<p>Okay so the need based financial aid from the college look at what you need and give grants based on that, right? Am I wrong?
So does this mean that I should watch what scholarships I am applying to, if i wanted to receive financial aid?
Because, I'm not taking any action in terms of scholarships, based on the assumption that my financial aid amount offered from colleges may possibly decrease due to the scholarships.
I hope i am wrong, and can anyone fill me in on this topic, I would very appreciate it.
Thanks in advance!
Good luck to you all.</p>
<p>Why would you be worried that a scholarship might reduce your aid?? What difference would that make?</p>
<p>Also, in many ways taking a scholarship is a better deal. It won’t be reduced if your family’s income is increased.</p>
<p>Also, unless your family is very low income, you won’t get grants in your F/A package. Instead, you’ll get loans. Therefore, scholarship money is better than loans.</p>
<p>Do you know how much your family earns? Do you know how much money they can provide each year for your college expenses?</p>
<p>However, if your family is low income and you qualify for grants, why would you care if your scholarship reduced that grant? Money is money. $5k from a grant is not better than $5k from a scholarship.</p>
<p>And…merit money is often for a larger amount than grants are.</p>
<p>Need-based financial aid can include LOANS, and there is no guarantee that there will be any grants/scholarships in your financial aid packages. If you need and/or want grant/scholarship money, then you should be looking everywhere you can for scholarships. It is very risky not to. What if the colleges you are applying to do not give you any grant money? Or if they don’t give you enough to allow you to attend?</p>
<p>In your need-based financial aid award you will usually get aid in 3 basic forms: grant aid (free money – from government sources or the universities own money or both), loans (student loans, parent loans, usually both), and work-study.</p>
<p>At most schools, if you get a scholarship first they will use that money to reduce the amount you’re expected to borrow. If the scholarship amount exceeds what you’re expected to borrow, then they will normally reduce the amount they expect your earn through work study. So those scholarships are great. Anything that reduces your debt load is highly desirable!</p>
<p>There are limited circumstances were getting scholarships will reduce your aid in a way that just comes out even for you and doesn’t really have a direct benefit. These situations are pretty limited though. This only happens at colleges that meet 100% of need without loans and where the scholarship is large enough that some remains after they use it to reduce how much you’re expected to earn with workstudy. The excess after replacing your workstudy allowance would then go to the college to help reduce how much they are spending out of their own budget on your behalf. While there’s no net gain to you for that, it certainly is something that is good for the college. Not sure why a person for whom HYPS/AWS, etc. is shelling out the huge bucks would not want to see them get a little bit of the money back. However, as I said… this circumstance is really a rare one and only seen at the very hardest-to-get-into colleges that meet 100% of need without loans.</p>
<p>In some cases (not that many for what I’ve gathered) some will also let that scholarship money reduce the amount they expect you to earn over your summers, too.</p>
<p>So… yeah… scholarships are a good thing, even if you’re receiving need-based aid.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, worried_mom, and 'rentof2 THANK YOU very much!
My mother is single, and the household’s annual gross income is less than 30,000, i believe.
I am confident that I will qualify for Need-based Aid.
But, I decided that not applying for scholarships just because of financial aid is absolutely ridiculous! (I’m not sure why I did not catch this before I posted this)
Thanks again!!</p>
<p>If you make it into an Ivy or a top-notch school that gives lots of financial aid, you’re going to college for free mate.</p>
<p>Just one thing to remember (from personal experience) you CAN sometimes use those merit awards even at a no loan 100% meet need schools. My D1 received 9,500 in o/s merit and I asked a couple of the schools she was accepted to how they would apply that money. One school would give the student the first $500 as a freebie, then would apply 1/2 of the merit to any loans (this was 100% need meeting school but obviously with loans) another school agreed to increase the COA for a new computer (hers died during apps) and an additional travel allowance (we live across the country) and they also wiped out her work study but she could still get a job on campus. This was a 100% need meeting, no loan school. If you are in this position I would recommend asking the financial aid office how the money would be applied and if your situation warrents it ask for a computer and travel allowance. In the end both the school and the student gained from the application of the outside scholarships.</p>