FA vs merit aid -- does it matter?

saintfan
Thu, 29 Nov 2012 20:33:09 +0000

My D is at a school that has merit awards and meets 100% of need. The merit award by definition reduces need so the grant portion is lower. Grinnell has merit awards that are smaller (about 10-15k per year) but gives really large grant aid. Both included work study as part of meeting need + loans. Grinnell and some other schools cap loan amounts. Merit money usually comes from a different pool and I can’t imagine a school would want to pull all your aid from the grant pool if you were in the profile range for merit as well. If you won powerball yesterday you would still pay less with a merit award, but if you had gone straight need then you would be full pay. Circumstances change.