I disagree. Any kind of free money that helps a student pay for school is “financial aid.” This includes merit money. Heck, I would even say that some of the self-help type programs, like federal student loans and federal work-study, is a kind of financial aid. At the risk of going out on a limb here, I think you’ll find that the consensus here on CC is that there are two general types of financial aid - merit aid and need-based aid.