<p>What would happen if you get both kinds of aid from a college that sums up to over the total cost of attending the college for that year? Using Emory as an example, let's say you get:</p>
<p>$20,000 in merit aid
$40,000 based on financial need</p>
<p>when the total cost for the year is $50,000. </p>
<p>What would happen to the excess $10,000? Would you get it, or would the school simply reduce your needbased aid by that amount? Or would even the school take off the amount of the merit scholarship from your need based aid and just give you $40,000 total?</p>
<p>MADad is correct. When you have less need, you'll get less need based aid. Different schools adjust the need based aid differently, though. You'll have to ask the school what its particular policy is.</p>
<p>Is your case real? If so, I assume you received a financial aid package before you were awarded the scholarship. In that case, your need is now less (by $20,000). Your need would now be $20,000. The school might take it all from grants, or it might eliminate your loans & work study. Different schools have different policies.</p>
<p>no no, i'm just speaking hypothetically (I wish i qualified for that much financial aid or got that scholarship haha). Just, similar situations could happen with a few of my colleges.</p>
<p>So, basically, my overall financial aid package would be around $40,000 correct?</p>
<p>Yes. For a student with a large amount of need, sometimes a merit scholarship doesn't make much difference. For students with a higher EFC or those at schools that don't meet need 100%, the merit scholarship is a bigger deal. For example, say you were at a school that costs $40k per year. If your EFC is $10k and the financial aid package is $20k, there is still a gap (COA - need based aid is greater than 0). If you get a scholarship for $10k, your need will now be met. If you get a scholarship for $15k, your need based aid will probably be reduced by $5k. Some schools will reduce the work study & loans; others will reduce the grants first. </p>
<p>Some schools will reduce the school's package (particularly grants) dollar for dollar on outside scholarships. That's why it is really important to find out the school's policy. There can be big differences between schools if you have outside scholarships. It's important to compare apples to apples when you get to the point where you are picking a school.</p>
<p>Usually the total financial aid package (including merit and need based) doesn't exceed the full cost of attendance (this can include personal expenses, books, transportation, room, board, tuition, sometimes a computer, etc). You should also know that any financial aid that exceeds the cost of fees paid directly to the college (tuition and fees...not living expenses), is considered as taxable income for the year.</p>
<p>It won't happen - if a school offers you a merit scholarship, say when you are accepted, then that money is taken into consideration in your financial aid award. Schools generally have pretty tight financial aid budgets and watch their money very carefully.
If the merit award is an outside scholarship then you must report that to the school - they will take that into consideration with your award.
The school won't give you more than your COA-EFC. If your EFC should be zero then they calculate in the Federal grants you would get and loans (normally).</p>
<p>You cannot make a "profit" on financial aid.</p>