Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many school-based scholarships that are not linked to need require filling out fasfa.

Name one school because I can't find one for which this is true.

George Mason. they wouldn't even talk to me before we filed the FAFSA. period

That sounds like it was something special at GMU, not the typical merit based scholarships. Their website says that applicants are automatically considered for merit scholarships, and that they are announced no later than Feb., but usually earlier. Many people would not have completed the fafsa prior to Feb, so obviously GMU is making the decisions for merit scholarships when the application for admission is submitted, not the FAFSA.

I'm not sure why you were "talking" to GMU -- the merit scholarships are mostly done without direct talking to the applicant. So, I don't think your experience is representative of GMU's policies for awarding merit scholarships to first-time/freshmen applicants.

Anonymous wrote:Do you wish you did and why?

I’m leaving towards not filling it out. We won’t get any money. I’m certain.

We filled it out in the hopes of getting an EFC less than 100%. We did not get it so were full pay but both children took out the FAFSA $5500 loan (which increases every year) and that was important because THEY had to sign the paperwork which gave them skin in the game. Well, worth it. And today both kids are on top of their own loan obligations and understand finances and interest much better than if we had just paid it all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many school-based scholarships that are not linked to need require filling out fasfa.

Name one school because I can't find one for which this is true.

George Mason. they wouldn't even talk to me before we filed the FAFSA. period

Anonymous wrote:Not filling it out either, played with the calculator, EFC is 80k+ Based on assets only (~ 2 million ) even with 0 income

Please tell me these are non-retirement assets.

Another anecdote but the same - we don't qualify for aid, didn't fill out FAFSA, my DS got merit money at several schools in a range of amounts (up to half tuition) and is now at that school. We won't fill out for my second kid - I haven't ever heard of a real school in real life that requires FAFSA for merit aid. (not saying it isn't true, just saying I don't personally know it).

Anonymous wrote:We did not fill it out. That decision did not affect Merit Aid.

But no one can guarantee you the same result, Op.

Just check with all schools your kid is applying to and ask. They will tell you if there are merit awards that require FAFSA. In my experience, most do not (3 kids all applied to 10-12 different schools, none of those required FAFSA for any merit considerations).

Anonymous wrote:For those that didn't fill it out do you think it helped your admission chances?

There is a checkbox for whether or not you are requesting financial aid. At need aware schools that is what matters not whether or not you filled out the FAFSA.

For those that didn't fill it out do you think it helped your admission chances?

We did not fill it out. That decision did not affect Merit Aid.

But no one can guarantee you the same result, Op.

Fordham

Would not have qualified. Not worth the effort. Interestingly for most schools there’s no box to check to say you won’t be filing a fafsa. only one or two schools actually asked to confirm that.

Anonymous wrote:Things may have (may have?!) changed since the late 90's when I worked in the financial aid office of my college, but at that time, one of the prerequisites for ALL scholarships was that financial aid had to have been applied for, even if the student didn't qualify for any.

Reporting from ancient history is not helpful. Times have changed.

Never filled it out. No point. We are full pay. DC still received several merit offers.

My daughter is on a full ride at the school she is at and we did not even submit FAFSA for the school. They never asked for it since she is on full ride scholarship.

We filled it out even though we knew that we would not get any $. We have money saved for college, pretty high HHI etc. My kid was also a NMSF when he applied. He was offered no aid from any of the colleges he got into. In-state flagship gave lots of merit scholarship and NMS as well for honor college and major of his choice. All in all, OOP cost will be around 5K for meals. He probably would have got the scholarship without FAFSA also based on his academic record and EC record etc.