<p>My daughter, who will be a sophomore, just received the happy news that she has received a new merit scholarship. </p>
<p>She already has a small university merit scholarship and a need-based financial aid package which includes a university grant. We're wondering if there is a standard way that "new" merit money is treated -- whether this new scholarship will end up being subtracted from her need-based university grant or whether we'll be able to apply it to the cash portion that she and our family are responsible for. Obviously, we're hoping for the latter as it would be a huge financial assist for us.</p>
<p>Anyone have experience with this issue? Is there a standard policy or does it vary case by case?</p>
<p>It depends where the money goes. If they send it to the university, they will deduct your need-based grant. If they send it to you, DON'T TELL USC. I can't emphasize that enough. Then just cash the check and apply it to her education.</p>
<p>^so true. Well unless you want to reduce her loans. </p>
<p>Typically this is how it works- they replace Perkins loan and workstudy money (and then stafford i think) from your financial aid with the scholarship awards. When there's nothing else left to replace, they start reducing grants instead. So if you have loans and workstudy you like to get rid of, tell them about the scholarship money (if its too big and starts affecting your grant.. then i wouldn't tell USC about it)</p>
<p>Most ofthe time though, they send the check straight to your school, i think...</p>
<p>My D got a small ($1000) community scholarship in addition to her package from USC, which came in after USC made its financial aid determination. We told USC about it, of course, since it is dishonest not to. (Bman you need to work on your spin a little.) USC reduced work study $500 and the loan $500, both of which are really nice ways to use that $1000 award.</p>
<p>I got an unexpected $2000 scholarship which was cool, but then they reduced my work study by $2000 which was NOT COOL. I really like my work study job - now I need to hustle and find a new non-work study job. We tried to reduce the PLUS loan instead, but the financial aid office said all scholarships have to come out of the student need calculation, not the parent portion, and this is not negotiable. So while I am grateful for the scholarship funds, it sucks that I have to find a new job.</p>
<p>basically, usc has already met "100%" of your financial need... through loans, grants, work study, etc; if you still owe anything after that, you're responsible for paying it out-of-pocket.</p>
<p>for example - you owe $5,000 after all of your university financial aid has been awarded. if you are awarded any additional scholarship money (usc-provided, merit, outside, or what have you), usc will deduct that amount from your financial aid package (loans, work study, grants, etc.) such that you still owe $5,000. there's no way to chip away at that balance unless you don't tell them about it.</p>
<p>i know it's a tough situation, because i'm going through the very same thing. my financial aid package was great, but they're still expecting me to pay about $3,000 more than i'm able... so i might not be attending this fall.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input. So far they took away some of her grant, but we're still financially ahead. Don't know if they're done "messing with" her financial aid, though...</p>