<p>If I'm awarded need-based aid from a school and I also have scholarships (which amount to less than the need-based grants I'm receiving), assuming the scholarship grantors allow it, is it in my best interest to go ahead and defer it for graduate school? </p>
<p>I plan to withdraw just enough scholarship funds to cover my summer earnings/work-study obligations, but past that, any additional scholarship money would only reduce my college's need-based package. I understand that I should report all outside awards, but if I'm officially deferring most of the awards, I just want to make sure that I am not expected to report the totality of the scholarships. I'd appreciate any help in clarifying this for me.</p>
<p>You can ask the scholarship administrator if they can defer the award, but many will not. Not all schools will automatically reduce your grants either. Many will apply the scholarship to unmet need first, then to self-help portions of the package (work study, loans). You might also be able to get an increase in the COA to cover other school related expenses such as a computer. Ask the schools you’re applying to what their policies are on outside scholarships.</p>
<p>I have already talked to the scholarship administrators, and they allow deferrals. Additionally, I do plan on using scholarships to cover self-help portions (the school I’m attending in the fall applies outside awards to that first, then to a one-time computer allowance, and then reduces need-based grants).</p>
<p>I just want to make sure that I am not obligated to report money…that I’m technically not using in my undergraduate years. For example, if I received $20000 in scholarships, but only plan to actually use $4000 split over four years (with the remaining $16000 deferred for future studies), I only have to report $1000 per year, and not $5000, right?</p>
I am not obligated to report money…that I’m technically not using in my undergraduate years.
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<p>That sounds reasonable. You might want to call the college’s financial aid office to ensure that this is the case. It’s better to know ahead of time than find out in a year that they require you to report everything and then have some of your aid reduced more than you expected.</p>
<p>As for this:
[QUOTE=sk8rmom]
Many will apply the scholarship to unmet need first, then to self-help portions of the package (work study, loans).
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<p>I have mostly dealt with colleges who claim to meet all demonstrated need, so my experience may be skewed, but I have never heard of a college applying scholarships to unmet need. Colleges who meet full need define any costs not covered by their own aid (grants, loans, work-study) to be the responsibility of the family. So when a scholarship is declared, it’s not applied to that amount (also known as the EFC) to reduce the family’s payment; it’s applied to the school’s loan expectation and work-study, then to grants.</p>
<p>This may be different for colleges who don’t promise to meet all need. Is there anyone else who knows for sure, maybe in specific cases?</p>
<p>I agree with sk8trmom - talk to your prospective school’s fin aid office. </p>
<p>My D has a scholarship which she is going to hold onto for one year–after getting approval from the scholarship provider. I called the school’s fin aid office, and was told she should not report the scholarship for this year, or it would be disbursed over the next three quarters.</p>
<p>Wisteria, schools that do not meet full need (most schools do not guarantee to meet 100% of need) often have a gap between EFC + FA and COA. That is the unmet need that I was referring to - the amount above the FM or IM EFC. These colleges don’t usually add it to EFC (though, in effect, it is an additional EFC), it simply is money they do not have the resources to offer aid for though they may add an additional Plus loan (above EFC). </p>
<p>My D was gapped between $5-13K at 6 schools this year, after merit, grant, and federal loan money. She also won outside scholarships. All 6 schools agreed to apply scholarships to the unmet need first. In the end, she chose a school that met 100% of her need and applied her scholarships to reduce her Stafford loan component.</p>