<p>Why is it that outside scholarships will change the amount of money calculated in your need? Why does you're EFC have to remain the same. To me a scholarship is meant to reduce what I personally have to put out, but with Cornell's policy I cant. Does any body else feel that this is unfair?</p>
<p>It's not just Cornell, it's every school that offers financial aid. Financial aid is not an entitlement. Yor EFC is what your parents can afford to contribute based on their income and asset, your scholarship is viewed as part of your asset. Purpose of financial aid is to make school like Cornell affordable to as many students as possible. My daughter is not eligible for financial aid, we don't think it's not fair that we had to pay full fare because we were able to save for our kids. Be happy that you will be able to go to Cornell. There are many kids that are not eligible for financial aid (many middle class families), but can't afford the tuition or need to take out a loan for the full cost.</p>
<p>okay, sorry to offend you. It's just that now we're stessed out trying to come up with our EFC, my parents are divorced, I live with m mother and my father's child support pays for the mortgage to our home. his support ends in June so now my mother has to find a way to pay for our house and my college education</p>
<p>No, you didn't offend me. I was just trying to give you a different perspective. I understand perfectly how you feel - many years ago I funded my expensive LAC education by myself because my parents couldn't afford it. I hope you have disclosed your situation to the school fully and your EFC is calculated correctly. If anything has changed you should let the school know. It's not easy to afford college, for anyone. All of us make sacrifices to make it happen. Good luck.</p>
<p>akaCondi- I ran into the same problem. I received an outside scholarship of 5000 a year, which in turn took away my 5000 grant so in the end it really didn't help me out. Cornell's financial aid office is mean, and even when I went to talk to them about how my paren't EFC was waaaaay too high, forcing them (and myself) to take out ridiculous loans, they really didn't care. In the end, I really wish I could have not told them about the scholarship, but there wasn't any choice b/c the scholarship people sent it straight to Cornell. However, if you do happen to get a small scholarship (like 500 dollars) that is written out to you, I would just not report it and deposit it into your account. That way, you can buy books and stuff w/o having to worry about losing some finaid.</p>
<p>I second oldfort in disclosing all of your family's financial situation to the university. Any information that isn't obvious in your FAFSA or other financial aid application materials could potentially help your aid package. My family and I notified Cornell of how our financial footing was going to change after my first year of college- much like yours, only we were going to lose social security benefits when I turned 18 this year. We also have high medical expenses, etc, so I would highly recommend letting the office (via letter or fax, probably) know about your whole situation.</p>
<p>are you going to lose SocSec this year as you turn 18? Many mnay years ago, Soc Sec was a BIG help for me in going to Cornell - my dad had died when I was 13 and my benefits continued until I graduated at 22.</p>
<p>My father is a senior citizen, so the two of us were receiving benefits as long as I was still a minor, hence losing them this year. It's been a pretty big hit to our finances, but Cornell truly understood.</p>
<p>Hey Condi, I know how you feel. I've learned to try to work around the scholarship policy. For all the scholarships you apply to, send a copy of the policy and ask that they send YOU the check in your name. If they don't go for that, then still try to get them to send it to you. If the check doesn't look like a scholarship, then bring it the FA office as a payment/loan. Just DONT mention scholarship.</p>
<p>If you DO have to report it as a scholarship, make sure they replace your loans first before taking away grants. Esp. Cornell loan bc it's 8% interest.</p>
<p>Also send an appeal, summer savings adjustment (if you didn't make the $3500 or so) and budget increase. I got an extra 6K or so in loans doing these 3. Good luck fighting the Cornell FA system!</p>
<p>eyeCU10- hey! how did you do the those three? you just sent them a letter saying, "hey, i didn't make $3500 this summer and my budget increased"? haha. thanks!</p>
<p>Cornell would be happy to accomodate you if you did not make your summer expected savings. You won't get more grants obviously but they will give you loans.</p>