D had 15K merit and 6K institutional aid. Loans in amounts of 5500. She got a full tuition merit after a weekend and they added a scholarship amount to the first two amounts (15K, 6K) to come up with Full tuition. They said that if tuition goes up, no matter what tuition will be paid.
After the new scholarship there is no need (except for loans) applied to the package and there is a 5K gap. EFC is 1000. She does have an outside scholarship that covers the gap this year, but when I spoke to FA they said they didn’t know about that, so technically they thought they were gapping her (scholarship can be applied to gap). I understand where the money comes from doesn’t matter, as tuition is paid for, but when she received the full tuition we were hoping the need aid would be applied elsewhere–maybe replacing a loan . I’d appreciate some experienced thoughts on this. We are grateful for this FA package, but she has free options, but of course this school is her first choice. I am worried about future years with the gap. Thanks.