<p>Is it mandatory that you report outside scholarships?</p>
<p>Yes, but unless the scholarship is sent to the University (as opposed to you getting a check from whatever organization it is), there’s really no reason (outside of moral considerations) for you to do so.</p>
<p>I think I’ll be getting checks presented to me directly, and not sent to the university. Would anything happen if I didn’t report em? Would they lower my finaid if I reported them?</p>
<p>If a university tells you that you must report something, that almost certainly means that there will be consequences for lying. Don’t think about not reporting outside scholarships because you’re worried Berkeley might not give you as much financial aid.</p>
<p>Yes, the University will likely reduce your finaid if you report it. The consequence for getting caught lying (which is highly unlikely) will be them reducing your financial aid retroactively.</p>
<p>will they reduce the loans first? Or does it depend on your situation.</p>
<p>Just ask your finaid counselor. I got a scholarship, so they reduced my loans and upped my work study at my request. Otherwise, I think they reduce from work study, then loans, then grants/scholarships, etc. I didn’t lose any grants/scholarships. They’ll only take away your grants/scholarships if you got an award big enough to cover work study/loans and then some.</p>
<p>If you don’t report it, they won’t let you submit the scholarship. I’m not sure about you, but my outside scholarship is addressed to the university. It’s not highly unlikely that you will get caught. It’s more like, if you don’t report it, they’ll find out when you try to cash it.</p>
<p>If I hadn’t reported the scholarship, the university would have retroactively billed me.</p>
<p>I think both of my scholarships send checks directly to me, at least one of them did. I think I’ll report it anyways. Thanks guys!</p>
<p>Reporting is a good idea, but keep in mind that even if the checks are directly sent to you, they may not necessarily be in your name. So unless the checks say “TO: your name or your parents’ name,” you basically have to report the scholarship.</p>
<p>what if youre not getting any financial aid? then is it really necessary to report the scholarships?</p>
<p>No, it’s not, but it may facilitate the bill paying process.</p>
<p>I didn’t get financial aid last year, but I had an outside scholarship. As stly said, it helps in the bill paying process. It vastly expedites the process from where you submit your scholarship to when it shows up on your CARS. In fact, if you report it, your CARS will show your scholarship before you submit it. It will have the amount your scholarship offers under “offered” but $0.00 under “accepted.” When you submit your scholarship, the accepted column will read however much you submitted to the university via scholarship.</p>