<p>Please help a confused first time college parent. Suppose that two colleges cost 52k/year. One Princeton, another LAC offering 10k merit. Just ran Princeton’s estimator and it shows our need as 10k. Our need at the LAC would be 10k but my son has a great chance of getting 10k merit. Being a first-time college parent, I am ignorant of how financial aid works. Would Princeton and the LAC bottom line cost be essentially equiivalent? In other words, if my son attends a school that costs 52k and our need is 10k and he earns a 10k merit scholarship, that the merit scholarship is essentially worthless? In other words, would our net cost for the school still be 42k for both schools?</p>
<p>Any thoughts or comments greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>You would have to contact the individual schools for specifics, but the merit award would displace need (your 10K need is no longer there due to the merit award), so yes. There would be no change in what you pay. There are some schools that will allow you to use the merit award to be placed against your contribution.</p>
<p>This is complicated. Merit aid does reduce need, but Princeton has such generous aid compared to other colleges that it’s hard to say.</p>
<p>Though keep in mind that work study will be part of need based aid at Princeton most probably whereas if you need was met with merit aid that would not be a factor.</p>
<p>What will make the difference is what the two schools define as need. I have seen institutional EFCs vary widely even among schools that are dedicated to using the same methodologies and considerations. When you have schools that don’t even make such stipulations, the numbers can go anywhere. I know schools that want the value of your cars included in assets, schools that will consider tuition and other expenses for your other kids, schools that will cap what they count in home equity, schools that will look at your qualified pension plan balances. </p>
<p>I don’t know what Princeton uses to come up with their need figure, but I think you can get a good estimate from them. From other schools, it is not so easy. </p>
<p>There are also schools that give merit within aid that can end up giving a student more money that what need dictates. As long as government financial aid isn’t being given, there is no reason why a school cannot use private funds to give more than what their need figure comes out to be. I have seen such scenarios. You cannot get subsidized Staffords or other subsidized government loans, or Pell money in such a case, (though PELL will not come into the OP’s picture at their need level)</p>
<p>I know personally of a family whose need was about $10K and their student is getting about $30k in merit/need from college. So the money is stackable if the college allows stacking. This won’t happen with Princeton since they do not give any merit money.</p>