Hi everyone, I had a quick question. I applied to Biola University and in my scholarship book it says that their average financial aid package is $18,515 and if I get Need Based Gift Aid that would be another $14,007. It says on their website that I qualify for a $10,000 scholarship. Between the average aid package, need based gift aid and the scholarship, I would have completely covered the first year of college with about $828 remaining. My question is, what exactly happens to the remains $828? Does it go into next years aid? Or do I keep it? Please let me know.
No it doesn’t work that way. You don’t get an ‘average’ financial aid package. You get one based on your family financials and also based on whether they will decide to meet your need. And need aid is not in addition, it is part of aid. Biola does not promise to meet your full need. It may but it may not. They are not going to award you aid in excess of that year’s Cost of Attendance. Go to the Biola website and run the Net Price calculator.
http://www.biola.edu/undergrad/financial-aid/net-price-calculator
http://www.biola.edu/undergrad/financial-aid/net-price-calculator
Before relying on a “scholarship book”, I would run the net price calculator on the college website. Plus, who says you will get the “average need based aid” amount – that is based on your family’s finances. Also, not all colleges will give you the $10,000 scholarship on top of the need based aid – they may just replace some of the need based grant. You may have leftover money, or you may not have enough aid. Biola is not a college that meets need, so you may end up with a gap. Don’t worry about having extra money – you probably won’t.
The average aid package (which includes the need based gift aid) means nothing. You need to use the net price calculator to figure out (based on income/grades/etc.) what you might qualify for at Biola.
http://www.biola.edu/undergrad/financial-aid/net-price-calculator
@intparent I feel I would get the highest amount of aid because my EFC is 0. The $10,000 was from GPA and sat scores, wouldn’t that be extra on top of the aid since its merit based instead of need based?
And the Biola calculator is pretty simple. It is possible you can get a larger award from them but you would have to apply to see. No one get ‘average aid’. Average just means that is what number comes up when they take an average of all the aid given. See? Some get a lot and some get a little. You get what they want to give based on your family income and how much they want you. I ran a NPC for a family of 4 making 72k, higher than usual assets. They would get the 10k merit plus only 10k need aid, leaving 30k for them to come up with, when the FAFSA EFC shows only 12k. That is a Gap of 18k a year. Biola only meets full need for 5 pct of students.
Your FAFSA EFC means nothing to an individual college --they probably have their own calculation. That is what the net price calculator on the college website is for. Run it – you are not looking at reliable information now. Plus, Bolia does not commit to meeting student need. A zero EFC even by their calculation does not mean your whole cost will be paid.
And no, MANY colleges replace need based aid with the merit aid, they do not stack it. Sometimes they replace loans or work study with it, though. Their websites are almost never clear, you have to ask the financial aid office.
@BrownParent Thanks so much! My mom couldn’t really help with this one so I’m glad I got some information somewhere! 
Your mom needs to sit down with you to run the net price calculator. Your title asks if you are doing this “right”. The answer is “no”, and that is the step you must take next. No one here can you what your aid will be, but the experienced posters are telling you that you could have a large gap.
OK well EFC zero means that you have a large need. It doesn’t mean you will get large aid at colleges that don’t promise to meet your full need. Now at Stanford you would. And there are about 65 schools that guarantee to meet need although they will use your student loan as part of the package. Other schools do ‘preferential packaging’ to meet need for students they really want. I don’t think Biola has a policy to try to meet need at all. This is typical of many small religious schools. I ran the price calculator for a 0 EFC family of 3 with 30k earnings and no assets and Biola NPC shows you would have to pay 21k a year.
Don’t look for college that only meets full need 5 pct of the time, instead look for ones that meet much larger percentiles. For instance in the area, University of Redlands meets need for more like 3/4 of students and also gives much larger merit awards for students in the top 25%, they will often get 20k a year and I have seen 30k per year awards too.
What are your updated stats? Sr yes?
For need aid they will look at what you need AFTER they give you merit. So once they give you 10k, you don’t need as much. Say school costs 50k, you need 50 with a 0 EFC. But you get 10 in merit so now you only need 40k per year to attend.