<p>I know self help can be replaced by outside scholarships, but can family contribution be replaced by outside awards as well?</p>
<p>If you exceed the rest of your award. Most likely it will just continue to eat away at the rest of your award. Lousy little secret about scholarships.</p>
<p>Family Contribution stays the same. They usually reduce the need-based grants, then the need-based loans and work-study. Another secret.</p>
<p>Isle,</p>
<p>I think that you have it backwards.</p>
<p>At the majority of schools outside scholarships usually reduces the self help portion (work study and loans) first, then it reduces the university grant/scholarships. </p>
<p>I know that Brown is different as they require students to keep a self help portion of their package.</p>
<p>*Outside scholarships can be used to reduce some, but not all, of the following:
Student Contribution from Income (SCI)
Work-Study/Student Employment Expectation
Loans </p>
<p>When you reduce the components of your package listed above, you cannot reduce the entire student expectation, or what we call student-effort (loans, work-study/student employment and SCI). Each student is expected to make a contribution to their academic year costs through borrowing a loan, working during the academic year, and/or contributing from their summer earnings. Under no circumstance can outside scholarships be used to replace your entire expected contribution. A minimum expectation is set for all students.
Brown's minimum student-effort expectation is reevaluated each year. For the 2005-2006 academic year, the minimum expectation is as follows: </p>
<pre><code>Freshman $2,150
Sophomore $2,600
Junior $2,600
Senior $2,600
</code></pre>
<p>*</p>
<p>sybbie: </p>
<p>Some of my other school choices do this; I'm not sure all of them do. For myself it's about 50/50. Sorry I was just pointing out what I've experienced with some of my schools. The ones in the top of the first tier (a la USNews) are good about it, but some of the ones lower and a good chunk of the state schools I applied to reduce the need-based grants before reducing the loan portion (and/or work-study).</p>
<p>Sincerely...
IB</p>
<p>PS--BTW Brown was one of those schools, although I do understand that they have a smaller endowment than some of the schools that replace the loan/work-study portions first.</p>
<p>whoops. I actually meant student contribution. My student contribution is much more than my family contribution. Can't I reduce that by outside scholarships since that should count as my own "contribution?"</p>
<p>Schools that expect a student contribution typically do not reduce THAT with outside scholarships. They expect that the student will make that contribution, just like they expect that the family will make the EFC.</p>