<p>Each school handles this differently. It is possible that there might possibly be some room for discussion in such a case.</p>
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<p>That is the situation with Harvard. If you get outside scholarships, they first reduce the expected student earnings.</p>
<p>4th house, I agree fully that it is not fair. It is not fair that one student has all of that extra family money that can easily pay for college. It is even less fair that he gets more money from his merit scholarships. Most unfair.</p>
<p>Financial aid is a whole different category from merit aid. It is a last resort thing only for those who are determined by forumulas not to be able to afford college. The whole purpose of financial aid is to help those who NEED the money. If that need is met by any way, shape or form, whether it is a lottery win, inheritance, pay increase, merit money, the aid will be reduced either in subsequent or current years. With scholarships, it comes right off of your need money because you no longer have the need. In theory, (though with merit within need this is not true), you are not given financial aid for merit, but for NEED. ONce that NEED is gone, that is it. So it works with most need oriented aid programs for anything.</p>
<p>Thanks to all those who schooled me on the concept that if one garnered enough merit aid, one could simply refuse all FA. Hadn’t thought of that one. </p>
<p>On the other hand … if I dropped the numbers slightly – say both the millionaire and the lower-middle-class kid both earned $8,000 worth of merit aid, the millionaire would pay $8,000 less to go to college and the lower-middle-class kid would have little to no change in his or her bill. Being rich would still have its benefits even though both kids competed for and earned the same $8,000 worth of merit money.</p>
<p>I suppose the point here is that there is somewhat of a disincentive for anyone qualifying for need-based aid to also try for outside merit aid. Those who get the clearest benefit are either those who need no need-based aid, or only trying for merit aid if it is large enough to negate the need for any need-based aid.</p>
<p>It depends. Most college students do not get full need met. If your college does not meet your need, the amounts can go towards that need. Government grants for need like the PELL, HEOGH, Perkins, Subsidized Stafford, most state grants cannot be given out if need is exceeded. If there is still need left over, that is not an issue at all. </p>
<p>I know a young man who got about $10K from a SUNY which included state, federal funds as well as some financial aid from the school. His EFC was $5000. The COA is about $20K for that school. He is able to keep $5K of any scholarship money without it reducing any of his financial aid. Any more than that would reduce his loans. Then it would reduce his grants, starting with the one given to him by the college.</p>
<p>There is not the disincentive for those who NEED money for college to apply for outside scholarships because you don’t know upon the onset of the whole process whether you will be getting your need met from any of your schools (or even which schools will be accepting you). Someone who does not need merit money has far less incentive to go through the trouble of filling out the forms and doing all of the work seeking outside awards because their college is paid for already. It’s those kids who have no such assurances who have to cast a wide net. </p>
<p>When I applied to colleges, I got a spread of offers ranging from all of the cost to full pay. Had my full pay option been my first choice school, the only way I would have been able to go would have been with the outside awards I got. You just don’t know where you are going to be at the end of the process.</p>
<p>But yes, for those lucky enough to get full need met by a college, some of that award could be reduced or even eliminated by outside awards if they are so lucky to get enough outside money to do that. THis ends up being a very small number of students.</p>
<p>My son earned $6,000 a year (total $24,00 for all 4 years) and it reduced the amount that Harvard is giving him and not the amount that we have to pay. Why? My son earned this scholarship and it’s like he’s being penalized for it because we still have to pay the exact same amount that we would have to pay even if he hadn’t won the scholarship. </p>
<p>any thoughts?</p>
<p>At Yale, you can reduce your student contribution and term-time job before they do grants, plus you can use up to $2,500 for a laptop freshman year… so they didn’t reduce anything but grants at Harvard? (one more reason Yale is better! j/k)</p>
<p>Harvard does not give scholarships, only need-based aid. You don’t “earn” need-based aid, you get it because the college believes you have need. Because your S worked, he is expected to contribute to his educational expenses. He got the financial aid because you and your family did not have the money to pay for the school, but as he made more money they decided that you can pay more. </p>
<p>Did they reduce the aid by $24k or $6k/yr? If they did, then I agree with you, that is ridiculous. But if they reduced aid slightly (I think it might be 10% of student earnings or so) then it makes sense. Plus, your S could have used the rest of the money to offset the parental contribution.</p>
<p>It sucks, yeah, but it is fair.</p>
<p>Guitars, Savs post says it all. Financial aid is reduced when the need is reduced. At least most of the time. There is an unfair component to this, I agree, but the unfairness is for the very lucky small number of kids who get into schools that give generous need packages and also find other sources of money. Hard to say that this is bad luck for such a lucky group of kids. </p>
<p>The true unfairness is that there is not enough financial aid to meet everyone’s need. The vast majority of college kids do not get their need met. Many have to put off college, go part time, choose schools by affordability, work more than is optimal for studying, go into big time debt, live parsiminously. That is the heartbreak and the unfairness, not the fact that some lucky kid who gets a great financial aid package has to give up some of it because he also got outside scholarship or other bonanza to reduce his need.</p>
<p>I heard the same thing. This is why some people give their money directly to the students. This way, students can give the money to their parents to pay and avoid letting the university see it. Its a real shame that colleges will take out money of a scholarship from your need based grant money simply because you worked hard to achieve something.</p>
<p>At that point I would rather give the money to someone that it would actually help. I would still put it down on my resume obviously, but at least than it would go to good use.</p>
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<p>The same policy is in effect at Harvard.</p>
<p>“This is why some people give their money directly to the students. This way, students can give the money to their parents to pay and avoid letting the university see it.”</p>
<p>If the scholarship is coming from a local foundation or organization, they will jeapordize their 501(c)3 status by doing so. Scholarships should be paid to educational institutions, not parents that will be breaking federal laws if they do not disclose the receipt of those funds. By accepting a financial aid offer, you agree to abide by those laws.</p>
<p>True, if a school finds out an outside agency gave you money for your education, through any means but most likely a local newspaper or whatever, they could take your financial aid package completely away. This is why many institutions that meet full need ask for all scholarships to be reported, regardless of who they are paid to.</p>
<p>Yes, they reduced the aid by $6,000 a year. I would almost feel better if my son could just have passed his award to someone else who actually could use it for there end, not the schools. He worked for it and earned it but he doesnt get to use it (since H would have still given him the same amount in aid). He didn’t study to earn this scholarship to give it to a school, he earned it for his studies. Oh well, we still feel very grateful for his education at Harvard and would not trade it for anything.</p>
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<p>You could decline the award, and then you don’t have to report it. Then the organization may be able to give an extra award out this year or next year.</p>
<p>The award is already received. In a way someone else may be getting it. Harvard reduced the amount they gave us so that means more $ to give to someone else???</p>
<p>If the scholarship is coming from a local foundation or organization, they will jeapordize their 501(c)3 status by doing so. Scholarships should be paid to educational institutions, not parents that will be breaking federal laws if they do not disclose the receipt of those funds. By accepting a financial aid offer, you agree to abide by those laws.</p>
<p>I know plenty of people who received “scholarships” in checks. Some as big as $5,000 that were given. The point is you can get money without having it be seen by the school or even be considered a scholarship. Its a little sleazy thats true, but so is this.</p>
<p>I just called Fin Aid at Caltech. They will work with us to help D benefit from all her outside scholarships. We can submit receipts for computer, printer, etc. for “add-on to the budget”. Also, receipts for any medical, optical, braces, etc. expenses that are not covered by insurance. And, we can request that her summer student contribution be covered by scholarship, since she hasn’t been able to find a job yet. She didn’t guarantee 100% allowance, but it’s good news anyway. Thanks to all for the suggestions posted here.</p>
<p>It is important how the scholarship phrases the award. She said most are for “fees, books or supplies”, which allows the consideration.</p>
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<p>With Harvard, outside scholarships are useless unless they exceed what Harvard is giving you.</p>
<p>No, they are not giving more to someone else. It is just less they have to draw from their endowment.</p>