Outside Scholarships...removing grants?!

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello. So here is a scenario that I am about to be in:</p>

<p>Awarded Pell Grant $5500
Awarded Various other state/federal Grants $3000
Awarded Work-Study $3000
Awarded Subsidized Loan: $3000</p>

<p>If I receive an outside scholarship, the university will subtract my grants, which makes little to no sense to me. So they are basically replacing my "free" money. It makes so much more sense to replace/reduce the loan or work-study so that is "self-help" or whatever. Their excuse is that since I have accepted the package, and therefore the loan, they can't take it away. Is this true? I would not get the loan until August, and have filled out no paperwork besides the Master Promissory note through the federal website. If this scenario does occur, I am going to either ask the scholarship committee to hold it for next year (if possible) or if not, to award it to an alternate. It makes NO SENSE for me to accept a scholarship if I already have the "free" money and it would not benefit me what-so-ever, when it could benefit another student.</p>

2

<p>They can cancel the loan if they wanted to. </p>

<p>They may just want the grant money freed up for their own needs.</p>

<p>You might be able to decline the scholarship, but before you do, make sure the school will reinstate the grant.</p>

3

<p>I don’t understand. Pell is an entitlement & will not be removed, no matter what. SEOG might be removed if your scholarship reduces your need (to keep you within the guidelines of the policy the school uses to award their campus-based funds). ACG wouldn’t be removed unless your scholarship is large enough that it puts you in an overaward situation.</p>

<p>Can you be more specific about which grants would be “removed?”</p>

4

<p>Thanks. I am not in this situation now, so I do not need to worry about the grant part being reinstated. If they say that they can not cancel the loan, what leverage do I have to show them that they can?</p>

5

<p>They HAVE TO cancel loans if you request it. They might not be ready to do that yet, but they will be before the school year begins.</p>