<p>So I talked with my financial adviser at high school about local scholarships I got. She told me that better not to send them to UC Davis, but to prove to her that I will be at UC Davis (basically show her my college transcript and schedule after summer advising) and she'll be able to send those money directly to me, not to college. I asked he whats the point of that, maybe better to send it directly to college and her answer was "as soon as UCD find out that you have $1,250 in scholarships, they will lower their fin. aid by this amount". So I talked with her more and that's what I found out:
My fin. aid from Davis (including loans/grants/stuff) is $12,000. If I will get scholarship for $6,000, college will automatically lower their financial aid by $6,000 or less, but the point is they will lower the fin. aid.
It seems so unfair to me, like I work hard, apply for scholarships, fill out long applications (someitmes up to 15 pages) and then at the end even I get them, college will lower their fin. aid so they are not that helpful.</p>
<p>Yes, they all do. But it lowers your loans and work study, which makes them valuable. As for NYU, have a read through these boards for their financial aid policies. As far as I can tell they have about the worst financial aid of any decent school.</p>
<p>There are many schools where need-based financial aid is lowered if outside scholarships are won. The idea behind such aid is that you should get help only if you truly need it, and the scholarships simply allow you to cover the costs yourself. I know there are some schools which reduce self-help aid (such as loans and work-study) before they lower grant aid, but you would need to check the policy of each school to see how this is handled.</p>
<p>I need to get like above $7,000 to actually lower my loan. UC will decrease their grants first
Oh and btw, my parents will pay for me, but it seems so unfair.</p>
<p>Yup, financial aid system doesn't benefit those who try and bring themselves out of their current financial situation through multiple jobs...</p>