When financial aid offer includes grant money, how reliable is that money past first year?

Our child got some financial aid offers that included grant money. One example is a state school that offered out of state grant money. Another is a private school that offered a grant simply titled ‘(school name) grant’. I wonder if future years of financial aid (Soph-Senior year) will likely have similar amounts of financial aid if our income stays relatively the same. I feel like I’m asking a Financial Aid 101 question that has been discussed here many times before, but would appreciate any information about this. Thank you!

If grant duration is not clear on the financial aid forms, call and speak to a financial aid director at each school. Policies vary widely.

^^^this. But in theory if everything stays the same you should get about the same each year. Question is if the school raises their tuition yearly due they adjust the amount you are given? Something to ask.

BTW - it’s a great question and everyone’s circumstances are different so calling them is key because no one here knows your personal situation

Do you recommend parents and the student call the school?

Also, thank you!!

You can call… or your student can call.

I don’t think you will get a guarantee…need based aid is applied for annually. It includes income and assets. And sometimes schools do tweak their need based financial aid awarding policies.

But you can call and ask.

My understanding is that institutional grants are subject to change. It seems most schools require you to compete the FAFSA and the CSS (CSS if school uses this) annually. Institutional grants could be adjusted depending on changes in a student’s need. If parent’s income changes, those grant awards could change.

I’ve been pondering this myself as we’ve gotten a good combination of merit (all 4-years subject to GPA minimums) and institutional grant $. However, I plan to change jobs and that will likely mean an income increase which is needed to help fund the gap. However, based on what I’ve been reading, it seems there is a high likelihood of losing or seeing a decrease in the institutional grants. So, for years 2,3, and 4, I have been working the out of pocket numbers, based on just merit and standard student loans as a worst-case scenario. It’s scary.

It depends on the grant. Definitely call the FA office and ask.

We are lucky that our kid’s grant is renewable each year. We asked up front about the terms. They told us that as long as our financial situation didn’t change too much, the grant would be about the same each year. We also asked if there were restrictions on the use of the grant (my kid is doing study abroad).

We had my kid call the office, but then again, we get them to do most of the communication with the school.

I asked about a grant and was told it was based on the FAFSA and available funds for that year, so even if our financial situation stayed the same, it could go down if they had less money to give out.

Thank you! I will call and ask. At one school the grant is almost $14,000 so if that was only for one year that would make a big difference in our decision-making than if it were likely to be renewed all 4 years.

Some are just one year so definitely ask. Each schools doesn’t it differently.

Grant money is usually tied to financial need. You apply for financial aid every year.

Is this year’s package based on only having one child in school? If you have more than one child in college at the same time it can change (more money from the private school)
If you have more than on child in college and those kids graduate your grant can change
If you have a job loss your grant can change
If you make more money your grant can change