Does Merit Money Build On Need-Based Grants?

berkdork
Mon, 28 Nov 2016 04:55:13 +0000

I know it’s pretty late in the game to be considering new schools to apply to, but lately I’ve really been warming up to the idea of Macalester.

I’m sure this question has been asked before, or is just common sense, but as a first-gen college kid I’m pretty clueless on both things and have heard different schools have different policies, so I was wondering what Macalester’s is.

I’m just going to use numbers because hypotheticals are more difficult to explain:

Say my EFC is ~$12,000 (based on the NPC), if I got a merit scholarship for >$12,000 (or less than, I suppose it doesn’t really matter), would my EFC change (in this situation, become 0?). I think the likelihood of it becoming 0 is low, but would the EFC change in anyway, maybe down to like $10,000 or something, because I thought merit aid was supposed to entice applicants to choose the school, but if your EFC doesn’t change, isn’t it like you never got any money?

Thanks in advance and I hope everyone has a great night! GL to the applicants who applied ED, I’m sure you’re currently stressed out waiting for the results!