<p>What happens if a student manages to earn scholarships in excess of the COA? Would he be permitted to use it for living expenses, books, transportation, etc?</p>
<p>Things like living expenses, books, and transportation are included in the COA. But yes, if aid exceeds the cost of tuition and room/board, the university will have a policy in place that pays the student the leftover (could be in the form of checks, or over some university cash system) to be spent on whatever.</p>
<p>This usually only happens when you’re getting massive scholarships. If a student receives any need-based financial aid, once the determined need is “met,” scholarships often simply reduce the financial aid offered. In this case, a scholarship may cut out the work-study program or loans, but the student is still expected to pay their full EFC.</p>
<p>It’s just wishful thinking, but thanks for the reply! It probably could never actually happen. I have been pushing for my student to apply to many smaller scholarships where there is perhaps a better chance of success than there would be in a big national competition. I wouldn’t want to “overdo” it, however, if she wouldn’t actually benefit from it.</p>
<p>I can see why excess scholarship money would decrease eligibility for work-study or institutional grants, but are you saying that it would cut Stafford loans that were already approved? How would it affect any state or federal grants already given? Do they reneg on the award or ask for their money back?</p>
<p>Many outside scholarships are first used to offset the self help portion of the student’s financial aid package.
- Work study
- Loans (in short yes, the stafford loans would be lowered).
- institutional aid.</p>
<p>It will not decrease entitlement aid (pell grants, state grants) that the student is eligible for.</p>
<p>Thanks for explaining that. I guess I’m just worried about not being able to afford the bill, as well as the miscellaneous living expenses throughout the year. Too much scholarship money would certainly be a nice problem to have! ;)</p>
<p>It can make you ineligible for a subsudized stafford loan, yes. It can also lead to a reduction in grants. You’d still be able to take an unsub stafford loan though, regardless of your financial aid. </p>
<p>This all only applies after your need is met though. If your school’s FA package didn’t meet 100% of your need, scholarships will just stack on until you get there. Once you reach need without loans and work study, scholarships usually stop being helpful and just feed money to the university. This came as a bit of a surprise to my family-- I received about $8500 in outside scholarships, but at the end of the day, all it did was contribute $2000 to my expenses!</p>
<p>My daughter’s outside scholarships completely took care of her summer earnings requirement so all the money she earned this summer goes in her pocket. Outside scholarships can be a very good thing! Don’t rule them out because you think you won’t get any benefit. They also reduced her work study during the year but that doesn’t mean she still won’t be able to work and pocket the money.</p>