How does FAFSA weigh income vs. assets, and will merit scholarship affect aid eligibility?

The new FAFSA formula (for 2025-2026) definitely weights income more heavily than assets. Your assets are only counted at a maximum of 5.64% in the calculation. So having $100k in investments would only increase your expected contribution by about $5,640 max. Income is analyzed on a sliding scale with protection allowances based on family size. As for the merit scholarship - it depends on the school's policy. Some schools practice "scholarship stacking" where merit + need aid can exceed the cost of attendance. Other schools follow a "meet full need" approach where they'll reduce need-based aid dollar-for-dollar against merit awards. You should definitely call the financial aid office at your daughter's school to ask about their specific policy on this.

Im in almost same situation!!! low income but saved up for yrs. My kid got 65k merit at private college but we still got 7k from fafsa on top of it. But my sisters kid got nothin extra with her merit $ so its defiently school specific!!!

Just to add some more detail on the FAFSA asset protection - there's also an Asset Protection Allowance based on the age of the oldest parent. For most families, this means about the first $10,000 of assets isn't even counted at all. Then the 5.64% rate applies after that threshold. Student assets are assessed at 20% with no protection allowance though, so keep that in mind if any investments are in your daughter's name.

If you're having trouble getting through to the financial aid office, I'd recommend using Claimyr to get connected right away instead of waiting on hold. I just used it last week to reach my daughter's financial aid office after trying for days. You can see how it works at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ and sign up at claimyr.com. They got me through to a live person in about 10 minutes when I had been trying for days.

THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS RIGGED AGAINST RESPONSIBLE FAMILIES WHO SAVE!!! We saved our whole lives instead of buying fancy cars and vacations, and now we're getting PUNISHED for it while families who spent everything get free money. And don't get me started on all these colleges with BILLION DOLLAR endowments still charging $80K a year!!! The whole system is completely BROKEN.

Your situation sounds really similar to ours last year! My son had a big merit scholarship too. The key thing to understand is whether the school meets "full demonstrated need" or has a "preferential packaging" policy. Schools that meet full need will take your FAFSA result and then make sure your total aid package (including merit) equals that amount. So if your total cost is $70k, and FAFSA says you can pay $30k, they'll ensure your total aid equals $40k. If $35k is already covered by merit, they'll add $5k in need-based aid. Schools with preferential packaging will often stack aid and let students receive both the full merit award AND the need-based aid. It's definitely worth asking the specific policy!

my cousin works in financial aid and she says private schools have way more flexibility than public ones. they can pretty much do whatever they want with their own money. call and be super nice to them, sometimes they have discretionary funds they can give you if you ask the right way. also some schools have special scholarships that arent advertised.

I want to clarify something about the FAFSA calculation that might help. Under the new FAFSA formula (SAI instead of EFC), here's the basic breakdown of how assets and income are treated: 1. Income: Assessed on a progressive scale. After allowances for taxes and basic living expenses, the rate ranges from 22% to 47% of available income depending on your income level. 2. Assets: Parents' assets are assessed at a maximum of 5.64% after the Asset Protection Allowance. So if your income is truly low as you mentioned, even with substantial assets, you should still qualify for significant aid. The formula is designed so that income plays a much larger role than assets in determining aid eligibility.