<p>@DiscipulusBonus OK, it’s Knox College. Here’s the [scholarship</a> page](<a href=“http://www.knox.edu/admission/scholarships/academic-scholarships.html"]scholarship”>http://www.knox.edu/admission/scholarships/academic-scholarships.html). I’m sure someone else would have read it correctly the first time, but let me take you through my own thought process without putting me or CC in danger of libel. The top part of the page contains this:</p>
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When I saw that, I thought maybe that’s $22K + “up to $20K” if DD qualifies for the Lincoln Scholarship. Further on the page, it gets a little more slippery than that, but I read it with my first interpretation coloring my thoughts</p>
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Anyway, I’m still thinking “up to $22K” + “up to $20K,” which is close to full tuition. A potential bonanza. An email to finaid confirmed that the National Merit Scholarship will stack with other scholarships.</p>
<p>What they don’t print anywhere is that “can receive Knox College scholarships up to $20,000” means the Lincoln Scholarship, not $20K in addition to the Lincoln. As I wrote before, it’s clear in hindsight, so technically there’s no misrepresentation. But I didn’t put it all together until we got the award letter, which clearly says that DD was awarded the Lincoln and another $2000 for NMF. If the web page had been as clear as the award letter, she never would have applied, never would have had to hold back the tears when I said, “Sweetie, we can’t afford that.”</p>
<p>Here is what I think the scholarship page should say:</p>
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You also have to put this in the context of what other schools say. Here, for example, is the way Kentucky does it:</p>
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Plain as day, right? The Patterson is a unique scholarship just for NMF. Here’s another. For out of state NMF, New Mexico also stacks scholarships. They word it like this:</p>
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Again, it’s plain as day what you get, and also quite clear that the full value of two separate scholarships is in fact stacking.</p>
<p>The bottom line is this: I believe that my misunderstanding was a consequence of careless phrasing on Knox’s part (especially in contrast to the way other schools phrase their own awards) and that my disappointment is at the very least understandable. YMMV</p>