<p>I am already a student, but it is halfway through the semester and I got a random scholarship. I have no idea what the scholarship is, I did not consent to it, did not sign for anything, did not apply for anything... I have NO IDEA what it is. I receive in the mail (via my parents, not even emailed or talked to personally) an updated financial aid statement that says I have this random external scholarship. In the same amount of money that my work study was for. So in this new statement, I have lost my work study, which means I have lost the job that I love and have now had for two years, really screwing them over since they can no longer pay me but they really NEED me. They really love me and I don't know what they are going to do if I can't work for them anymore. I don't know what I am going to do. </p>
<p>So if I scholarship is already applied to my account, do you think I can refuse it and get my work study back? This was done for this current semester halfway through the semester with no warning. Whatever this scholarship is, can I decide not to consent to it? That I don't want it, to give back the money to the people who gave it to me (whoever that may be??) I would have already been rushing the financial aid office by now but I just found out and we are on a long weekend. Has this happened to anyone before? </p>
<p>I will definitely offer this as an idea. That is a very good idea, as I do have loans, but the loans have already been distributed? So I don’t know if they can be changed now? </p>
<p>I found this out literally today, and I was at work today and the work was none the wiser about the fact that my funds had been cut. I was paid this week as well (for last week’s work) even though the letter was dated for last Friday. I’ve emailed work asking if there is anything they can do. They don’t pay off of work study as a general rule, but I’m wondering if they could have leverage for helping me petition… (or if maybe I am miraculously lucky and they love me enough to pay me out of pocket and everything will work out…)</p>
<p>I just find it so strange that when I was actively looking for scholarships I couldn’t find one I qualified for… now I receive one totally randomly that I know nothing about that actually MESSES THINGS UP. </p>
<p>I am marching into financial services and doing a personal sit in as soon as they are open next. </p>
<p>Since the loan for this semester has been distributed, they probably can’t do anything about that for this semester, ut maybe for next semester.</p>
<p>Also…
What is the WS job? I thought that WS jobs were paid partly by the feds and partly by the job? If so, then the job does have some funds allocated to pay for your job. If so, then they could still pay you directly, but maybe have you work less hours. For instance, if you normally work 12 hours a week, then can they have you work 6 hours and pay you for those?</p>
<p>The work study job is at a school, so my having to quit would leave a bunch of small children in the lurch. As far as I know it’s supposed to be something like a 50/50 situation where the job pays half of the money and half is the work study money, but when planning out my hours per week I was warned not to overwork because if I run out of money, that’s it and they don’t pay any more off of work study. I’m not sure if they make exceptions, though. </p>
<p>I wonder if I can take this scholarship, apply it towards next semester and take away a loan from next semester? I just wish I knew what the scholarship was so I could know the terms and conditions of it to see if that’s possible. It’s so bizarre. </p>
<p>You kind of have to call the FA office for this. Because you don’t really know anything about this scholarship that they dropped on you out of the blue none of us can really advise you about the terms and conditions. </p>
<p>I agree though that is a frustrating and weird situation. If I were a college student I would at least like the option of deciding where to apply additional aid – I would much rather keep work/study and replace loans than the other way around, although some students would prefer to keep the loans and replace work/study depending on their individual circumstances. I get that they can’t change that when it’s disbursed though.</p>
<p>Yeah I totally get that I can’t be helped that much online. I was just looking for any help at all since I am so lost and confused on this one!</p>
<p>I have an appointment made for Monday at financial services since this is a staff holiday. they still had people working at the desk and I explained my situation and the girl at the desk was totally baffled. She had never heard of someone receiving a scholarship they knew nothing about. But she thinks here is a good chance I can rework it so that it could apply to next semester or have it replace a loan and that if the work study is really important it can be worked so that I can keep it. She could give no more details about the scholarship than that it was an unknown external scholarship. I checked all my mailing addresses for anything about a scholarship. Nothing! </p>
<p>From my knowledge of the loan process, the school should definitely be able to return a portion of the loan funding to have the scholarship replace it - even in the middle of the semester. This may not be your school’s policy to do so, but it would’t hurt to look in to it more. Sometimes schools have endowments that they look for students to match the funding to, so this might be the case in your situation. The school should be able to give you details regarding where the funding was coming from. If not from the FA office, the student accounts/bursar’s office would be the ones to post the check to your individual account. </p>
<p>Happykid’s university notified her AFTER GRADUATION that some scholarship money had become available and was applied to her account, thus making her second semester senior year loan amount smaller. </p>
<p>Go see the financial aid office. Ask if it is at all possible for this money to be applied to your account in such a way as to eliminate the loan instead of the W/S.</p>
<p>D received a departmental scholarship that posted after graduation – they ended up sending her a check. (She hadn’t applied for it, so it was a surprise.)</p>