What financial Aid is it?

Catheryn Small: Financial aid packages at most colleges contain a mixture of aid from different sources. A Pell grant FAFSA is just one of those sources. A Net Price Calculator is simply a tool that gives you a ballpark estimate of how much aid the average student with your financial situation is likely to receive. It's saying that in the calculation they included aid from need based sources (like the Pell grant) and merit based sources (usually school scholarships). The FAFSA aid is set in stone because the amounts are determined by formulas created by the federal government. Merit aid is another story. Although you may be "eligible" to receive a scholarship, that doesn't mean you will actually get it. It could be that every student who has a particular GPA is eligible to receive a given scholarship, but if there's only one scholarship being offered, only one of those eligible students will get it. Colleges often publish long lists of scholarships on the finan! cial aid page of their websites to lull students into thinking there is lots of money to go around. Sometimes there is. But sometimes there's not, and only a few top students will receive it. Net price calculators are a good tool for comparing colleges, but don't rely on them too much. The best way to determine what a college will really offer you is to submit the FAFSA (and any other applications required ) and wait for them to send you an actual package....Show more