<p>When I did an NPC for different schools, it was saying that the scholarship I would get was both merit and need based aid. </p>
<p>I thought Fafsa gave out need based grants only. Also, how can they determine both merit and need based aid when I haven’t even answered anything about my grades in school?</p>
<p>RE: Fafsa- it doesn’t give out anything. It’s a federal formula that calculates how much federal loan aid you qualify for. No grants, no scholarships. College and universities use it to determine your eligibility for federal loans.</p>
<p>I know Fafsa doesn’t give out anything but it only determines non need based aid, but when I used the NPC it said this is the approximate you will get with both merit and need based aid.</p>
<p>NPC is not FAFSA.</p>
<p>NPC is the SCHOOL’s calculator to determine what aid they will give you, in addition to any federal aid determined by FAFSA.</p>
<p>Did the NPC ask for your GPA and test scores? If yes, then the merit estimate may have been based on that. If it didn’t ask you about stats, then the NPC may be overly optimistic because everyone doesn’t get merit.</p>