My family is not eligible for FA, but someone said that I should still check off the box that I would be applying for FA for two reasons - 1) you really need to go through the whole process (filling out FAFSA, etc) before you know for certain, and 2) Even if you don’t get FA, you can still be eligible for Merit scholarships and checking off the FA box allows you to be eligible for Merit scholarships as well. Is this accurate? If not, how do I become eligible for Merit scholarships? Do I apply for this, or does the school give you this based on your grades?
First, it would depend on the individual schools. Is the school need-blind or need-aware? Also, does it provide merit scholarships at all?
They are need blind and some do provide the merit scholarships. I just don’t know the correct way to proceed.
The school will let you know if you need to fill out the FAFSA (or even CSS Profile) for any merit aid you warrant.
Look at the schools’ websites, under Scholarships and look to see what the req’ts are.
What schools are these?
Also, have your parents fill out the NPC’s and see what the results are.