Tools
Merit aid tools for scholarship planning.
Use these free calculators and planners before you buy a playbook. They help estimate aid, spot scholarship traps, and organize the deadline work that families usually have to piece together by hand.
All tools
- SAI / EFC Estimator
Estimate your Student Aid Index using the simplified federal formula and see how much the government expects your family to contribute.
- Merit Aid Eligibility Quiz
Check whether your student is likely to qualify for automatic merit, competitive merit, or school-specific scholarship opportunities.
- Outside Scholarship Displacement Checker
See whether an outside scholarship is likely to stack, reduce loans first, or quietly replace institutional grant aid.
- Merit Aid Stacking Simulator
Model how institutional merit, need-based grants, and outside scholarships can combine or cancel each other out.
- Financial Aid Appeal Letter Builder
Build a focused appeal letter around the facts colleges actually need: changed finances, competing offers, and specific ask.
- Scholarship Deadline Generator
Turn scholarship and college deadlines into a working calendar so applications, FAFSA, CSS Profile, and renewals do not collide.