So, basically a school I have been accepted to has offered me two scholarships worth 5k and 2k each. If I have a zero efc, how exactly would this 7k affect my eligibility for financial aid? I was told by the office of financial aid that they would in fact affect my aid, but they did not provide specific ramifications.
Most likely, the school’s aid offer will include a student contribution and possibly unmet need. The student contribution may be covered by a loan or work study offer.
It is common for merit scholarships to first replace these categories before replacing grants. But this may not be true at all schools.
Does the school cost more than $7K? If these are need based aid, and your need is met by a Pell grant of $5800, or if there are other grants, that reduces your need from the college. Only the college can tell you if it is a $1 for $1 reduction or a percentage.
As an example, Loyola University of Chicago says that “Whenever possible, self help awards (Federal Work Study and loans) are reduced before federal or institution gift assistance” at http://www.luc.edu/finaid/outsch.shtml#d.en.131423 .
Which school is this?
It really depends on the school and the scholarship. If your need is reduced by scholarship(s), your need based aids will be adjusted accordingly. In my D’s case, she had no loan or workstudy but grant last year due to a significant institutional scholarship. Each additional external scholarship got offset by reduction in grant in exact amount. This year, she has grant, loan, and work study in addition to the institutional scholarship. Then she got the renewal of a state scholarship that reduce the grant amount due to the state fund restriction, and a new departmental scholarship that just reduce the loan in exact amount.