<p>I was offered an unsubsidized stafford loan to cover my expected family contribution. If I were to get an outside scholarship, would I be able to use that to pay for the loan?</p>
<p>It depends on the school. You’ll have to contact them.</p>
<p>If there is federal aid involved, probably not. Where federal aid is involved the EFC + merit aid + need based aid is not supposed to exceed the schools COA. A scholarship generally reduces your need, not your EFC. Most schools will reduce any ‘self help’ portion of aid such as (need based) loans and WS before they reduce grants.</p>
<p>But check with the school to be sure.</p>
<p>The answer to your question depends on the rest of your aid package. If you are getting need based aid (unsub loan is not need based), the scholarship <em>may</em> impact your need based aid. It’s possible it could reduce your eligibility for a sub loan, if you have one - or reduce your institutional grants, if you have some - or impact your aid package in some other way. So other parts of the package might be reduced due to the scholarship.</p>
<p>If nothing else is reduced because of the scholarship, then you can just take out less unsub loan if you don’t need it.</p>