external merit scholarship policy

<p>Swarthmore has stated policy on outside merit-based scholarship:
(<a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/financialaid/1213/1213_handbook_final.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/financialaid/1213/1213_handbook_final.pdf&lt;/a&gt;)
'Outside aid cannot replace parent contribution, since that figure represents parents’ capacity to contribute from their income and assets.'
I am wondering if:
this kind of policy common for other similarly competitive schools?
is this rewarding students of merits? or the school is assuming majority of incoming students will receive outside merit awards?
will that motivate students to apply after they receive aid package?
I think this will not help middle class family that will struggle with the bill.
Please share your point of views. I am puzzled.</p>

<p>I imagine this refers to situations in which need based aid is being given. The policy says the scholarships will replace need-based aid and not parental contribution. This seems fair to me in that the EFC is in place to determine what the college thinks the parents can pay. Since the school already subsidizes some of a candidate’s education, the outside scholarship makes more money available for other students.</p>

<p>However, if the student is not receiving need based aid, then I imagine that the scholarship money could replace the parental obligation because the school would not be supplying additional funds.</p>

<p>I would think other schools would follow this policy because it is a sensible policy that makes the education available to as many as possible.</p>

<p>This policy is true for every single “similarly competitive” school that I know of, if the student receives need-based aid (if they receive merit-based aid, of which Swarthmore offers very little, then it’s a whole different ballgame). However, external scholarships at Swarthmore CAN replace (by halves, 50% replacing Swarthmore grant aid and 50% “helping” the student) any work expectation (summer/campus job) included in the FA package. If Swarthmore included federal loans in its packages, which it does not, then those could also be replaced by outside scholarship aid. The policies regarding this latter type of aid “replacement” will vary widely among schools.</p>