<p>Hey, I am a Philadelphia Public high school student, and I was thinking of applying to Georgetown university since I heard it is a really good school. Someone in my school got a free ride to Georgetown this year. Would you happen to know how people get free ride scholarships to go there? when and how to apply?</p>
<p>It’s possible. I got combined scholarships/financial aid and got a free ride. You don’t apply for Georgetown scholarships, they award them to you. As for financial aid, you have to fill out the CSS and FAFSA but your school and/or Georgetown will tell you more about that when the forms come out. FAFSA usually doesn’t come out until January of 2011 and CSS is usually available in October, I think. Good luck! :)</p>
<p>Just to clarify, there is no distinction between “scholarships” and need-based financial aid at Georgetown. All institutional aid is financial aid given solely on the basis of demonstrated financial hardship that would be incurred were the student assessed the entire package for Georgetown’s tuition, room and board, fees, etc., which clocks in around $55k per annum at this point.</p>
<p>Additionally, Georgetown does not always meet 100% of demonstrated need. Some students may choose to supplement institutional aid with outside merit or need-based scholarships, although you are obligated to report the receipt of such scholarships to the university and in many cases they will decrease the amount of your financial aid accordingly.</p>
<p>Not sure if this was understood by the OP and subsequent commenter, but the usage of both “financial aid” and “scholarship” was somewhat confusing, at least to me, and it’s important to understand that at Georgetown, like most of its peer schools, there is no merit scholarship money to be found.</p>
<p>Some students may choose to supplement institutional aid with outside merit or need-based scholarships, although you are obligated to report the receipt of such scholarships to the university and in many cases they will decrease the amount of your financial aid accordingly.</p>
<p>Georgetown’s policy is that any outside scholarships you bring in would first and foremost be applied to fulfilling your expected personal and family contribution, rather than decreasing the amount of institutional aid. Only if the external amount were to exceed your expected contribution would it result in a reduction of institutional aid.</p>
<p>[Georgetown</a> University :: Office of Student Financial Services](<a href=“http://finaid.georgetown.edu/questpro.htm#quest11]Georgetown”>http://finaid.georgetown.edu/questpro.htm#quest11)</p>
<p>11. What is Georgetown’s policy regarding the treatment of outside-sponsored scholarships?</p>
<p>If you will receive an outside grant or scholarship or a third party payment you must report the type and amount to the GU Office of Student Financial Services. Under federal law and University policy Georgetown must consider these payments as resources that are available to help meet your financial need. The outside awards you report will be used to reduce or eliminate your loan or student employment before any adjustment in your need-based GU scholarship award will be made.</p>
<p>Yes and no. Georgetown’s finaid packages still include loans, so if the outside scholarship reduces the amount of your loans, it is reducing the amount of your financial aid. Likewise with work study.</p>
<p>We’re arguing over semantics, though. The point, for the OP, is that if you can demonstrate very severe financial difficulty, Georgetown may award you a full scholarship on the basis of financial need, but no one, regardless of how brilliant he or she may be, is going to receive a dime in scholarships for academic merit.</p>
<p>clg210: Yeah, I know the scholarship/financial aid wording was iffy so I just put them together to make things less confusing… I probably confused the OP even more though. But yes, you’re right, scholarships, federal grants, federal loans, work study are awarded on the basis of financial need.</p>