<p>There are merit scholarships that are based purely on merit. There are also merit scholarships that consider need as a criterion. Some schools will award merit scholarships without requiring students to file the FAFSA or PROFILE. There are also some schools that require the FAFSA (and sometimes the PROFILE, too) for even merit-only scholarships (probably for institutional data purposes - like “X% of scholarship recipients come from families with income above $Y”). If the FAFSA is required, the school will let you know.</p>
<p>In answer to the thread title, YES.</p>