<p>With my kids, the need-based aid was variable because of our income and the number of kids in college. We only have one kid in college (Furman) now and he has a very big scholarship that will not increase across time. He has no need aid other than a small Stafford loan eligibility. They were very clear in the letter about expectations (GPA, major). My daughter is graduating from Grinnell and they were wonderful with increasing the scholarship amount as tuition rose. She was given an additional named scholarship her last two years. When her brother entered college, she was given need-based grant money (as was her brother at his school.) Berry College swapped need-based grant money for scholarship with my son. He made good grades, the need aid eliminated and he was given a named scholarship that required that his GPA remain over a 3.2 for his second year.</p>
<p>The biggest problem is with need-based grants is they are not a source one can count on. They fluctuate from year to year depending on the number of dependents in the home, number of children in college, how much money the student earns in the summer and family income (can really be knocked out if one inherits money from the estate of a relative). Grants do not operate like scholarships do and some grants are named as “scholarships” (read the fine print). </p>
<p>With our kids, we went with the biggest merit offerings in college choice. Colleges can and do swap out grant monies with loans for returning students who have lower college GPAs and limited/no involvement with campus activities. Some schools were quite frank about doing this more with lower GPA kids (under 3.0).</p>
<p>My kids went to college knowing they would need to keep the GPA over a 3.0 (and higher) in order to be looked upon favorably by financial aid.</p>
<p>I feel for you Lawrencemom. With all three LACs I have had kids in, the returning need aid was never determined until early June. That is way to late to change plans for your student.</p>