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Does the Admissions Office of most law schools decide on how to give out need based aid as well as merit based aid? Do these ppl take into account merit offers when calculating "need"? Do the people tend to consider your overall situation/contribution to the school when calculating offers, or is need based distributed on a blind basis (strictly according to the numbers, w/o knowledge of who gets what?)

Geneva wrote:Does the Admissions Office of most law schools decide on how to give out need based aid as well as merit based aid? Do these ppl take into account merit offers when calculating "need"? Do the people tend to consider your overall situation/contribution to the school when calculating offers, or is need based distributed on a blind basis (strictly according to the numbers, w/o knowledge of who gets what?)

My experience is that the aid office will calculate how much need aid you're eligible for, then subtract your merit aid from that amount.

Let's say they offer $5k merit
Then, they figure you are eligible for $12k need based aid
You will get $12k total, being $5k merit and $7k need.
The classification matters re stops and automatic renewal:
My merit aid has no stips and is guaranteed for all 3 years while my need based aid will get recalculated based in my summer earnings, so the more merit the better

It makes sense: if you get money, obviously you don't need as much as if you don't get anything

dingbat wrote:

Geneva wrote:Does the Admissions Office of most law schools decide on how to give out need based aid as well as merit based aid? Do these ppl take into account merit offers when calculating "need"? Do the people tend to consider your overall situation/contribution to the school when calculating offers, or is need based distributed on a blind basis (strictly according to the numbers, w/o knowledge of who gets what?)

My experience is that the aid office will calculate how much need aid you're eligible for, then subtract your merit aid from that amount.

Let's say they offer $5k merit
Then, they figure you are eligible for $12k need based aid
You will get $12k total, being $5k merit and $7k need.
The classification matters re stops and automatic renewal:
My merit aid has no stips and is guaranteed for all 3 years while my need based aid will get recalculated based in my summer earnings, so the more merit the better

It makes sense: if you get money, obviously you don't need as much as if you don't get anything

Thanks, that does make sense. Is the financial aid office distinct from the merit based aid office then? The admissions ppl decide on merit amount and then a separate office/person calculates the neeed portion accordingly?