<p>It hurts when you are awarded something and it is then taken away, even if you should not have gotten it in the first place. I remember when a friend of ours had two going to college, and then one of the girls quit. That changed the financial aid picture so drastically because of the way the one college calculated aid with two kids in college. I know a number of kids upset when they lost aid due to getting a nice scholarship. They were all set and ready to double dip when the rug was pulled out from under their expectations. Other situtaions involving ED have arisen where the estimate did not include an unexpected payment like the OP’s here, and when the final award was calculated, it was substantially less than the estimate. It always hurts when expectations are dashed.</p>