<p>@FrenchHorn, need-based aid is, well, need-based. Vanderbilt’s commitment is to meet your need. If you get a scholarship, that means you have less financial need and thus get less need-based aid. Can be a little frustrating but it makes a lot of sense on Vandy’s side.</p>
<p>Scholarships are very helpful for those upper-middle class families that end up with a high EFC that they can’t realistically afford.</p>
<p>That being said, outside scholarships do contribute a bit before starting to reduce need-based aid.</p>
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Let’s say you had an EFC of $10,000 before winning an outside scholarship of $5,000. I would turn your question around on you. Why wouldn’t your EFC now be $15,000? Don’t you have an extra $5,000 in assets that you did not have before? Using your logic, if a school offered you $40,000 in aid but then you won a full tuition scholarship from outside the school, are they supposed to pay you to attend their school so that you actually make a profit? Schools like Vandy are not-for-profit institutions, but they are not charities.</p>
<p>Put another way, consider whose primary responsibility it is supposed to be to pay for your education after high school. In this country, at least, it is still yours. Also, the advantage of getting the outside scholarship, if it is of the 4-year variety especially, is that they will be there for you no matter how your personal finances change assuming you meet the qualifications to continue to receive it such as minimum GPA.</p>