ANOTHER FAFSA QUESTION - Someone told me that some colleges require a parent to file the FAFSA for the student to obtain a merit-based scholarship - ANSWER - While the FAFSA is designed by the federal government primarily for the purpose of identifying students eligible for federal financial aid, the EFC and the individual family data information have gained widespread use for a number of other financial aid related reasons, even if the student might not qualify for need-based assistance. This may be for the purpose of collecting data on families qualifying for merit-based awards but most often it’s simply a standard office policy so that students can be considered for all forms of assistance. Also, some forms of merit-based awards carry a disclaimer that the award when combined with other forms of aid cannot create an over-award (when combined grants/scholarships is greater than the cost of education). So, if the student qualifies for need-based aid, then the merit-based award could be reduced accordingly. This allows the student to be fully awarded while allowing the institution to recoup some of its merit aid to use for other deserving students. Like almost everything in this process each college will handle it differently so the best place for this question is the college financial aid office - they will be able to tell you if the FAFSA is required for consideration of the institution’s merit-based programs.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 21:30:00 +0000
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