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I am getting worried about my FAFSA and needs-based grants. I'm an international student so I'm not going to get any federal aid but I still need to submit the FAFSA to some schools to calculate my federal aid. I put my info and my parents' info into an EFC calculator and it is something like $35,000 but without my parents it is $0.

I don't care if I don't get needs-based grants but I do care if schools are going to decrease my merit aid because of my EFC.

So, basically I have two questions:
1) Should I just submit FAFSA/need access to schools that don't ask for parent info?
2) Does a high EFC impact merit-based offers?

Help please!!

FWIW I'm in the same position as you and I'm planning to ask to be considered for merit aid only for all the schools I get admitted to except for HYS since they only do need based aid anyways.

admiringatticus wrote:I am getting worried about my FAFSA and needs-based grants. I'm an international student so I'm not going to get any federal aid but I still need to submit the FAFSA to some schools to calculate my federal aid. I put my info and my parents' info into an EFC calculator and it is something like $35,000 but without my parents it is $0.

I don't care if I don't get needs-based grants but I do care if schools are going to decrease my merit aid because of my EFC.

So, basically I have two questions:
1) Should I just submit FAFSA/need access to schools that don't ask for parent info?
2) Does a high EFC impact merit-based offers?

Help please!!

Hi there,

I'm a past college financial aid counselor, so perhaps I can give you some insight.

When you fill out the FAFSA, you do not need to put in parent info because you're considered an independent student. Only dependent students (aka undergraduates who are under 24) are required to include their parental information on the FAFSA. If your law program requires that you submit parental information, I doubt it will affect consideration for merit aid. Only scholarships that are based on 'financial need' require a low FAFSA EFC. Merit scholarships have nothing to do with financial need.

I am in a similar situation as OP. I filled out the FAFSA without parental information, but Berkeley (where I've been accepted and is my top choice at the moment) requires parental information for the all dependent admits.

The issue is, my parents are high net worth ($2m+) and do not want to give their income/net worth out online. Is there any chance I'll qualify for need-based aid? Should I even bother with pushing them for their parental information?

To answer the OP's question, no, schools will not reduce your merit based scholarship offers because you don't have financial need. Merit based scholarships are about luring you away from higher ranked schools, and all that matters is how good you are in the first instance, and what your other options are in the second instance.

So, submit fafsa everywhere you want to apply for fin aid.