously, some classes are “sequenced,” therefore only classes that don’t need sequencing can be saved til later.</p>
<p>There are some other strategies for keeping one’s GPA high. Such as lightenings one’s load by taking a few classes over the summer at one’s home college. Usually “safe” classes like gen ed classes (English 101, English Lit, American History, etc) will transfer with no problem.</p>
<p>Coming into college with some AP credit helps lighten the load. On the other thread there was discussion about how to avoid being “bumped” to a harder class. That might require getting the right signature to avoid such. However, non-science and non-math APs conveniently can knock out some gen ed classes - making for a lighter load.</p>
<p>Some classes are allowed to be taken credit/no credit. Those won’t hurt a GPA.</p>
<p>r6l, I know for a fact that Scripps merit does NOT cover EFC–only loans and workstudy. When I visited for Preview Scripps, I specifically asked the FA presenter about how a financial aid package would be different for a JES Scholar. The answer was, “no loans and no work.” So if your EFC is 10k and the school costs 50k, a 15k scholarship would give you 40k grant instead of 30k grant + 5k loan + 5k work (obviously I’m making up numbers here, but you get the idea).</p>
<p>I’ve NEVER heard of a merit scholarship reducing EFC UNLESS the merit scholarship is so big that it covers more than the total expected need-based award. For example, if your EFC is 10k at a 50k school and you receive a 45k merit scholarship, your EFC would be reduced by 5k. At Scripps, the only way to “erase” your EFC would be to win the full-ride New Generation scholarship.</p>
<p>^^wow…the girl I talked to at Scripps and another one from Smith both said that it should erase EFC…I guess I will have to look into that more closely now. </p>
<p>Oh the joys of FinAid</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You’re not considering that not all GPA requirements bar only flunking and academic probation. I’ve seen a merit scholarship requiring a 3.5 GPA to keep, which is pretty difficult to get, especially in the sciences. What happens when little Jimmy gets a 3.25 GPA his first semester and his big fat scholarship gets taken away? He still has the diversity which the college wants, but isn’t being rewarded for it.</p>
<p>Rocket, I’m confident you will find that merit awards are in addition to need-based aid rather than replacement and can chunk away at EFC. Go for it – merit awards are not going to turn around, taunt you and slap you in the face :)</p>
<p>I’m sure there would be a combined cap at some full cost of attendance figure, however calculated.</p>
<p>It can be a confusing topic, hang in there!</p>
<p>
That’s not what we’ve been told at any of the schools we’ve visited. I’m not saying schools like that don’t exist, but we haven’t found any yet.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>PaperChaserPop–Well, “Cash for Clunkers” was available for foreign cars as well as for American ones. Just saying. :D</p>
<p>r6L, I would check into it with the Finaid office at those two schools. None of us here can be certain and all our situations are different.</p>
<p>^Also PM curmudgeon, whose D (albeit 4 years ago) got two FA packages from Scripps, pre- and post-JES.</p>
<p>Agree Rocket contacting FinAid is the only way to confirm. But I did visit the Scripps site, whihc specifically states that merit awards “may be combined with need-based aid.”</p>
<p>The purpose of merit awards is to poach top applicants from others schools – not just top rich candidates. Serious recruiting design flaw if they amount to false advertising.</p>
<p>I can’t guarantee that I am right, but Rocket I have seen how hard you are working for it, and I have every confidence you will like the answers you get from Smith and Scripps.</p>
<p>Can you still reach FinAid west coast branch? Really want to know the straight scoop.</p>