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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is a conversation you need to have with the financial aid office of the ED school.

If you don’t qualify for need based aid (you’ve run the NPC calculator) and you need merit aid to afford the ED school, then DO NOT apply for ED.

Ya’ll are confusing merit (non-need based aid) with need based aid. Colleges award merit according to their own rules, and it has nothing to do with your financial picture. [/quote]

We will probably call the school but I’m curious why you think it matters where the money comes from (FA/merit aid/other scholarships/family help/rotc). Bottom line is we need some assistance to pay. No guarantee we will get the money but it’s possible.
[/quote]

[b]Because the schools categorize it differently.
[/b]
Run the calculator and it will say what the school has determined your need is (most of us disagree with those figures btw). Colleges that guarantee to meet 100% of need, mean that they will provide that number to anyone they admit ED or RD.

If you are confident in your ability to pay the net price out of funds you have at the time of the application, then apply ED. It is unlikely you will get more from the college.

If you are not, for whatever reason (including waiting on a relative to die, applying for outside scholarships, whatever) you cannot apply ED. Period.  [/quote]

Quite true and what PP^ is saying is correct.  Merit aid is decided by the school and it is usually awarded when they want a particular student for something.  The more elite the school the less like there will be any merit aid at all.  For example, DS got awarded $26K from two small LACs you've never heard of only because they wanted his ACT score for reporting purposes to USN&WR.  However, his ACT was about the high norm for state flagship an even with the 26K, it was still cheaper for him to go to the more prestigious flagship.  No other institution, including ivies offered any merit whatsoever because they can get whatever stats they want from their normal applicant pools of 35,000.  Financial aid, however, is determined by the FAFSA, which you file with the U.S. Department of Education.  Their computers tell you what THEY (feds) think is your family contribution should be - and usually, as in our case or of donut hole families - that amount is full pay.  The EFC (expected family contributiion) figure goes to the colleges.  The colleges then look at the EFC - if your EFC is zero, then yes they will try to find some package of loans, pell grants, grants, workstudent, merit money to come up with an affordable package.  But if your EFC is like most people in the D.C. area, you may get nothing.  However if you file the FAFSA you can have your child obtain the standard $5500 federal unsubsidized loan, which our children do every year.  That amount jumps about $1000 each year so your student will come out owing rougly $25K in total student debt but the rate of interest is low and the payout period is long.  The different is going to fall on you, the family.  That's why in-state options have become so desireable.  Most of us can't afford $70-$85K a year in after-tax dollars, especially when [b]we have more than one child in college at the same time. [/b] Do you have a good college counselor to talk to? They can explain all of this to you and give you direction[/quote]

That’s one of the main things they grant aid for![/quote]

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