Not getting a scholarship

dufus3709
Thu, 22 Dec 2005 14:49:25 +0000

The VAST bulk of financial aid from colleges is need-based, not merit-based.

When you file the FAFSA form containing the income and savings information for yourself and your parents, a EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) will be calculated. Each colleges has a COA (Cost of Attendance) that includes tuition, room/board, and misc expenses. The college’s financial aid office will then calculate your NEED by subtracting the EFC from the COA. The college will then try to provide enough grants (tuition discounts), loans (probably federal), and work-study jobs to make it possible for you to attend. Different colleges will give you different finan-aid packages and you are interested in the grant/loan ratio. For example, a college with a COA of 44K might give you 20K grant and 5K in loans while another college with the same COA might give you 10K grant and 15K in loans. Even though the aid is 25K in both cases, the first college is better because you don’t pay back grants.

The system is basically set up so that the rich pay full price and the poor are heavily subsidized. There are two problems. One, you don’t have to have a lot of money because they consider you rich. Once a family’s income approaches and goes over $100K/year, the EFC goes up extremely fast. For a family where both families work, a combined income of $100K/year is not that high. The other problem is that even with a $20K/year grant and $5K/year loan, you still have to come up with $15K/year on your own. This is still a lot of money.

I would understand that merit aid is very rare, and talk to the finan aid office about options with need-based aid.