<p>I've heard that if I win a scholarship, the college will then decrease the scholarship they offered me so that the amount me and my parents have to pay remains the same...</p>
<p>Is this true? If so, should I even bother applying for scholarships?</p>
<p>It was certainly true for me. I attend Georgetown, which gives need-based financial aid and no merit awards. I received around $45,000 in need-based grants for my first year, but this sum was just decreased when I won outside scholarships and replaced by the scholarship money. They take off loans and work-study awards first, however, so this could benefit you if your financial aid package includes a significant amount in Stafford or other loans. My outside scholarship money was so much though, that once the loan and work-study were replaced, it just dipped into my grant money.</p>
<p>They see this outside scholarship money as extra income that does not go toward my EFC for the school. For example, by EFC for Georgetown (from their FA office) is around $7,000/year. I will owe this REGARDLESS of outside scholarships that I get because they will just take away their grants instead of crediting it towards my bill total in addition to grants. </p>
<p>It does really stink actually, because I found myself wondering, why did I even bother? But all in all I think it is worth it. For example, I got some recurring scholarships (pay out every year a certain amount). These are helpful because even if your EFC goes up and you don't get as much FA from the college, that money will always be there.</p>
<p>Basically, whether these scholarships will help you much depends on which college you will attend and their specific FA policies. Outside scholarships will affect how much need-based aid you get, NOT merit aid, so if your college offers a large merit scholarship, you will get to keep that regardless of other scholarships. So, your specific financial situation determines how effective the scholarships will be, too. If you attend Georgetown and receive no need-based aid, outside scholarships WILL help you because they are just money for you then; no grants for the college to take away.</p>
<p>I hope that helps a little. It really will depend on your specific situation and your college choice. This information might help us help you a little more.</p>
<p>Many colleges allow students to use outside scholarships to reduce your "self help" contribution such as loans, work study or summer earnings. For example, if you have $10,000 of grant aid, $4,000 in loans and you win a $1,000 outside scholarship, many schools will let you reduce your loans to $3,000 and keep the full $10,000 grant aid.</p>
<p>FinAid</a> | Scholarships | Outside Scholarship Policies</p>
<p>For my S, it first reduced his "self-help", so he will not need to work or contribute from summer earnings. But the remainder of his outside scholarships do decrease the grant aid we would have received. Thus our expected contribution as parents is not helped by the outside scholarships and remains at the same level. The college is giving him less. This is the situation at Stanford, which does not offer merit aid. So in summary, the outside scholarships are worth the effort for the student but do not assist the parents. We were very disappointed.</p>