<p>I'm a Gates Scholars, which you probably know covers my unmet need. I have also received two other outside scholarships, which together exceed my EFC. I may even get more on my class night.
Do I have to decline any additional scholarship offers? Like, can I use the money for personal expenses? I read somewhere on here about if you over pay on the tuition and R&B to a school they send you a refund check for the difference. Is this true? and does that mean I still report the additional scholarship money or not?</p>
<p>Please not that all the scholarships I have already received are paid directly to the college.</p>
<p>I don’t know if you can keep them, but keep in mind that if they exceed the amount of qualified tuition, you may have to pay tax on them. So set some aside for that.</p>
<p>As long as the scholarships don’t have conditions like “tuition only” or “up to COA”, then I don’t think you’ll have any problem. Yes, you do have to report them and the school will have to reduce any aid they’re giving you to reflect your reduced (or nonexistent) need. School awards are sometimes not considered scholarships as they’re for small amounts, often paid directly to the student. Check with your college on reporting for those…but you may want to withdraw your local apps if you’re not going to need/accept these. I’m sure there are other kids scrambling to cover their educational expenses and it would be considerate to think of their needs. Congrats on your awards!</p>
<p>I’m not saying like pocket thousands of dollars just out of greed. I mean like, I could definitely use an extra $2,000 for personal expenses.
The ones I have won were 2 national scholarships, 1 regional scholarship, and 1 company employee scholarship. There are only a couple local scholarships I haven’t heard back from. I was rejected for the rest, and there were plenty I still had on my list to apply to but decided not after I found I got Gates (didn’t think it was fair to apply to more).</p>
<p>Yes, but since GMS is covering “unmet need”, it sounds like the schools will apply your scholarships first and just reduce the value from Gates. (I’m not familiar with the details of Gates, btw, just considering the way that you worded it.) The scholarships you’ve won so far will cover your COA, which generally is more than actual expenses by several thousands…I’d imagine you’re already in a refund position. You can compare the actual, billable expenses to the COA for your school to determine how much.</p>
<p>Your Gates Scholarship will pay your personal expenses. You will get a check at the beginning of each semester that is equivalant to your work study amount.</p>
<p>Unmet need doesn’t include my EFC, which is only like $1,700 and I will cover with the other scholarships. You are right, Gates will just reduce the amount of money they give me as I get more scholarships. So I should just accept other one scholarship to cover that and decline the rest? The amounts are $1,000 (one time), $6,000 (over 4 years), and $5,000 (one time). Which do you think I should keep and could I get a refund check if I just chose the one for the highest amount (ie. the $5,000 one time scholarship)?</p>
<p>My work study amount was supposed to be $4,000, but NYU Stern says that I only need $1,900 for personal expenses. So which would I get? I highly doubt that students in NYC only spend $1,900 in a year on themselves.</p>
<p>You need to speak with NYU to determine how they allocate outside scholarships. Typically, no scholarship covers your EFC until you have fully funded the remaining need. So, if NYU’s COA is $56K and your EFC is $1700, then your need is $54,300. They will then apply your federal (and state, if any) aid, your outside scholarships, and any university grants. The remaining balance is your unmet need, which Gates will cover. Unless you receive enough Pell, merit aid and outside scholarships (excluding Gates) to exceed the COA, I don’t think there is any way to have your EFC covered. But, I’d be surprised if NYU’s COA isn’t padded, as most schools are. You can also request that they increase your COA if your expected expenses will be larger than normal. But the EFC is what it is…it’s not going to be part of the FA award because it’s expected to come from your family. So, unless they say that you don’t have to report the local school awards, don’t expect any of the outside scholarships to cover your EFC.</p>
<p>Wait, so you’re saying that no matter how much outside scholarship money I get, they will probably just reduce the money they’ll give me so that I still have to pay my EFC?</p>