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<p>Does this “ivy-peer” school still have this policy? If so, what is the name of the school?</p>
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<p>Our experience one year when we applied but didn’t have enough need for any grants per the school’s calculations was an offer of some work study money. The school controls how this is handed out; while they do use need in the usual calculation, I believe some schools might give it to a student when they are not going to award any grant money. For what it is worth, it was federal work study money (not the other types discussed above).</p>
<p>Macalester used to require you file for need-based aid (including FAFSA and CSS) to be considered for merit aid. But I am not sure if that is still the case.</p>
<p>Thanks to all for the informative guidance. I will pursue our options directly with the individual school programs.</p>
<p>Glad you got useful info here, but I want to respond to your “irrelevant to this thread” comments. People are just trying to be helpful by bringing up some related issues you may not have thought of. I think that approach is one of the things that makes CC so valuable. A comment may not be directly relevant to your situation, but may be invaluable to someone in a similar situation who happens to have come upon the thread. If you don’t believe a comment is useful to you, I think it’s best to just say thanks anyway, I’ve got that covered, rather than dismissively point out that the info didn’t properly respond your original post. The latter approach is likely to make people disinclined to help out next time you have a problem. </p>
<p>Unfortunately I can’t add much if anything to a financial aid discussion; I was in college 20 years ago, when the costs were a lot less, and I had one small scholarship that might have been merit-based (or at least wasn’t need-based; perhaps it was some fund for students meeting certain criteria). However, I can add that the college I went to did have various jobs that were not work-study. I graded papers for the department that I majored in, and other students taught 1st-year practice sessions for foreign languages. Those jobs were not work study and had nothing to do with the students’ financial situation. Those jobs were only a few hours a week and I was irked that I was asked by the department to do them, since I wanted to spend the time studying…although my academia parents said that doing them was a good idea since it would help me get better recommendations for grad school.</p>
<p>Similarly, when I was in law school (at a different school), I had law student friends who, surprisingly, taught 1st-year sections of classes in the field that they had majored in- economics was one. That was a huge university and so having those teaching spots was an option.</p>
<p>I won’t name either school here but the first was a small liberal arts college; the second was a large university.</p>
<p>MidKidd86 - I have no idea if my alma mater still has that policy. </p>
<p>I went ahead and finished taxes and sent the FAFSA in today just in the event that it may matter for merit-based awards.</p>
<p>To all the prospective students and their parents out there, apply for FAFSA and CSS.! I’ve sent my daughter successfully from undergraduate studies to completing medical school. I myself have done the same thing a generation ago. I am in the process of sending another child through the system. Contrary to popular belief in some quarters , We here in America do not have a “merit” based financing model for tertiary education. We have a “need” based model. There are only a handful of college students in America that are lucky and talented enough to get a “full ride” scholarships. These students are almost always but not exclusively Ivy League or very selective well heeled private institution applicants.These private institutions have endowments in the billions of dollars and can spend accordingly. What most Universities often offer in “merit” scholarships and grants are essentially discounts on a “retail price” that few students actually pay. College and University Financial Aid packages are essentially very complex algorithms that include internal financial, social and political considerations. Don’t fight the system work with it and you will attain your educational goals.</p>
<p>^^^
FAFSA and CSS are not something that you “apply for.” Other than that, I don’t even want to try and comment on the rest of your post.</p>
<p>In order to receive and each year keep the Fordham full-tuition scholarship for NMF you must submit the FASFA each year. Small price to pay for 40k+ per year.
You were wise to file, just in case. </p>
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<p>Happy to help put some flesh on the bones. When DD and I toured colleges (Northeast LACs mostly) we were consistently told in the infosessions that if we did not apply for FA at the time of first-year application, we either could not apply for it in later years, or would have to have some hold period imposed. This was not just at one institution, it was at virtually all in the set we were looking at. Our financial situation makes it vanishingly unlikely that we will get a penny of need-based aid now, but I am still filling out all the d**n forms and every ticky-tack item every college wants, because in the next four years I could lose my job, contract the bubonic plague, or get hit by a bus, and she will need the option to apply then.</p>
<p>Here are examples of two colleges’ policies, from their websites:</p>
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I agree but was not looking for anything even close to “full ride” scholarships (finding it odd that some are talking about that level of exemption from paying).</p>
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EXACTLY - What I was seeking is guidance on whether filling in the additional FAFSA paperwork was even warranted. From what I can tell about the college’s my son has been accepted to, the FAFSA is NOT required for these “discounts” so completing the FAFSA itself in my case may simply be a case study.</p>
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Yep, that is why I completed it regardless of the requirement. I liken it to doing extra credit for a class you are already acing. It isn’t needed but it also doesn’t hurt and the instructor (e.g., government) may view the candidate more favorably in the future should any need eventually arise.</p>
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<p>Thanks for chiming in, Requin. I was not aware of the Smith policy, and so far it’s the most restrictive I’ve seen, but it still allows for institutional need-based aid in the junior and senior year for those who did not apply for aid prior to freshman year. I mentioned the Colby policy in a different thread. The “unless” clause leaves a hole in the policy big enough to drive a truck through.</p>
<p>What is not clear to most people is that colleges use the term “merit aid” or “scholarships” to mean very different things.</p>
<p>Sometimes merit aid or scholarships are purely based on merit. (Academic, achievement, athletic, arts,…) – call it a pure merit award.</p>
<p>Sometimes merit aid or scholarships are based on merit, but influenced somewhat or significantly based on whether or not the student has “need” the way that college defines need. For example, Regents scholarships at the University of California sometimes are given in fairly nominal dollar amounts for students without need, and in much greater dollar values to students with need. Both kinds of students are eligible, but the amounts given aren’t based on merit as much as they’re based on need, but only highly achieving students get them either way. (And, different UC campuses use different policies on this.)</p>
<p>And in many cases, merit scholarships are based on merit, but only students with need are eligible. </p>
<p>Even colleges that don’t give merit aid technically sometimes call some of their grant aid “scholarships”. </p>
<p>It is very unhelpful that all of these situations are termed merit aid, because it makes it very confusing for families. </p>
<p>Our local flagship has an extensive scholarship search for campus-awarded scholarships. Probably 95% of the named scholarships have a need component, but at least they tell you that this is the case. Some colleges do a very poor job of clarifying that. </p>
<p>Arabrab - I have not seen any confusion with the term “merit” scholarships. The KEY word here is MERIT, not “Scholarships”. As you pointed out a scholarships can be both merit-based or needs-based so not certain why you would be confused there. As for your quote below…
OF COURSE only some people qualify for it! That is WHY it’s called a “MERIT” scholarship. You have to accomplish something to obtain that credit/merit.</p>
<p>Why would there be any “restriction” on how a merit award is handled? It’s perfectly reasonable that a person who is qualified for a merit award AND has NEED could get greater $$s than someone without NEED. That doesn’t change it from being a MERIT award. Merit is earned and both candidates EARNED their award. </p>
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This makes perfectly good sense to me that a college could award more $'s to a “needs-based merit-qualified” candidate than they would offer to candidate who is SOLELY merit based with zero needs requirements.</p>
<p>That is actually our position. We can afford a number of schools as we started planning long ago and each son has $60K+ stashed away in existing 529 plans. We are not rich but rather are simply regular middle class that properly planned for college. Due to being middle class, we also don’t qualify for much (if any) needs-based awards… nor should we. The intent of needs-based funding is NOT to cover the middle-class student who’s parents did not plan well. Rather, it is intended to help TRULY needy students to obtain a college education.</p>
<p>A student who’s double income parents make $100K (~$50K each) may well “need” funds in order to attend college but that student would (likely) NOT be considered “needy” as those parents could easily set aside $10K/year for the student and he could borrow whatever additional funds he might “need” but who’s parents failed to plan properly.</p>
<p>With tuition at schools offering to meet full need heading toward $60,000+, middle class families can & are eligible for aid. But as many of these schools use their own forms to determine need, it may be that the COA is still unaffordable. However in our case, the school choose to use FAFSA EFC and the COA was roughly what we would have paid for an instate public school.</p>
<p>ndabunka For someone who considers privacy important, you sure gave out lots of info here :-)</p>
<p>I am in the same boat with you though, I did the online calculators, and am told no aid.
I have absolutely no plans to file a FAFSA, mainly for privacy reasons, knowing it will not lead to aid now.</p>
<p>The only way I would do it, is if required, and we have only 1 school that may require it.
After being given a full tuition merit scholarship, this public school requires FAFSA.
If my son gets this scholarship and decides to attend, I’ll do the paperwork and give up
the info. I wont do it “just in case”.</p>
<p>As far as the post-freshman doomsday scenario, I would forget that.
If I have a crisis, and the school refuses help, there is always the transfer option.
No guarantee even if you had filed freshman year, that you would get help anyway,
so transfer to another more reasonable school might be necessary if you have a major issue.
That’s part of life, kids need to learn nothing is without risk.</p>
<p>If you attend a school that guarantees to meet full need, that is what they will do, even if need goes up as in our case after 9/11.</p>
<p>Bllevine - Thanks for the feedback and it’s good to know that others are in our same position. </p>
<p>As stated, we did start our planning when our 1st child was born but those are NOT our ACTUAL numbers 
I had to take literary liberties in order to establish a reference point for defining what the word …NEED actually meant rather than what some “perceive” it to mean to be NEEDS-based. Needs-based can mean different things to different people but there are limits. </p>
<p>One of the schools my son applied to is Davidson College. It’s got a strong liberal Arts program and is located less than 10 miles from our home but it’s also a private school & costs $60K/year to attend. But if I (theoretically) make $125K/year base & my wife (theoretically) makes another $50K/year, then our $175K/year income logically makes us ineligible for ANY “needs-based” funding, right?</p>
<p>Now Davidson DOES have a VERY strong and WONDERFUL “needs-based” program that has been thoroughly funded to support TRULY needs-based applicants so a Single mother making only $35K/year, who raised a intelligent student (4.0 weighted GPA & 2200 SAT/34 ACT) could well get nearly 100% of that $60K/year funded from that needs-based program.</p>
<p>We are still waiting on the results of my son’s application to Davidson but should he get in there, we KNOW we won’t be getting much (if ANY) needs-based funding from that program. That is where merit-based becomes a HUGE deal (for us). If we could get a $30K/year MERIT-based award then he may be able to attend there without having to take out any loans.</p>
<p>The REASON I started this thread is because I wanted to know if FAFSA or CSS paperwork was REQUIRED to obtain MERIT-BASED funding. As you have seen, it appears that nobody actually has an answer to that question.</p>
<p>The financial aid offices at the colleges my son has applied to ALL treat loans differently than they treat merit aid to the point that each approach is handled by completely different departments. Financial aid offices (justifiably) need the FAFSA in order to make lending determinations.</p>
<p>Scholarship program appear (to me) to not give a flip about FAFSA information as their determination is 100% based on merit. My next door neighbor never once filled out a FAFSA for his daughters college. She went to two different colleges on FULL-RIDE athletic scholarships. My son is athletic but won’t be getting any such scholarships so I wanted to know if the ACADEMIC merit awards worked the same way.</p>
<p>Shorter ndabunka: Can someone please answer my original question?</p>
<p>Shorter Requin: The answer almost certainly varies from college to college. The best place to get an answer is from the college itself. If the website does not have the answer, every admissions/financial aid office at every college I’ve ever dealt with is very responsive to email.</p>