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Does athletic or merit aid result in lower finaid?

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    Does athletic or merit aid result in lower finaid?

    My EFC ( expected family contribution ) is $30k (with total cost of college per year at $60k).
    If my son gets say $10k in athletic and $5k in merit aid, will my EFC go up by $15K?

    #2
    Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
    My EFC ( expected family contribution ) is $30k (with total cost of college per year at $60k).
    If my son gets say $10k in athletic and $5k in merit aid, will my EFC go up by $15K?
    No, EFC is a pre scholarship number.

    So, in your case, if you were at a school that met 100% of need, you could expect another $15K in need based aid (which will usually include loans) and you would still be expected to contribute $30K from your pocket.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
      No, EFC is a pre scholarship number.

      So, in your case, if you were at a school that met 100% of need, you could expect another $15K in need based aid (which will usually include loans) and you would still be expected to contribute $30K from your pocket.
      Sorry I'm confused. Are you saying that there's no financial advantage to getting a merit or athletic scholarship for people who qualify for a need-based aid grant greater than the combined athletic / merit amount ?

      In other words either way he pays $30k . So his son's athleticism and academic talent didn't offer any financial benefit?!

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
        Sorry I'm confused. Are you saying that there's no financial advantage to getting a merit or athletic scholarship for people who qualify for a need-based aid grant greater than the combined athletic / merit amount ?

        In other words either way he pays $30k . So his son's athleticism and academic talent didn't offer any financial benefit?!

        Do the math. 30K is what you are expected to pay from a 60K total
        You are getting 10K (athletic) and 5K (merit) which equals 15K
        60-30-15=15
        That leaves 15 K still needing to be accounted for.....i.e. loans.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
          Do the math. 30K is what you are expected to pay from a 60K total
          You are getting 10K (athletic) and 5K (merit) which equals 15K
          60-30-15=15
          That leaves 15 K still needing to be accounted for.....i.e. loans.
          Not the OP but I thought athletic money is taken into account for FA? In other words with your example the 10K gets added back in so it ends up being 60-30-10+10-5 = 25. Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly

          Comment


            #6
            Lot's not now start going down the path where athletic money is going to be said to have no value. Money is money and if the athletic money were not there the balance would have to be paid from some other source.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
              Lot's not now start going down the path where athletic money is going to be said to have no value. Money is money and if the athletic money were not there the balance would have to be paid from some other source.
              Any money that isn't coming out of my pocket is a beautiful thing no matter what it's called

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                Do the math. 30K is what you are expected to pay from a 60K total
                You are getting 10K (athletic) and 5K (merit) which equals 15K
                60-30-15=15
                That leaves 15 K still needing to be accounted for.....i.e. loans.
                Not sure if this is right. I have a nephew in the honors program at umass Lowell.
                This year he applied for and got two merit scholarships for $2500 each . When they got their EFC in June, it was $5000 more than last year ( and they Han no change in their financials compared to last year) . My brother called and asked why it went up and they confirmed that it was because of the scholarship. It took a lot of time and effort to get the scholarship (had to write multiple essays, get recommendations etc..) but it didn't change their bottom line. Quite demoralizing ...

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                  Not sure if this is right. I have a nephew in the honors program at umass Lowell.
                  This year he applied for and got two merit scholarships for $2500 each . When they got their EFC in June, it was $5000 more than last year ( and they Han no change in their financials compared to last year) . My brother called and asked why it went up and they confirmed that it was because of the scholarship. It took a lot of time and effort to get the scholarship (had to write multiple essays, get recommendations etc..) but it didn't change their bottom line. Quite demoralizing ...
                  The EFC calculation is intended to show the school how much need the family has (basically using a formula to bring all financial situations to the same scale).

                  The only was the EFC would increase would be if the merit scholarship was from outside of a school source. This is because the scholarship would increase the funds available to the family, thus decreasing the need the school is trying to meet.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                    Sorry I'm confused. Are you saying that there's no financial advantage to getting a merit or athletic scholarship for people who qualify for a need-based aid grant greater than the combined athletic / merit amount ?

                    In other words either way he pays $30k . So his son's athleticism and academic talent didn't offer any financial benefit?!
                    You are sort of correct but you are missing two fairly important considerations.

                    1) Most schools do not meet 100% of need with scholarships, so, in many cases, the merit (or athletic money) takes the place of either loans or unmet need.

                    2) Merit money (including athletic money) can exceed need. So, if you start with a very low EFC, it will be reduced if you get a large amount of merit aid.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I think a lot of the confusion comes from the phrase EFC (Expected Family Contribution). The FAFSA (or other need calc formulas) are made to create what I'll call a Target Aid Figure (TAF).

                      TAF = Merit Aid + Athletic Grants + Outside Scholarships + Loans + Work Study + Unmet Need. (might be a couple more categories but you get the idea)

                      EFC + TAF = Tuition.

                      Since TAF includes ALL aid a student receives - and in reality, that is the figure being calculated. When you get outside aid, it reduces the TAF, thus increasing the EFC.

                      Different schools have different ways of figuring aid once they have the figures. I'm sure you can imagine all sorts of complicated formulas that each fin aid dept uses to attempt to fairly allocate available aid. For example a few (well endowed schools) meet all need, other schools start with loans then meet a percentage of whats left with grants, others meet a percentage of TAF with grants and then give loans.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                        Do the math. 30K is what you are expected to pay from a 60K total
                        You are getting 10K (athletic) and 5K (merit) which equals 15K
                        60-30-15=15
                        That leaves 15 K still needing to be accounted for.....i.e. loans.
                        I believe his EFC would be calculated as 60-30+10+5-10-5=30K

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                          I believe his EFC would be calculated as 60-30+10+5-10-5=30K
                          I think people are using the phrase EFC incorrectly.

                          EFC is a figure computed by the Department of Education based on a submitted FAFSA (there are another 1 or 2 organizations that also perform a similar scoring process).

                          EFC is not changed by scholarships, merit aid or athletic aid.

                          That being said, school need based aid will usually be reduced by the amount of an award if a student gets a private scholarship or a merit award.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Clear as mud

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
                              I think people are using the phrase EFC incorrectly.

                              EFC is a figure computed by the Department of Education based on a submitted FAFSA (there are another 1 or 2 organizations that also perform a similar scoring process).

                              EFC is not changed by scholarships, merit aid or athletic aid.
                              I understand that EFC is not changed by the outside aid. But if the school is offering 100% of the student's need, does is really matter if they call it merit aid, athletic aid, or whatever. Your kid is going to get that aid in one form or another.

                              Comment

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