In the schools my kids applied to and attended, merit aid was awarded by admissions office (or their major departments) and FA was awarded by the FA office. The two offices didn’t know what the other was doing. One exception was when the awards from the departments, including athletic aid ‘came in’ to FA, the need based FA might have been adjusted, but not the other way around. D’s FA office applied the awards in the order most beneficial to her - merit first as some could only be used for tuition, then FA and finally loans. If anything left over, they gave her a refund. If anything owed, I paid it.
1 Like