<p>I recently received $500 scholarship. Do I have to report it?
If I don't report it, what would happen to me?
And if I report it, would the finanical aid office take away some of the money they have already offered me??</p>
<p>Yes, you must report it. </p>
<p>If you don’t report it, you could lose your entire aid package.</p>
<p>You’ll need to contact the school to see how they treat outside scholarships, it varies.</p>
<p>Relax…unless you have a rare full ride, they’ll likely apply it to the gap (if any) or to your self-help aid (loans/ws). Just report it so you don’t have to worry about it!</p>
<p>My D received merit aid from her school then received 6 outside scholarships. The schools policy is that if the aid is “merit”, you have already earned this award and they will not reduce it. If you have “need” aid as part of your package they may reduce that by the amount of your outside scholarship. SK8rmom is right, each school has a different policy.</p>
<p>You have to report it or risk losing the entire package. I have twins. One of their schools takes the $10,000 from my University and puts it on top of my daughter’s aid. That school removes the loans and work-study. The other, takes my $10,000 and reduces the grant from the college dollar for dollar. Schools handle these things differently.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Schools will usually apply the scholarship on a per semester basis. If the scholarship goes to you directly then it really doesn’t matter because you will have use of the money right away. If the scholarship goes directly to the school your bill will only reflect a $250 reduction for each semester.</p>
<p>Although it hurts to admit it, if you think about the policy that Texasmom describes, it makes sense. The school takes its cost of attendance, subtracts the estimated family contribution, then seeks to minimize the difference under the premise that it’s what the family “needs” in order to manage school expenses. Add $500 to the contribution that the family’s expected to make and the amount that they “need” goes down by $500.</p>