<p>I'm going to UNC-Chapel Hill in the fall and recently got my financial aid package today:</p>
<p>Federal Pell Grant 5,200.00
ACG 1st Year 750.00
Federal Work-Study 2,700.00
Institutional Grant 10,019.00
Academic Year TOTALS 18,669.00</p>
<p>What if I get a scholarship (MCSF scholarship, given out in the summer) that is worth $1000? Can that be used to pay my Work-Study, so therefore I would work less hours since it will only be $1700 that I will have to work for? OR can I not use scholarship money that I am awarded from this point on to pay off my Work-Study? And on another note, does this look like a good financial aid package? :)</p>
<p>i’m pretty sure you have to meet your hours for work study or it is taken away. you can reject it for now though and just get a job on campus to work off the rest of the money not paid by the scholarship.</p>
<p>It would depend on how your school treats outside scholarships. Many schools do reduce “self help” aid such as WS or loans by any additional scholarships. But you would have to ask your school how they would treat it.</p>
<p>You do not have to meet the full hours for WS. WS requires you to find a job and you will earn the pay rate times the hours you work. Many students do not earn their full WS. </p>
<p>
This is bad advice if you think you may want to try and find a WS job. WS funding is limited and schools often have more qualified students that they have WS funds. if you reject it it will probably be re awarded to another student and you will not be able to get it back. At some schools it may be hard to find an on campus job that is not WS (this is the case at my daughter’s school). The additional benefit of a WS job is that it is protected income for FAFSA so is not held against you next year and will not increase your EFC.</p>
<p>It depends on what the Cost of Attendance is. But what you show is good: no loans (which surprises me a little).</p>
<p>BTW, a $2700 Work Study is nothing to be afraid of. That puts you in the neighborhood of 10 hours/week that you’d need to work. Often, Work Study jobs are really easy jobs, on-campus.</p>
<p>I don’t know what that statistics are, but yes, in my limited experience, aid packages almost always include loans. So that, combined with the fact that this package covers virtually the entire cost of attendance, means that this is a fantastic package. You don’t have to pay anything back, and the only part that isn’t an outright gift is the Work Study.</p>
<p>Don’t reject your work/study as there is no reason to reject it. It will be up to you to locate a job to get paid work/study dollars. It’s not something you “pay back.” Work/study doesn’t decrease your bill for tuition/fees/room/board. It is paid to you as a paycheck if you take a work/study job. If you don’t locate a job the money won’t be paid to you. If you reject it, get to campus and can’t find a non-work/study job it will be more difficult to go back to finaid and have try to get it reinstated. The onus is on you…so no reason to reject. My oldest son only had $250 of work study freshman year. He found a better job in the college town and never “used” his freshman work/study. The next year the economy started tanking and there were no jobs in town, he was actually awarded more work/study dollars sophomore year and it worked out wonderfully as the only jobs to be “had” were work/study jobs and he took full advantage of work/study. This year he’s holding down his work/study job and also picking up a few more hours in a “town” job this summmer. There were no repercussions surrounding him not triggering the freshman work/study dollars.</p>
<p>so should I reject any scholarships that I am rewarded from this point on? Or take it so that it reduces my work-study only to a certain amount? :)</p>
<p>Reading over this, I should have asked if I should reduce my work-study aid with scholarships or take this opportunity of having a WS job by declining scholarships.
Does anyone understand what I am trying to say? :)</p>
<p>Maybe we understand. Yes some colleges will use outside scholarship and reduce work/study. But why would you reject work/study or any scholarships? Are you certain you know what will happen if you receive additional scholarships? So with that regard maybe we don’t 'understand what youu are asking. Maybe the answer to your question is to call the college and point blank as “If I get a $1000 outside scholarship how will that change my current financial aid package?” I would guess they would lower your institutional grant $1000 and keep all the federal aid the same, but it is the best to simply ask the college. My son got a $1000 last minute local scholarship. He had no institutional aid only federal W/S and Staffords and a merit scholarship. His college reduced the work/study.</p>
<p>Yes, and at this point why reject anything? Accept the W/S, call the college and find out if they would reduce anything and what that would be if you receive an additional outside scholarship. In answer to your finaid package…it is a good package if the COA is $19,000 for in-state and you are in-state … yes this is a good package with no loans.</p>
<p>I didn’t know grant aid could be reduced. I thought only loans and work-study could be reduced/declined, but now I understand! Thank you everybody.</p>
<p>This is a good package. In one school I talked to, outside scholarships first went to reduce any loans, if there were no loans or the scholarship was more than the loan amount, it went to reduce any institutional grants. In other words, they expected you to do work study. Again, remember, if your expenses are lower than COA (which is an average usually), you need not work as much.</p>
Thank you everybody.</p>