<p>When you are looking for need based awards, be aware that they too can have different requirements. The majority of need based grants are given by the colleges themselves, and they define the need. The way it works at a lot of schools is that a student has to have need as defined by the college (usually the calculation is done by FAFSA or PROFILE) in order to be in running for the awards. Some of the awards have other criteriia as well. Those schools that went to need based aid only, turned alot of their endowed scholarships into the financial aid pool with only those student with need eligible for those awards. So, yes, a student with financial need can get a merit award from financial aid that is a merit within need award. Some schools may even give more aid than defined by need. It all depends upon the school. Many schools give the best of the students who have need, the best of the awards, which are the grants that are pure money, over self help. </p>
<p>For those schools that are the most pricey, you will likely qualify for need based aid. About 5.6% of parental assets are usually put towards EFC,and then your have the portion of income that goes towards EFC.</p>
<p>The best way to see what the pure aid calculation is calculated is to pick a school that gives zero merit awards and guarantees to meet 100% of need, and run your numbers through that school’s NPC. That is a best case scenario, for pure need, most of the time.</p>