<p>Do outside scholarships reduce the grants or loans you get?</p>
<p>it depends</p>
<p>When you get an outside scholarship the first thing to go down in your finaid package are your grants not loans. How much it’s reduced depends on the school though.</p>
<p>That is not true at all. Most schools I have heard of will reduce self help (loans, WS) before they reduce grant aid.</p>
<p>Sorry, but that’s what I read in another thread somewhere…oh well. But unless you get a ton of outside scholarships I don’t think your finaid package should be affected that much anyways…</p>
<p>I believe most schools will take away work study first with outside scholarships. After that, it depends on the school you’re attending. You should call the fin aid office and make in inquiry about this.</p>
<p>Agree with scm, as usual.</p>
<p>My experience was that the school reduced loan aid first, but was open to a request that a different adjustment be made. We wanted it split between loans and work study. They have to adjust something, but in the big scheme it really does not matter to them where.</p>
<p>You really need to contact the financial aid office. Of the four schools I asked, 2 reduce work/study and loans first, one reduces grants first, and one allows you to apply the first $6K to your EFC. Depending on the school and your situation, outside scholarships may help you alot, or not one little bit.</p>
<p>My dd’s school gave her the choice to reduce either loans or work-study. She kept the work-study and dropped the loans. </p>
<p>But different places vary, so do ask.</p>
<p>The policy on outside scholarships is probably listed on the college’s website. But from my experience it works this way:
Student contribution (summer earnings, savings, term earnings, work study) reduced first.
Student loans reduced next.
Grant or need-based scholarships from the college, reduced next.This is where it becomes a negative for the student and family since the college would have given this money anyway.
Note: most colleges will allow the student to replace work study with additional loans if they feel they can’t work during the term due to courseload.
Interesting fact I just learned: If your outside scholarships exceed the student contribution and loan requirement, you may ask the donor to defer the award so that the college grant or need-based scholarship is not reduced.</p>