Will FAFSA info decrease the amount of scholarship awards already given to me?

Paying for College
1

<p>I've already received scholarships from two of the schools I've applied to, even though we have not submitted our FAFSA yet. One of them is the Board of Regents Scholarship from UNT ($24,000 total; $6,000/yr). The other is a SMU Founders' Scholarship ($60,000 total; $15,000/yr). </p>

<p>According to my dad, we have enough money to pay for at least my first year of college. The thing is, if colleges see this will they decrease the amount of scholarship money they've already offered to me? (We're kind of scared to submit the FAFSA because of this possibility. I'm the first in my family to attend college in the U.S., so there's a lot we don't understand about the whole process. I've tried researching but most of the financial aid lingo goes over my head.) </p>

<p>Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, it would be a great help if someone could link me to a site that explains the FAFSA and financial aid in general in a way I can understand.</p>

2

<p>The FAFSA does not “give” money to anyone. The only thing that the FAFSA does is generate an EFC (expected family contribution). If your EFC is below 4995, you will be eligible for pell grant.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P1201Attach20122013PaymentSchedules.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P1201Attach20122013PaymentSchedules.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>if your EFC is 4996 or above, you will not be eligible for a pell grant</p>

<p>Your EFC will determine if you are eligible for a subsidized/unsubsidized loan</p>

<p>You will have to check to see if you are eligible for state aid from Texas</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.everychanceeverytexan.org/funding/aid/aidtx.php[/url]”>http://www.everychanceeverytexan.org/funding/aid/aidtx.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>The schools offered you merit scholarships based on stats. the awards won’t be reduced because of your FAFSA.</p>

4

<p>But if you have need (based on the difference between the cost of attendence and your family’s EFC) of less than the amount of the merit scholarship you’ve already been awarded, your need will be covered by that scholarship, so you will receive no additional <em>free</em> money. Make sense?</p>

<p>There are lots of books available on financial aid. I’d suggest you look at a website with reviews of such books and order one that sounds useful.</p>

5

<p>Try this website for basic info:</p>

<p>[FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>http://www.finaid.org/)</p>