<p>Sorry if this question has been posed in the past. I spend most of my time over in Music Major section.</p>
<p>A friend of my wife said she'd heard that on some occasions, when a student who'd been promised a merit scholarship for a given amount attempts to register, they find that amount of the scholarship has been reduced due to overcommitment of funds by the college.</p>
<p>That sounds like bait-and-switch to me and it seems that if the practice was that common I would have heard of it by now.</p>
<p>The friend does have a tendency to hear of a specific situation and decide that it's a common occurrence, so we're wondering how much we need to worry about the merit scholarship that's been offered to my daughter.</p>
<p>I know many kids on merit scholarships (d included), and I’ve never heard of this happening. I’ve heard of it happening with need-based “scholarships” because the need changed from the time the student was awarded the anticipated FA and the time the student sent in the actual tax forms. </p>
<p>Many people use the word “scholarship” to encompass both merit scholarships and need-based grants; they’re not the same.</p>
<p>It sounds like you and your friend are playing “telephone”: she heard that “sometimes” something happens, and you don’t know how far removed she was from the original source, and you know how garbled things get.</p>
<p>If you’re concerned about your student, call the schools at which your student is awarded merit aid and ask specifically if this can happen before your student accepts the spot.</p>
<p>When you receive a scholarship for a specific amount, you have to sign an acceptance for this award. You have to do the same for need-based aid. If you signed for a merit scholarship AND your information for your need based aid was a FINAL award (your application information was finalized for the current tax year and accepted)…you should have those letters with you AND you should be prepared to discuss this with finaid.</p>
<p>If the scholarship in question really was reduced, it probably had a component of need. When all the financial info & financial aid were in, the need may have been less than originally anticipated. In this case, all need was probably met, so the scholarship was reduced.</p>
<p>What is more common is that GRANTS are reduced or eliminated. For example, I just worked on a student’s case where she was awarded SEOG and a university grant on her original financial aid award letter. However, after she was sent that award letter, she received a scholarship for her housing. She already had a large university scholarship and a Pell grant. The total of her two scholarships & her Pell were actually about $2400 more than her cost of attendance. As a result, her SEOG and grant were taken away (she was informed of this, but like many students she ignored her emails from our office). She may feel like her scholarship was reduced … but that is not the case.</p>