College policies do vary.
Here is a list of how various colleges treat outside scholarships in combination with need-based financial aid. How colleges handle their own scholarships with need-based financial aid can differ. Formatting is odd because the post was made under the old forums before conversion to the current forums.
Since the interaction between outside scholarships and financial aid varies for different colleges, how about making a list of different college policies?
Specify the order in which parts of the financial aid package are replaced. Use the following abbreviations for common terms (not all colleges include all of the following):
UN = unmet need
SL = student loan (federal direct loan)
SW = student work expectation or work study
SC = student contribution = SL + SW
IG = institutional grants (i.e. grants from the college)
PC = parent contribution expectation
Full “stacking” examples (IG is reduced last):
CMU: UN, SL, SW, PC, IG https://www.cmu.edu/sfs/financial-aid/types/scholarships-and-grants/outside.html
Maryland public universities: (UN + SC + PC), IG https://www.baltimoresun.com/education/bs-md-scholarship-displacement-20170704-story.html
St. Olaf: SL, SW, PC, IG https://wp.stolaf.edu/financialaid/outside-scholarships/
Better for the student than typical policy, but not f…
1 Like