<p>My financial aid was HORRIBLE...about 3 times less than what my family was anticipating. Therefore I've been applying to all the scholarships I can find. I have won some, and I read somewhere on the Penn site that you have to report all scholarships immediately.</p>
<p>How do I report scholarships? And will they take the money I earned off my financial aid or the tuition my parents have to pay? I don't want to do anything under the table...I just don't want to have this backfire!</p>
<p>The student portion I am expected to pay is about $4,000...I'm hoping to earn atleast $10,000 through scholarships. The checks are all made out to Penn but they are sent to me first.</p>
<p>Anyways...this is kind of a long post. But thanks ahead of time! (:</p>
<p>Did you happen to do the online estimator for Penn Fin Aid before you applied? Can you guess why they might have got a different picture of your finances? Perhaps you should have a discussion with the financial aid office if you cannot afford Penn without having to take out backbreaking loans.</p>
<p>As for outside scholarships, they first reduce your “expected student income” over the summer, then any workstudy you may have been awarded, then your grant money. They will not reduce your expected parent contribution.</p>
<p>You should mail any checks you receive for scholarships to:</p>
<p>Outside Scholarship Office
Student Financial Services
University of Pennsylvania
140 Franklin Building,
3451 Walnut Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6270</p>
<p>So, basically, from how I interpret it, you don’t have to “solidify” how you plan to pay for Penn until July 2012. So, keep track of all the scholarship money you have won. Then, you can put your “expected student income” contribution exactly as how much you have earned in scholarship money. That will ensure that your scholarship money will not take away from grant money. And, I believe that how you pay for Penn’s education is not locked-in, that is, sophomore/junior/senior year you can contribute less to your summer income contributions (as you may have 1-time scholarship offers).</p>
<p>I don’t think you can set your expected student income beyond an amount that one could reasonably earn from summer employment (~$3000). They typically use $2400 as summer earnings estimate + any money you have in your bank account + any money in your name (trust, bonds, etc.) as your total student contribution.</p>
<p>Edit for clarity: In other words, you cannot reduce your parent contribution by increasing your student contribution. As Penn sees it, they will expect them to pay whatever they can afford to part with. So the next step is understanding what your parents can afford and sharing your concerns with the financial aid office if they are expecting an unreasonable amount from your parents.</p>
<p>The argument might could be made that the outside scholarships should go toward your room and board portion - it is my understanding that any scholarship money that is used for that purpose is a taxable event to the student. Sounds like income to me.</p>
<p>I really don’t understand the need to see the student’s parents “bleed” if they were resourceful enough to seek out and apply for outside scholarships. Most scholarships take a great deal of effort because essays are required. There again the “working class poor” are the ones that are placed at a great disadvantage when it comes to college aid. On paper they “should” be able to contribute XXX amount of dollars but in reality after taxes, housing expense, car expense, tithing, food and insurance, there is not a spare $30,000 a year to pay for college. </p>
<p>Before anyone berates the fact that if a the financial need calculator thinks you should be contributing $30,000 then you must be wealthy, I want to point out that two incomes totalling $130,000 BEFORE taxes puts you into that contribution range. At that income level that means you are covering your mortgage, transportation expense, insurance, food, tithe and education expenses for any remaining children at home. No boats, expensive vacations, or other extras. Just living. Always a set of tires, eyeglasses, washing machine that seem to take up that extra cushion. Not asking for a government handout - just the opportunity to use a merit scholarship earned by the student.</p>
<p>Sure, it may be considered income of the student, but not the parent. Thus, it will diminish any university grants before the parent contribution (an unlikely event – netting tens of thousands in scholarships that is).</p>
<p>On the second page of [this</a> pamphlet (PDF)](<a href=“Submit My Documents”>Submit My Documents) is a table giving the median financial aid award per household income level. I found it to be accurate for my award.</p>
<p>It is then why I suggest the OP look into their family’s finances. If the estimate deviates from the median award for that income bracket by more than a couple thousand, then perhaps there was a mistake on the forms or on the financial aid office’s part, or perhaps the family has high assets – homes, investments, etc. Outside scholarships are usually not effective sources of financial aid at meet-full-need institutes beyond perhaps ~$5000 (again, what Penn estimates that student should contribute from their current assets/capital and summer employment + work study, not what they can find in scholarships).</p>
<p>Different scenario but still relevant - I’m an international student who did not apply for school financial aid. Penn will definitely give me nothing, but how would I report my outside scholarships if I’m to win some money?</p>
<p>@SchmecktEs: Are you sure about the limits on student contribution, etc? I’m not trying to attack you, but I just haven’t seen that in writing anywhere and am new to the Fin Aid process. Thanks.</p>
<p>First off, thank you for replying and being so helpful! (:</p>
<p>When I first decided to apply to Penn, my parents used the chart to get an estimate. We didn’t know about the new financial aid calculator. Last week, my parents tried the calculator just to double-check and it perfectly matched up with their original expectations and the chart. The only problem is that income-wise, my parents are not “rich”. But on paper, it looks like we own a lot of land and property. When my dad called the SFS office, she told him that the chart AND the calculator do NOT apply to anyone who owns a small business or is self-employed. (So take note future Penn applicants!)</p>
<p>We are applying for Re-Evaluation because the cost is so dramatically different from our expectations.</p>
<p>So what I got from the posts was that the scholarship money I get will be applied to the student portion first but never the parent contribution part? And I should wait until later to send the money to:</p>
<p>Outside Scholarship Office
Student Financial Services
University of Pennsylvania
140 Franklin Building,
3451 Walnut Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6270</p>
<p>@hardworking21: I’m uncertain if there’s a limit on student contribution, but it seems like from searching past threads on here that they just expect students to contribute $2400. The point that I was attempting to make was that student contribution is independent of parent contribution. So by attempting to raise the student contribution to use more scholarship money would only reduce Penn’s aid, but not the parent contribution (unless you won enough to replace Penn’s aid and had enough left over to pay for the parent contribution).</p>
<p>From Penn’s website:
self-help = student contribution</p>
<p>@superduperchanny: It is unfortunate that the financial aid process can be unfair at times, I hope the re-evaluation works in your favor! As for your questions, yes scholarships are applied in the following order: student summer requirement -> student work study -> university grant -> parent contribution. So it will effectively not be applied to the parent contribution unless they awarded you little grant or you hit the jackpot of scholarships. And any scholarship checks should be mailed to Penn at that address.</p>
<p>@SchmecktEs: Gotcha. I read the same passage; I just assumed that you could increase the student contribution portion, have it paid off by outside scholarships, and thus make your parents pay less? Isn’t it: </p>
<p>Total Cost of Penn MINUS Student Contribution MINUS Grant Aid from Penn = Parent Contribution? After all, if you contribute more, doesn’t it make sense that your parents would contribute less?</p>
<p>I think it’s Total Cost - Parent Contribution - Required Student Contribution = Financial Aid Package to meet gap. I agree that it would make sense that the more a student contributes, the less their parents should, but that’s not how they see it.</p>