Outside scholarships and financial aid

Parents Forum
1

<p>One of my dd's top choices has offered her a generous financial package with a combination of need-based and merit awards. The merit money covers what otherwise might have been loans or work-study, so we need only to pay our EFC.</p>

<p>She has also been offered a few outside scholarships that are unlikely to give her any real benefit, since her self-help is already covered. The school won't allow the scholarships to be used toward the EFC; instead, the need-based grants would be reduced. The scholarships add up to almost one year's EFC for us, and they're one-time, lump-sum offers. </p>

<p>What should we do now?</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Decline the outside scholarships and ask the donors to give them to someone else.</p></li>
<li><p>Ask the donors to consider spreading the awards over four years to reduce self-help in future years if needed.</p></li>
<li><p>Ask the donors to specify that the awards could be used for "extras" such as summer study or study abroad. </p></li>
<li><p>Ask the donors to consider making the awards directly to dd without involving the school.</p></li>
<li><p>Accept the outside scholarships and allow the college to benefit from them, in appreciation of the generous aid that the school is offering to dd.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Suggestions?</p>

2

<p>Ask for a computer or a bookstore charge account. I'm serious as Coke offered those two options to its students attending EFC schools. We used the computer option freshman year.</p>

3

<p>The computer would be a terrific option. I can see how that might be allowed, since a computer is not counted as part of the Cost of Attendance.</p>

<p>However, I'm curious about the bookstore charge account. Since textbooks <em>are</em> part of the COA, it seems to me that the school might consider a bookstore account to be meeting part of the COA, and therefore would reduce the need-based aid accordingly.</p>

4

<p>They are part of the COA, but come out of your pocket. They are not paid to the college. Kind of like travel is part of the COA.</p>