Is My School Doing Something They're Not Supposed To With my Financial Aid Package?

I made a post previously discussing how I was awarded to COA by my current school (I am an incoming freshman). I received many outside scholarships which I was told repeatedly without contradiction that they would not affect my financial aid package from the school, and that they would instead be credited to my account. However, today I found out that all of my grants from the University (federal grants remain), were removed from my package and replaced with “Outside Scholarships”. If I had known they would do that I would have asked to defer my scholarships, which is why I repeatedly confirmed with the school prior. As one can imagine, I’m very concerned about what this means for my financial aid for the rest of my 4 years there, as the grant removed that was supposed to be there waived all of my tuition and fees every year for 4 years. Any input, clarification, and help would be greatly appreciated.

In addition, I also have recorded email chains directly showing my conversations with the Financial Aid Office at the University, explicitly telling me that this would not happen (in addition to having in person conversations about the same topic which they confirmed was true).

Go to your college’s financial aid page and start reading. Most of the time, there will be spelled out how outside scholarships will be applied to financial aid.

Most of the time, the policy is exactly how it turned out for you. Though loans and work study are replaced first, followed by College grants. The PELL grant can be stacked but other federal aid cannot by law. College policy rarely allows much stacking of merit awards when their money is involved

Grants are a form of need based aid. You will apply again for these for the 2020-2021 academic year…and if you don’t have those outside scholarships it is possible you will get them in subsequent years. THAT is the question i would be asking your financial aid office.

Ask them…”if my family income doesn’t change, and the number of siblings in college doesn’t change, will I receive grant money in the future? My grant money this year was reduced by outside scholarships I received, but those won’t be available to me next year.”

They might be able to tell you this.

A question…would the outside scholarships plus your grant aid have exceeded the cost of attendance?

You wrote…

It sounds like you would have had merit scholarships that exceeded the cost of attendance. I’m guessing that this is what isn’t permitted. In most cases, college financial aid of any kind can’t exceed the actual cost of attendance. The only exception would be for a student with a free merit ride who is also Pell eligible. They would get the Pell Grant. That does not sound like your case.

Correct me if I’m wrong…but you say you had full COA covered…but then you got additional merit outside awards. It makes every bit of sense that the school would reduce their awards this year…because they aren’t going to award you money that exceeds the cost of attendance.

I actually received a free merit ride in addition to the Pell Grant, which allowed my financial aid package to reach the COA. And yes, the outside scholarships vastly exceed the COA, by $12,000. I understand that they’d reduce it, however I’m more concerned that this might affect my eligibility for my free merit ride. None of these outside scholarships are renewable.

Any scholarship may also be restricted and it could be that they can only be used for tuition, or only for billed costs. My daughter had several like that and the school had to honor the scholarship and only use it for tuition. The school had its own policy that any school funds could only be used for billed items. She could have a refund for loans and Pell, but nothing else. Her final semester her school merit scholarship was reduced because there were no costs left to apply the funds to.

I think you will be fine. You might also ask the school if, since you aren’t using the merit scholarship this first year, if you’ll have 8 full semesters left for the merit scholarship. You might get one year of grad school in for free if that’s the case.

This is your concern. You need to ask the FA/Scholarships Director, by email, about how this will affect your future years and save the responses.

I’m sorry that there have been mixed messages about your aid packsge. It’s important that you understand exactly what transpired here. You say that you’ve saved emails that indicate procedures other than what happened. I think you need a sit down with the fin aid director to go over every bit of this

What’s important here is getting your merit money or other funding for all 4 years. Merit has its advantages and disadvantages. That it does not fluctuate in amounts as financial aid would when family financials change can go either way. If prices go up, circumstances change. Merit can also be tied to performance.

So, it’s important to know what the future of your aid and scholarship status is at the school. You should know the conditions under which each component of your aid package exists.

I would suggest you go in person to talk to your college about your merit award for subsequent years. Do it today.

Scholarships in the form of merit and financial aid cannot exceed the COA. That is the issue.

UPDATE: I spoke with Financial Aid which told me to visit the Honors Department director, because he had full control of the scholarships. Bad news is that the Financial Aid Office was not being truthful, because he only has control of the Honors Scholarships. Good news is that he guaranteed that although my COA is covered this year, the full tuition and fees scholarship offered to me is still reserved strictly for me in the upcoming years or this year in case I decide to dorm on campus. He also volunteered to speak to the Financial Aid Office if they continue to give me the run-around about the situation, as Fin Aid also incorrectly reported my Outside Scholarship amount by $1, 500. So I’ll be speaking to Fin Aid again tomorrow to discuss, because now my COA isn’t truly met (which it was more-than-met prior).