Contact FA office to explain why not asking for need based aid, but need merit?

ucbalumnus
Tue, 12 Jul 2022 16:04:56 +0000

MITPhysicsAlum:

This seems to be mixing need and merit. If the student ends more, sh or she merits more?

Some colleges do blur the line between need based aid and merit scholarships. An example is the use of “preferential packaging” of need based aid for a student the college is highly interested in, even though the school nominally does not offer merit scholarships. Since merit scholarships are generally opaque and used to entice admits to attend, a college which knows what net price a desirable student needs to attend may choose to ensure that its offer matches that (whether it would have been more or less than it would have offered otherwise).