<p>If the college costs 47k and our FAFSA efc is 37k does this mean the college would give us 10k in aid? Would this be. in addition to the merit aid already given? Or instead of it? And will a college offer more than the 10k or is it the most they will offer? </p>
<p>Sorry for the smily face, I don’t know how to remove it</p>
<p>At all but a handful of colleges, you will not have your need met with need-based aid. In other words, you are very unlikely to get 10k in aid to bridge the gap between the EFC and the COA unless it is in merit aid. Merit aid is separate from need-based aid. </p>
<p>Merit aid can be up to the full 47k- that’s completely up to the school. </p>
<p>The $37K figure, in most cases, is the very least you will have to pay before getting aid. Very few schools meet need as defined by EFC for all of their students. Also if you get merit aid, it generally is first used to reduce need, so you don’t qualify for as much.</p>
<p>You can run NPCs for the colleges in consideration and see how they, on average, will provide an aid package for someone with your numbers. Again, not exact, as we are talking about averages, but it will give you a better idea, how given colleges will address your specific situation. </p>
<p>“Would this be. in addition to the merit aid already given? Or instead of it? And will a college offer more than the 10k or is it the most they will offer?”</p>
<p>the merit aid gets applied to “need” first. So, if the merit is $10k or more, then you have no need.</p>
<p>That said, even if you weren’t given the merit, it’s very likely you would NOT be given any free money even with that $10k of need. Most schools don’t “meet need”. You might be given a $5500 loan towards that need and that’s it.</p>
<p>Does this school promise to meet need?</p>
<p>As for whether you’d get any more money…The only money you could get now is merit. Your child can take out a $5500 unsub loan as well. </p>
<p>The bottom line is that the FAFSA EFC only guarantees that a student can get PELL (you are not eligible) if the number is below a certain threshhold and the cost of the school warrants it. It also makes some of the $5500 first year Direct Loan amount ($3500 ) to be subsidized if no other aid is received to cover the need. That’s it. The rest is up to the college, and if you are in a state that has some college money, that can come into play too.</p>
<p>In many cases, for a school that uses FAFSA only, a $10K need could just be met with the $5500 loan, some work study, say $1500 and then throw in a grant for a thousand or so. Doesn’t matter in that case whether it’s merit or financial aid as it comes down to the same thing. You still have to come up with the $37K somehow, and if your kid gets outside scholarship, the work study and loans can be replaced by it. Kid can still find a job, just not get federal work study funds, and the loans can still be taken without subsidy in such cases. </p>
<p>If the student gets a nice big scholarship, like for $30k, that wipes out the need, but the student can still take out $5500 in loans (unsub) and work (non fed work study funded). </p>