Does anyone know what Cornell’s financial aid policy is regarding how they treat outside scholarships and impact on Cornell need-based financial aid packages? Do they reduce your calculated need dollar for dollar with the outside scholarship? Or allow you to use scholarship to pay the remaining bill (no change to aid package)?
Not likely they will allow you to use the scholly to pay the remaining bill. Usually, the better schools will reduce self-help first…like work study or student loans, and then after that reduce their grants.
They will still expect the family to pay their contribution unless the outside award is sooooo huge that it covers all the aid, and then cuts into family contribution.
It’s frustrating for many families who wrongly think that their child can win outside awards and then simply apply those to the family contribution.
http://finaid.cornell.edu/types-aid/grants-and-scholarships/outside-scholarships
Google still works pretty well.
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Outside scholarships or tuition benefits will reduce the self-help component (loans and work component) of your financial aid package, but will not reduce the family contribution. If all the self-help support in your award is cancelled, in some cases, the Cornell grant aid may need to be reduced or cancelled as well.
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I must have channeled my inner-google
^^^
To be clear, the Google comment was directed at the OP. Your post had not appeared when I wrote that. 
EXACTLY the info I needed…thx!!!