<p>I'm going to a private university (RIT) and I received two scholarships collectively equaling a few thousand dollars. I have pushed off reporting this aid I know I'll be receiving because I'm afraid they (RIT Financial Aid Dept.) will simply cut my need-based grant or my achievement scholarship I received. So far they have been very good, but I worry about things like this. (I'm an EFC=0 kind of financial situation, if you are wondering.)</p>
<p>Do colleges commonly cut aid when you report other sources? The one scholarship I received is merit-based and the other was primarily need-based. They both are completely private scholarships. After I applied to RIT, I appealed my original financial aid award and RIT increased my yearly grant size, for need-based reasons. Can anyone give me advice or tell me what the probable outcome will be in a scenario like this? The school already has me paying three thousand and some change as "out of pocket" because my current financial aid package max's out direct loans and a Perkins loan. Any additional aid I would vet, at this point, would be based on my family's credit-- aka, PLUS loans.</p>
<p>It depends upon your school exactly how this will be handled, but most of the time, yes, it will reduce your aid. USUALLY, the aid that is cut first are the loans and work study awards, cutting into the grant amounts if all of those monies are replaced. Then if your grant is merit money or scholarship can determine how much of that is replaced along with your college’s particular policies. All of this actually is determined by the college’s policies, so you need to check directly with them. Another issue that may come into play is if you have a low EFC or more importantly to them, a low need as calculated by the college, and they did not meet 100% of need, some of your outside scholarship can be applied to the need that they did not meet, and would thereby not reduce your aid until you get into the area that is what is considered your family contribution.</p>
<p>To complicate things here, if your school is not a FAFSA only school and uses PROFILE or its own apps, you may have two need figures there; your FAFSA EFC and your school’s expected contribution amount. It is entirely possible that none of your government money will be touched since it is determined by EFC, but the school funds may be replaced by your outside scholarship if it is over what the school determines as your need. That is why you have to work it out with the school financial aid office.</p>
<p>Are you receiving the scholarship checks or are they going directly to the school? If they are going to the school then you absolutely need to call and ask how that will be handled. Some colleges will stack outside scholarships if they weren’t able to meet your EFC and others will replace existing aid and scholarships. If your college stacks then you can stop the worry. If your college doesn’t stack and the checks are being sent directly to the college then why are you postponing the inevitable, you would be much better off dealing with this now when you may be able to influence the situation. If the checks are coming to you in the mail and made out to you…then you’ve got a moral dilema.</p>
<p>@momofthreeboys: All of my scholarships are going directly to the college. My neglect is my mistake, and that I should be more proactive because, well, I’m not sure how it will be handled. But since the money is going directly to them, it’s going to be on their shoulders to determine how these funds are applied. Personally, I’d feel damned for going out of my way to reduce my own loan debts and being proactive about my own education, and then they would turn around and reduce institutionally-granted aid, thus canceling my own efforts.</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse: I have $10,500 in loans per year and $3000+ out of pocket. It would seem to make sense that they cut the loans before cutting grant aid. Again, it’s a FAFSA-only school and there was no CSS profile so I’m pretty sure they use the reported federal information plays a large part in determining in the institutionally-acceptable level of self-met need. They reduced my out of pocket expenses from nearly $7,000/yr to a little under $4,000 after I appealed my first award. </p>
<p>My mom and I will be calling FinAid Office today just to talk about some questions I have, like if I can still keep my work study and things like that even though I’m getting scholarships because I want to do utilize that as a resource for funding.</p>
<p>Under federal law, certain loans have to be reduced when outside scholarships are received. If you are receiving a lot of federal money, you must truly be careful about reporting outside awards, because the penalties for holding out on the info can be very severe since the government is involved. Since the money is going directly to the school, the financial aid office will handle what is necessary. My guess is that with a zero EFC and a school using FAFSA only, your out of pocket expenses will get the scholarship money applied there first, then to whatever federal loans, programs that require replacement (Perkins loans are particularly sensitive that way; PELL grants stay intact). The rest is up to the school. I had heard, (nothing to bank on, just hearsay) that RIT is pretty good about letting kids keep their outside scholarships. There are schools that are not. THey will go after every cent you get to reduce what they give you.</p>
<p>Be honest. Report the outside scholarships BEFORE the school receives a check from the outside sources.</p>