<p>I've applied for numerous outside scholarships that generally have notification dates in May. I've also heard that outside scholarships usually result in a reduction of your financial aid package. So my question is, are FA packages finalized when you confirm your enrollment on May 1st or can the college I go to still change my FA package if I receive scholarships in May or later? Also, do I even have to tell the college I got an outside scholarship that late in the game or can I get away with not saying anything?</p>
<p>You are supposed to notify the college of any outside scholarship you receive. Actually SOME outside scholarships send the money directly to the college.</p>
<p>And yes…the college can adjust your aid after May.</p>
<p>You absolutely MUST report ALL outside scholarships to the college, regardless of when they are received. It’s not optional.</p>
<p>My understanding is that the majority of outside scholarships send the check directly to the college - so you have no option as to whether or not to report it. However, if it was a very small scholarship - maybe $250 - and they agreed to make the check payable to you personally to be used for books and misc. expenses - I’m not sure that I would bother reporting that. But you really should check with the college and determine their requirements as there could be severe consequences for not reporting even a small outside scholarship.</p>
<p>All financial aid awards can be revised at any time…there will be language regarding that in your award letters and instructions that you must report any scholarships you receive. It’s very common to have aid adjusted because schools can’t award more aid than their total COA and many will not award in excess of calculated need (COA - EFC) so, if there isn’t a gap in the FA package, something is going to be adjusted. Many schools give students a choice between reducing loans or work-study, some take it from institutional grants first. Every year there are posts from kids who thought they were going to save their parents some money by earning outside scholarships, but all it did was save the school some aid. Anyway, if you have a concern about this, you should call/email the FA office at your school(s) and ask what their policies are regarding OS scholarships. My kids’ schools required we report them all, applied them to the gap first, then to loans, and did not consider the smaller local awards that they earned…but we let them know about the awards and the college made the decision.</p>