<p>I was recently awarded a substantial; not huge, but decent scholarship. Could BU subtract that amount from my Financial Aid packet and most importantly, what are the chances they will? I didn’t confirm any part of my package yet. Oh and I’m an entering freshman.</p>
<p>-The Freshman Coot66</p>
<p>Your financial award will be reduced by the amount of the outside scholarship. Call them up and see if they will reduce the federal loans before reducing grant money.</p>
<p>Boo... That sucks. What if I confirm my package without reporting the scholarship yet? Will they still subtract the scholarship amount later?</p>
<p>-The Unreported Coot66</p>
<p>Yes. Don't try to game the system and don't lie--you're just going to cause problems for yourself later.</p>
<p>...:(...</p>
<p>Do they always reduce scholarship money from your aid packet? Would it be worth it to call them up and bargain?</p>
<p>-The Reduced Coot66</p>
<p>It's usually stated rather blatently on the Fin Aid website and in the packet (at least it was when I attended) that they do this. A significant part of the process is determining what your need is and deciding how much of that need they want to meet. If you subsequently get a $10k scholarship from an outside source, your need has dropped by $10k and adjustments need to be made.</p>
<p>Of course you should call up and discuss it with them. There's nothing that anyone here can do to help you.</p>
<p>I'm not expecting anyone to call up on my behalf! LOL... </p>
<p>I was wondering if anyone actually had experience with this happening...</p>
<p>-The Experienced Coot66</p>
<p>Yes, it is possible. However, if your financial award is the University Scholarship/Engineering Scholarship/Trustee, your award will not be reduced. Otherwise, if it's university grant, your financial aid will be reduced according to the amount of the check the scholarship provider sent to the college.</p>
<p>I personally have experienced this, however, there is a trick (that might work) to avoid that (I did the exact same thing). Let's say you EFC is 17K (the tuition is 46K), which leaves 29k tuition uncovered, and the University grant they gave you was around 25K along with 1.5k loan. You won some competitive scholarship and they mail the school 4K. That would leave your parents to pay 46k - 25k - 4k - 1.5k = 15.5K. THEN, AFTER THE SCHOOL YEAR BEGINS, you "suddenly" received another 1.5k scholarship... they decide to mail the check to the college. Now there are two ways to avoid finaid cuts, one way is that they will cancel your loan b/c your scholarship cancels it out. Then what your parents actually pay is 15.5k comparing to 17k on your EFC.</p>
<p>Another way is that when the scholarship provider mail college the scholarship check, the office of financial aid will put it on your student acount, so on your account you'd have around 1.5k CREDIT. NOW put every cent of the 1.5k onto your campus convenient points, which by the end of the year if you don't spend them all, the university will return the money to you.</p>
<p>I tried the first method and it worked. My mom paid 1.5K less money than her EFC last year. The second method works only for small amounts though (say, $100-$500).</p>
<p>Hope it helps.</p>
<p>Pikachusbutt, I'm a little confused about what you're suggesting. Firstly, is the Expected Family Contribution the amount left over when your Financial Aid Package is reduced? And to use the case you suggested, isn't the 4k from the competitive scholarship subtracted from the Grant or loan money? And the "sudden" 1.5k scholarship, are you just not disclosing it until later?</p>
<p>-The Disclosing Coot66</p>
<p>"Now there are two ways to avoid finaid cuts, one way is that they will cancel your loan b/c your scholarship cancels it out. Then what your parents actually pay is 15.5k comparing to 17k on your EFC."</p>
<p>All that is doing is asking them to reduce loans before reducing grant money, as I mentioned above.</p>
<p>"Another way is that when the scholarship provider mail college the scholarship check, the office of financial aid will put it on your student acount, so on your account you'd have around 1.5k CREDIT. NOW put every cent of the 1.5k onto your campus convenient points, which by the end of the year if you don't spend them all, the university will return the money to you."</p>
<p>That doesn't make sense to me. The FinAid office is still going to reduce your aid by the $1.5. If they are mailed a $1,000 check from a third-party, they will just credit your account for that amount and then take back a portion of your financial aid so that it nets to $0. I won a $10k scholarship my senior year at BU--all they did was adjust my usual grant.</p>
<p>"Firstly, is the Expected Family Contribution the amount left over when your Financial Aid Package is reduced?"</p>
<p>Your EFC stays the same regardless of aid. Your EFC is the amount your family is expected to pay out of pocket. </p>
<p>Cost of attendence less EFC equals your need. Outside scholarships plus BU financial aid (grants and loans) equals the amount of need they are willing to meet. Once they decide how much of your need they want to meet, that usually stays the same--meaning that BU financial aid decreases as outside scholarships increase.</p>
<p>Have you called them yet?</p>
<p>My father ended up calling the office and they ended up saying we need to confirm all our awards before we find out our EFC. Is that how everyone here did it? I assumed I'd know my EFC before accepting awards and stuff...</p>
<p>-The Confirming Coot66</p>
<p>I'm not sure what you mean by finding out your EFC. Your EFC is just a calculation of what someone expects your family to pay out of pocket (or via loans) for school. One calculation comes from the FAFSA (although that's no necessarily the number BU uses), which you should have and it should give you an idea of approximately what BU calculated.</p>
<p>In the end, all you really need to look at is the total costs for the year (which you can estimate easily) and your current financial offer. The difference is what you're going to have to pay or borrow to pay. Any subsequent scholarships are most likely just going to offset reductions in your current offer.</p>
<p>...I'm not getting this. OK, so as I asked before, is my EFC 46k - financial aid award? Or is it a number determined in some other manner? </p>
<p>-The Determined Coot66</p>
<p>Your EFC (expected family contribution) is the amount that your family would be expected to pay based upon your means. It is determined based upon the information you provide in the FAFSA, the Profile and the other information you submit (i.e. tax returns). Schools normally subtract this number from your cost of attendence to calculate your financial need (the extra amount, beyond what they think you can pay from your current assets and income, that you would need to come up with). Schools then decide whether or not they can (or want to) meet your need (or, in some cases, exceed it to entice you to come to the school).</p>
<p>The cost of attendence less financial aid award is just your out of pocket cost. Getting and additional scholarship will not reduce this, although it may adjust the amount of federal loans in lieu of adjusting grants.</p>
<p>Okay, somehow my explaination has proved to be more complicated than I thought. I've tried this, it works (trust me). But i'm not going to guarentee you that it will work every time.</p>
<p>I copied and pasted my transaction history on BU student link:</p>
<p>07/05/2006 Fall 2006 TUITION 16,665.00<br>
07/05/2006 Fall 2006 ORIENTATION FEE 170.00<br>
07/05/2006 Fall 2006 SPORTS PASS 85.00<br>
07/05/2006 Fall 2006 UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT FEE 231.00<br>
08/09/2006 Fall 2006 RESIDENCE CHARGE - ROOM 3,380.00<br>
08/09/2006 Fall 2006 RESNET FEE 230.00<br>
08/09/2006 Fall 2006 RESIDENCE DINING PLAN 1,860.00<br>
06/24/2006 Fall 2006 STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP 10,650.00
10/16/2006 Fall 2006 STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP 10,612.00
10/16/2006 Fall 2006 STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP 10,650.00<br>
10/16/2006 Fall 2006 STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP 10,610.00
10/16/2006 Fall 2006 STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP 10,612.00<br>
08/28/2006 Fall 2006 FEDERAL PERKINS LOAN 400.00
10/16/2006 Fall 2006 FEDERAL PERKINS LOAN 400.00<br>
09/12/2006 Fall 2006 OUTSIDE AGENCY AWARD 500.00
09/27/2006 Fall 2006 OUTSIDE AGENCY AWARD 4,000.00
05/30/2006 Fall 2006 MONTHLY PAYMENT PLAN 1,737.10
08/16/2006 Fall 2006 CHECK PAYMENT 5,183.90
04/29/2006 Fall 2006 ENROLLMENT DEPOSIT-DISCOVER 650.00
09/03/2006 Fall 2006 CONVENIENCE POINTS PURCHASE 25.00<br>
Fall 2006 SEMESTER TOTAL 10.00 </p>
<p>You see, on 9/12/2006 I received an outside agency award that was not previously reported. BUT they did not process it until 10/16/2006 -- that's when they reduced my grant by $40 per semester. Then where did the rest $460 go? 400 went to cancel out the Perkins Loan on 10/16/2006. $25 went to Convenience Points Purchase on 09/03/2006 and $10 was left over. </p>
<p>The Perkins Loan was outside my EFC. So I actually saved 400 * 2 semesters = $800 in the school year. This is what I meant in my 2 methods. </p>
<p>Again, I don't guarentee that it works every time. In a large university like BU, the FinAid office will not process your scholarships immediately. That's why you can take advantage of the system sometimes.</p>