Reply to FAFSA says we can pay $90K; should we have applied for FA?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Maybe you made a mistake. Maybe not.

First, most of the very top schools offer little or no merit aid. Are you very sure the privates your DD applied to offer merit aid? And to what share of students? A school like Duke, eg, offers merit aid to just a handful. (The reason merit aid goes to so many B students (as noted above) is that the top schools don't offer any, so these top students aren't getting any.)

Second, merit aid isn't only about yield management-- it is about attracting better students. [b]Second tier colleges are offering merit aid to their better applicants. Are your DD's stats in the top 25th percentile (or better) of the schools' accepted students?[/b] If not, she is highly unlikely to be offered merit aid.

Third, many schools do require you to submit the FAFSA for merit aid. I don't think it's only because they want to make sure you don't qualify for federal funds. I think it's also because they are using merit aid to manage yield, and they know that offers of merit aid will be more enticing to some families than to others. My guess is that a student from a family with HHI of $200k might be more likely to get merit aid than one from a family with HHI of $300k, all else equal. And they might be more likely to offer it to students they think might actually go there. So if the student's stats are TOO high, or if the student hasn't demonstrated any real interest, they might not bother offering merit aid because they don't think the kid is going to come anyway.

IF your DD really wants to go to one of the privates, she gas nothing to lose by calling and asking for more aid. But recognize that the above points will influence the likelihood of her getting any.

Recognize, too, that with an EFC that high, most people wil think you can afford to send her to any of these colleges, aid or no, so sympathy for your DD might not be too great.[/quote]

I agree with your comment that merit is about attracting better students in addition to yield management. Lots of kids apply to slightly lower tier schools knowing that that's their greatest chance at merit aid. [/quote]

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