If a student does not apply for need-based financial aid, but receives an institutional merit-based scholarship, do they still have to report all outside scholarships to the school? Would/could the school reduce its merit offer based on outside scholarships in this situation?
For example, my child was awarded $30k per year ($120k total) by a school. My EFC is greater than the total COA. Does my child report the small outside scholarships they receive (ie $500 or $1000 here and there) to the school? Will their $30k merit scholarship be reduced accordingly?
It depends upon the schools one by one, and what their rules about this. I have never heard of a pure merit award reduced by outside scholarships, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any out there. It is possible ( though, personally I feel unlikely) that some may exist. Your student should call Admissions and inquire after researching the awards offered. A student should know the terms of any awards offered by the schools in consideration.
The same goes for reporting rules. If a school requires notification of outside scholarships, and a student is going to that school, said student should report the award. Not doing so could result in unfavorable consequences, especially when scholarship money is involved.
It sounds like as long as the outside scholarships combined with institutional merit do not exceed the COA, we shouldn’t have any surprises.
Once my child has made their college decision (or at least narrowed it down to the top 3-4) one of us will call the FA departments and ask them directly. Most of their decisions won’t come until March, and in the meantime, I was wondering whether it’s worth chasing the small local scholarships.
Some local scholarships will insist on sending the check directly to the school (or to you, but needs to be endorsed by both your kid AND the bursar). So in those cases, you don’t have an option of not reporting! There is too much fraud for these local organizations to deal with (Mom takes the check and goes to Vegas; Dad takes the check and pays the cellphone bill) so it’s safer to send it to the college where you know what the money is being used for!
We’re definitely not looking to go to Vegas or pay the cell phone bill with scholarship money; But, I don’t want my kid wasting time with essays, etc. if any outside scholarship would just replace institutional merit. I understand that’s how it works with non-merit based aid.
In the end, if kid is accepted to high reaches, those institutions don’t offer merit scholarships so my question will be moot. So many unknowns!
If the local scholarships are coming due, I would go ahead and have your kid apply unless the time involved is too onerous. Like others have said, they usually do not affect merit, especially if you are in no danger of exceeding COA. So chances are you’ll be fine. And other than time spent, you certainly shouldn’t end up worse off.
My DD’19 did outside scholarships and the $500 or $1000 here or there added up to $7200 which was quite appreciated! Some were paid to her, some to the school, and no effect on her merit. Yes it took some time but in the end it was a pretty good rate per hour
My daughters only had one outside scholarship each, and it just stacked on top of the other aid (need based and merit/talent). I don’t think it can make a financial aid package worse, it just might not help as it can reduce need based aid.
However, wouldn’t your daughter rather say that she won the DAR essay award or had her art work selected as grand prize winner than “oh, I’m so poor I got need based aid?”
You do have to balance the time with the reward, but it does feel good to win.
Do ask about the schools’ policies on merit scholarships if they exceed cost of attendance. Also read up carefully on the outside awards received. Some awards stipulate that the funds have to go for specific things like tuition, room, board, books, etc and others do not. So the situation can vary greatly among schools and specific scholarships. Sometimes excessive amounts can be put towards summer programs, travel programs.
We had a nice surprise when we got a call before kid’s sophomore year that the “one time only outside award” which had been sent directly to the college in September of Freshman year was being sent AGAIN because nobody had bothered to apply, so they just re-awarded it to last year’s winner (i.e. my kid).
We tried again for junior year but didn’t work.
Anyway- the essay was just a regurgitation of a college essay and other than the whining and procrastinating probably took under ten minutes. And then Mom (the bad guy, always) made kid write a thank you note which took another ten minutes. “Mom, do we have stamps?”
I don’t think these local outside awards can make or break the finances; but a thousand here and there takes the sting out of the massive number of bills you start to stare at freshman year. (travel, tuition, fees, etc.) Our kid did NOT do applications for these kinds of awards first semester senior year- that would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. But by February- seriously- what’s a senior doing all day? Yeah, showing up for the AP classes so they’ll be prepared for the exams. But otherwise? Lots of hanging, in my experience. So they can hang in the kitchen with a laptop for a few afternoons…
Essay fatigue is REAL here (child applied to waaaay too many schools, in hindsight) hence my inquiry. But you’re correct, the ROI makes it worthwhile to pursue scholarships since the greater CC wisdom is advising me that outside merit typically stacks with institutional merit.
As others have stated, it more than likely will not reduce the merit scholarship, but you might want to double check each school. In our case, it did not reduce the merit aid for either of my kids. Both of mine got several small to mid sized local scholarships. All of them paid the school directly. Some of the larger ones split the award and paid half in the fall and half in the spring.
However, it is up to you (or the student) to make sure that they actually do pay and pay on time. Both of mine have a renewable scholarship from a local foundation that pays end of August and the first week of January. Older S’s bills are/were (I should be done!) due mid August and Mid December. I would front the $$$ and he would just run a credit for the rest of the semester. However, his senior year, I asked if they could do not penalize us because it WAS coming and I didn’t want to worry about getting a refund when it was done. The school said that they typically don’t penalize the first month but to make sure it was in on time the next. It came down to the wire and technically was late. But the school knew, and other kids were also getting paid by the same source and in the same boat, so they did an extension.
And one of my younger S’s scholarship checks (for $2500!) was returned to the business! I had to call the business and let them know and get them to reissue. (Awkward!) And another one of my older S’s forgot to pay. At least that one was only $500, and they did come through mid way through the spring semester after a few phone calls.
Also - read the fine print. We didn’t realize that one of older S’s scholarships only went to tuition “after all other scholarship $$$ has been applied.” He got nothing from that one.
It can be a hassle, but it is worth it in the end. All of those small awards can add up to quite a bit.
Yeah, keep notes what they win- some of DD’s were just announced at senior night, no letter or information given. I made notes and when August came and still no money or info I started tracking them down. Had to pay tuition in full and get a refund later.
Another thing that has just come up with my DD- last year she applied for and won a state-wide scholarship for her particular niche of her major. This month she reapplied, and when the administrator emailed back to acknowledge receipt, she also sent DD an awesome summer job opportunity working at their site. Now DD might not get it, but if she does, it will be quite a valuable connection she made with her scholarship app.
