Ok…I am just not getting this…
D got merit aid, and she will should also qualify for some need based aid.
Here is what I DO get: The university says that they will first apply the merit toward the loan and work study portion of the FA they would normally give. (Yay!)
Here is what I DON’T get: They also said, as I have often read, that the aid cannot be more than the COA. I said I thought the need based aid might just be replaced by the merit aid (after the loan/work study replacement) and they said that was only if it would exceed COA…
So that would lead me to believe there might be more stacking. But here are the numbers we were talking about (the merit is a known, the others are estimates just to try to understand how it would work.
COA: 57k - 18K merit =39k Estimated EFC=23k 39-23=16K, so they said that would mean 16K in FA.
The Net Price Calculator has the school giving 34 in need aid, 8 of which is the loan/work portion, leaving 26K in FA grant $.
That makes sense, except I don’t see how that relates to the FA being replaced ‘only if it would exceed the COA’. Wouldn’t it then still be aid of 26k? 26 + 18= 44, which is not the COA, even adding the 8k for loans/work study back in, that isn’t more than the COA.
What am I missing here?
$57K COA - the $34K from the NPC = $23K, your EFC. The merit seems to be replacing some of the need based aid.
Did the net price calculator ask for any information about grades/scores? The NPC may have been including merit and need (total = $34kaward including loans/work) which seems to match what you calculated based on the merit award ($18k merit + $16K need = $34k free money not including loans/work since the merit covers those amounts).
If merit is that big, then it can’t only replace loans and work study. It must also replace inst’l aid.
If COA is $57,000 and EFC is $23,000 then need is $34,000. Subtract a scholarship of $18,000 and there is only $16,000 need remaining. If you got a grant of $16,000 you would have need met. 100% of need. No other need based aid can be awarded.
I guess this is where I get confused. Why can no other aid be awarded? If aid can’t exceed COA, and COA is 57k, then doesn’t that mean you can get aid, in some form, up to 57K? Based on these numbers, getting the merit AND the FA originally expected would not reach that 57k.
The aid is calculated the way I thought it would be, but that explanation threw me…
If that’s the way it is, then that’s the way it is., and we are glad to get it, thankful that it will at least cover the loan / work portion…but it is frustrating that the majority of that merit award is basically lost.
You can get aid up to COA and your need. Receiving merit aid cuts down on your need. If your need is O, you get no financial aid. If the aid is all merit aid, great, you can take it all. Federal law limits other type of aid, like subsidized loans, Pell grants, SEOG and they determine that by your EFC.
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If aid can't exceed COA, and COA is 57k, then doesn't that mean you can get aid, in some form, up to 57K? Based on these numbers, getting the merit AND the FA originally expected would not reach that 57k.
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Only if it’s all merit.
A school isn’t going to give you need based aid AND merit and have the total exceed “need”.
If you wanted to have some/most of your EFC covered then you needed to target schools that would have given you HUGE merit…big enough merit to cover all of your need…and also cut into merit.
Instead, your “good merit” reduced “need” a bit, then a grant might be added to meet EFC…so you’re still going to have to pay EFC. The school isn’t going to give you “need based aid” to put towards your EFC.
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If that's the way it is, then that's the way it is., and we are glad to get it, thankful that it will at least cover the loan / work portion..but it is frustrating that the majority of that merit award is basically <<<<
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that can happen at schools that give a lot of need based aid…no wonder many don’t give much/any merit anymore. In those cases, merit really only helps those with little/no need.
It sounds like what they should have said - what they actually mean - is ‘aid can’t exceed need’.
Merit aid can exceed need. Need based aid can’t exceed need.
If merit replaces other components of the total cost in this order:
student loan and work
need-based grant
EFC
then the first $8,000 of merit replaces the $8,000 of student loan and work that would otherwise be expected. Then the remaining $10,000 of merit replaces $10,000 of the $26,000 need-based grant, so that the breakdown would be:
$18,000 merit
$16,000 need-based grant
$34,000 merit + grant
$23,000 EFC
$57,000 total cost
So the net price would be $23,000.
Effectively, there is a “dead zone” where merit exceeds the student loan and work amount (i.e. > $8,000 in your case), but does not exceed the total need-based aid amount (i.e. < $34,000 in your case), where extra dollars of merit do not reduce the net price (i.e. all merit amounts between $8,000 and $34,000 are effectively the same). Of course, if your financial situation changes the need-based aid amount next year, this range will change.
@ucbalumnus, Yep, that seems to cover it, and good point about if the financial situation changes. Having that merit award there could be even more helpful if circumstances change.
I really am happy with this award…not complaining…
(well maybe whining a bit, lol…I mean it is hard to have someone put 10k in your pocket, then watch them take 10k out of your purse.) 
…and I know, I know, it’s not really our money…it’s the school’s money…but I think you all get where I’m coming from.
I was just confused by the statement about not exceeding COA…but I guess what is really meant by that is that need based aid PLUS the EFC cannot exceed COA, then that totally matches the numbers.
My main concern was that the merit cover the loan and work portion of the need based aid, that was what we knew we absolutely needed to make this school a possibility, and the school did confirm that for me.
You can also still take the loan, but it won’t be subsidized.
You can get merit aid to exceed COA. If your daughter should get $50K in outside scholarships, it is possible for her to end up with $68K in merit money. But you would, in your school’s scenario lose the financial aid.
Some schools do allow stacking of need based awards that they give. Not permitted to do it with most federal funds, except for PELL, I believe. But you cannot even take out a PLUS (Parent loan) or an unsubsidized Direct Loan, or get federal work study, if you have merit money that is at the COA level or more.