<p>Forgive my ignorance, but I'm just getting started with this whole college app/FA thing for my D, who is a HS jr. D has won $16k in scholarships through service club competitions, with potential for more. When you have a school that offers to meet full financial need without loans, like Princeton, will they offset the FA package by the amount of her scholarship winnings? Or can she use the scholarships to satisfy the family contribution? If the former, then it seems like she is wasting her time (aside from the prestige and thrill of winning competitions) because she is no better off financially, as the school would have given her the money if she hadn't won it. If that's the way it works, why bother to try and win scholarships?</p>
<p>The scholarship money will be used to satisfy your daughter’s work study contributions. And after that parental contribution.</p>
<p>^^ That is incorrect! The parent contribution is never reduced by an outside award. Outside awards are first applied to summer and term time job expectations. If you still have money left over from an outside award, it can go to the one-time purchase of a computer. If you still have money left over from an outside award, then your Princeton Scholarship is reduced dollar-for-dollar by the excess. See: <a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/pr/aid/pdf/1213/PU-aid-app-info.pdf[/url]”>http://www.princeton.edu/pr/aid/pdf/1213/PU-aid-app-info.pdf</a></p>
<p>External scholarships and grants
"An important part of Princeton’s aid program is the expectation that students will receive scholarships from nonUniversity sources. These scholarships, when combined with Princeton’s own funds, enable the University to meet the full need of all undergraduates. Applicants who win an outside award are required to notify the Financial Aid Office.</p>
<p>As an encouragement to apply for external scholarships, outside aid reduces or eliminates the term and summer job expectations. The Princeton grant is reduced only after these student work requirements have been eliminated. If the Princeton grant is reduced as the result of an outside scholarship adjustment, the lost funds may be recovered and used toward the one-time purchase of a personal computer"</p>
<p>“If the former, then it seems like she is wasting her time.”</p>
<p>Not necessarily. Two years ago my son was lucky enough to be accepted to 11 colleges that guaranteed to meet 100% of demonstrated need. However, each school calculated need differently based upon their own institutional formula. The result was that no two schools offered the same amount of aid, and the dollar difference between the most generous schools (Princeton & Yale) and the least generous schools (Boston College, Georgetown and Brown) was $38,000. As with most financial aid decisions, much will depend on your family’s individual circumstances and how many kids you have in college (we have 2). So, bottom line: Unless your daughter is taking her $16K+ in outside scholarships to a state school and getting a free ride, the actual price you pay may be LOWER at a school like Princeton than at another private college.</p>
<p>Gibby’s response is correct - we had this experience with an outside scholarship that our son received. We met directly with the Princeton FA office and the information was nearly verbatim to Gibby’s first post above.</p>
<p>Yup, gibby’s right. If you have “extra” scholarship money, either use it to buy a laptop OR ask some of the scholarship orgs if they’re willing to stretch it out. $4k/yr over 4 years at Princeton might be smarter than having $16k in scholarships your freshman year.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the information. Gibby, if the outside scholarship money is used to eliminate the work-study and summer earnings portion of the calculation, what happens if the student actually works during the summer? Does she have to report her actual summer earnings and do they reduce FA? </p>
<p>Also, another question, does Princeton recalculate FA each year? I am self-employed and my income can fluctuate quite a bit from year to year.</p>
<p>Part of every college’s financial aid package is something called “student self-help” which includes estimated earnings from a term time job and a summer job. If your child earns MORE than what has been assigned to them, they are free to pocket the rest. So, in your daughter’s situation, her outside scholarship money will be credited towards her term time job and summer job expectations, so she does not have to work during the summer or school year. But, if she chooses to get a job for the summer (or work during the school year), she is free to keep those earnings.</p>
<p>Every college, Princeton included, recalculates FA each year. That means that you and your child must file the FAFSA and College Board’s CSS Profile each year and submit your past years tax returns and W-2’s each year. </p>
<p>In your daughter’s case: Her outside scholarship money would be credited towards her term time job and summer job expectations. If she doesn’t work at all during the year, her income reported on the FAFSA and CSS Profile for calculating aid for her sophomore year will be $0.00. But, if she works during the year (summer job or term time job) her income will be reported on the FAFSA and CSS Profile and may result in slightly less financial aid for her sophomore year, because she has earned more money and (in theory) has slightly less need.</p>
<p>When comparing college financial aid, a good place to start is each college’s “net-price calculator.” By law, each college must have one. Here’s is Princeton’s: [Princeton</a> Financial Aid Estimator - Princeton University | Princeton Financial Aid Estimator](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/estimator/]Princeton”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/estimator/)</p>
<p>Also, I’d ask about how that extra work is going to affect the student’s FA. The FAFSA EFC formula is something like (I don’t remember) 20% of work earned above $6k that is not financial aid (work study) is added back into the FAFSA EFC. Some schools may not do that and just take a blanket value determined by class year for the summer contribution. Some may increase it. (I have no knowledge of Princeton, but Duke, for example, will not increase the student’s contribution beyond the expectation by class-year.)</p>
<p>Gibby’s advice on this thread (as well as many others) is very good. I’d like to offer a minor clarification.
Princeton doesn’t require the CSS Profile. Instead, they utilize their own FA application, which is MUCH simpler and easier to complete than the CSS Profile.
[Apply</a> for Financial Aid<em>-</em>Princeton University | Apply for Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/apply_financial_aid/]Apply”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/apply_financial_aid/)</p>
<p>Dgdzdad says on another thread that his annual income is $250,000 a year. He might have two kids in college at the same time (two threads with two different stories). Even so…his students eligibility for need based aid at that income level is LOW.</p>