Need based aid is aid that has some formal comparison of financial strength as an eligibility criterion. Some aid programs require that a student's level of need be extreme while others only require a moderate level of need.
Aid for which need is not a consideration is called non-need based.
Non-need based aid can have a myriad of other eligibility criteria. For instance, some schools offer grants to siblings if both attend the same school. Other criteria might include ethnicity, affiliation with an organization, being the child of an alumnus, being the daughter of an employee, being an employee of the company and so forth.
