<p>Okay question: I had got a merit scholarship from UT, but they said they would reduce it if I get a scholarship from outside. did anybody get that? doyou guys know if they'll reduce it by the same amount? like if i get 1000, i'll loose 1000 in merit scholarships so it'll make no differerence? and if i get a bigger scholarship willl they proceed to lower my grants too??</p>
<p>so confused....</p>
<p>If your merit scholarship required that you have some financial need and the scholarship covers the entire cost of attendance (COA) that is not covered by your expected family contribution (EFC), this could be what would happen - they would reduce dollar for dollar. College financial aid offices often want those eligible for financial aid to have families pay their EFC and they want a combination of their scholarships, outside scholarships, and loans to cover what is above your EFC up to the amount of your COA. </p>
<p>If you were designated as having a combination of merit scholarship and loans to meet the part of the COA that is over and above your EFC, many colleges would reduce your loans, not the grant/scholarship, which would be much nicer.</p>
<p>If your merit scholarship did not require you to have any financial need - and if it was called a “$2000 scholarship” or a “Full Tuition Scholarship” or something like that - reducing it when you get an outside scholarship doesn’t sound fair. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>UT will probably reduce the grants first, then scholarships, and then loans.</p>
<p>They are big fans of loans.</p>
<p>If I haven’t heard anything from UT scholarships, does it mean I didn’t get any? Should the scholarships come with FA package?</p>
<p>Mavsgirl:</p>
<p>That is not how it works if it is merit aid. Need-based aid is reduced if you get outside scholarships, but not merit.
I think an example is the clearest:
Let’s say you have 2K in merit aid, 5K in grants, and 5K in loans as your FA package.
You get a 6K outside scholarship. You will still receive the 2K scholarship, but the loans will be wiped out, and then 1K of your grant.
The outside scholarship will always replace loans first, and then the grants.</p>
<p>One last point. You can’t get more than the maximum cost of attendance.
So if the outside scholarship is large enough, you could theoretically “lose” some merit aid.
But if the outside scholarship is for 1 year, you may be able to defer it until a later year when you could use it.</p>
<p>^^ well i asked a girl who got an outside scholarship, and she told me that her grants were reduced, not her loans. dollar for dollar. so unfortunately, i don’t think they’ll wipe out the loans. if they did i would have a full ride. no question</p>
<p>I received a few outside scholarships. After reporting them to UT, the only reductions were on the Parent PLUS loans and the Stafford Loan. Merit-based scholarships were not reduced. Good luck!</p>
<p>My son received a UT merit scholarship, outside scholarships, and we have the Texas Tomorrow Fund (prepaid tuition). Together, these exceed the COA. I called (twice, speaking to different departments) and was told that the excess money would be refunded to my son. However, none of the scholarships are need-based, and that may make a difference.</p>
<p>Sh@ke: did you have any need based scholarships/grants? because i really think thats what gets reduced first, but i am hoping that my laons get reduced …</p>
<p>OKAY i have a question about reporting scholarships. One of my local scholarships, i won’t know until i get it until september of next year, and then they will be sending the checks to the schools on the first of october. So if i get it and the school just gets a check, what will they do with it? Will i get in trouble for not reporting it?</p>
<p>If it goes directly to the school, a common mechanism for college scholarships, and it arrives after you have already paid your tuition, the school will give you the money back by electronically depositing it into a bank account you have linked to your What I Owe page.</p>
<p>After I adjust my FAFSA based on 2008 taxes, will I get a new financial aid package from UT? Also, I accidently forgot to put that I was interested in work-study so is there any way I can receive some work-study offers on my financial aid? I’ve already corrected my FAFSA saying that I was interested in work-study.</p>
<p>mavgirl: I have merit & outside scholarships – no grants/need-based aid – don’t qualify. I just got my 3rd revised financial aid package. UT eliminated the subsized loans first, then the unsubsized were reduced, and now the parent PLUS.</p>
<p>Well, most colleges reduce your work-study first, then your unsubsidized loans, then your subsidized loans, then your grants.
I have confirmed that is NOT how UT does it. I was quite surprised. I can’t put a positive spin on it. As the previous poster said, they reduce your subsidized loans and grants before the unsubsidized loans. Well, what do you expect from a place that charges you $100 for a football ticket, then bombards you with commercials during the whole game?
Sorry, I love UT, but really…</p>
<p>Deciding which funds to reduce when scholarships are applied really isn’t a UT-specific policy, the guidelines are set by the US Dept. of Ed. Individual students will have different aid reduced because of their specific NEED.
The FAFSA determines your EFC (Expected Family Contribution). UT sets the budget/COA (Cost of Attendance). Gross Need is COA minus EFC. Need based aid cannot exceed that figure and total aid cannot exceed the COA. That part is fairly simple.
However, grants and scholarships (even NON need-based ones) help MEET a student’s need and reduce the room for need-based aid.
Example:
Freshman dependent student
COA:25000
EFC:12000
Gross Need:13000
Possible award: 3500 Sub Stafford (need-based)
2000 Unsub Stafford
2000 Texas Top 10% (requires $1.00 need)
17500 Parent PLUS
This student has room for 9499 in scholarships before Need based aid is affected:
Gross Need:13000
need awarded: 3501<br>
Need “headroom”: 9499 </p>
<p>If the student received a $12500 scholarship, he could still get the $2000 Texas Top 10 (because his need> $1.), but all 5500 of the Stafford loans would be Unsub and the Parent Plus would be decreased to $5000.
COA: 25000
scholarship: 12500
top 10 %: 2000 (Full need met)
UnSub: 5500
Parent Plus: 5000 (full COA met)</p>
<p>UT Football tickets don’t cost $100. Student tickets last year cost a total of $135 for season tickets–and that included $70 for the all sports package.</p>
<p>The OU game costs $95 but UT doesn’t set the price for that, the Cotton Bowl people do. UT gets a lot of revenue from it but we have to charge more than other games as a result.</p>
<p>Season football tickets are one of the best buys you can make as a student–make sure to do it.</p>
<p>Okay, so I called the UT people twice today and this is what happened.
I called lady #1 just to ask what they would reduce, and she said the UT grant would get reduced.
THen i called lady #2 cuz after i hung up i remembered that i had to report a scholarship- it was 2K and she reduced my work study for the fall semester, and some of subsidized loan, leaving me with a net gain of 1k. not bad, i thought all of my scholarship will go away. I might get another one- let’s hope they just reduce my loan instead of spring work study this time!!</p>
<p>I have some grants from UT. I didn’t accept the loans they gave me, and I got no work-study. </p>
<p>Now I need to report a scholarship I got. So lets say I got 1k in outside scholarship, and so now I report it, they reduce my grants by 1k? Basically that scholarship didn’t do anything to help me?</p>
<p>It depends on your Unmet Need.</p>