<p>You would almost certainly just get the grants reduced from 20k to 5k, and you might lose some of your subsidized loans if any are subsidized and not unsubsidized Stafford loan. Advice - refuse all merit scholarships that are smaller than your grant aid AND wont stack with your prior aid</p>
<p>, or try to see if the committee will pay you the cash in hand or to your account instead of submitting it to the school. That way, you can give it to your parents and then it will not be counted for the current aid year; also, if you gift it to a parent, the assessment will be at 5.6% asset for them instead of 20% for you that it would be when you fill the FAFSA with that scholarship funds in your possession.</p>
<p>Yes. Merit aid goes towards cutting your need first, which means that your most generous chunks of aid go first and then the least. It’s not uncommon for someone to get a scholarship that just wipes out their grants and leaves them in the same boat as they were before. That’s why if you can’t get the school to cut out the loans first or get a scholarship big enough to wipe out the whole thing (need + EFC), you need to get creative and figure out some solutions.</p>
<p>Are you talking about non-RIT scholarships? If so, that isn’t necessarily true…it varies by school. If you find yourself in that position, or if you want to find out in advance, email RIT FA. Many schools reduce loans and work study first before reducing grants.</p>
<p>You’re unlikely to get $10K in federal loans and work study as a freshman. Stafford loans are capped at $5500 and schools have limited work study funds to award.</p>
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<p>This is nutty and wouldn’t work anyway. Schools require all outside scholarships to be reported to them regardless of how the funds are received. Anyone handing over a $15K scholarship is going to issue a check and, later, a form for tax filing.</p>
<p>Yes, I do plan on receiving private scholarships outside of RIT. Would these scholarships actually cut my tuition?</p>
<p>Another thing… I did some research at the library yesterday, and I found out that 88 percent of RIT students who are subject to receive aid get ALL of their need met. Doesn’t this mean that I have a pretty good chance of having my need met?</p>
<p>*I found out that 88 percent of RIT students who are subject to receive aid get ALL of their need met. Doesn’t this mean that I have a pretty good chance of having my need met? *</p>
<p>No…percentages don’t mean anything.</p>
<p>This school may have many students who don’t have much need, therefore a $5500 student loan (and maybe a small scholarship) may meet need. However, students who have a lot of need are probably the ones who are gapped.</p>
<p>*Say that my financial package contains 10,000 dollars worth of work study and federal loans and 20,000 worth of grants. Say I get a merit scholarship for 15,000 dollars.</p>
<p>Does this situation mean that I would get the work study and loans taken care of, and I would get 5000 dollars toward my tuition taken off? Or does the remaining 5000 dollars just take away from my grant money?
*</p>
<p>That is probably what will happen, although some schools (don’t know about RIT) have a policy that all grants and scholarships may not exceed a certain amount, so if that were the case, then their institutional grants would get reduced. </p>
<p>So, check to see if RIT has any such policies.</p>
<p>BTW…it’s very unlikely you’re going to get $15k in outside scholarships. Outside scholarships tend to be small, are hard to get, and only for one year.</p>
<p>Okay, so your saying that the work study/loans get thrown on the chopping block first?
Someone earlier was telling me that the Grant money goes first. Well, I guess i’ll have to do some emailing.</p>
<ol>
<li>I have just been notified that I will receive a scholarship from my high school. How will this scholarship affect my financial aid?
Congratulations! We encourage students to apply for scholarships awarded by private organizations. This is an excellent source of funding and may reduce a student’s need to borrow. In many cases, no alteration to a student’s financial aid is necessary. If, however, your award includes a Federal Perkins Loan, the outside scholarship will reduce the Perkins Loan dollar-for-dollar. If we are required to amend the financial aid package as a result of receiving an “outside scholarship,” we will make every effort to reduce the student’s loan and/or Federal Work-Study before reducing RIT grants.
Please send us a copy of the notification of your scholarship so that we can defer (pre-credit) your billing statement by the amount of your anticipated scholarship. Any scholarship checks you receive should be sent to the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. We will insure that the scholarship is credited towards your Bursar charges (please do not mail the checks with your payments directly to the Student Financial Services). The total annual amount of your scholarship will be divided equally over the three quarters of attendance (e.g. if you receive $1,500 for the year, you will see your student account credited with $500 each of the three quarters).</li>
</ol>
<p>Someone earlier was telling me that the Grant money goes first.</p>
<p>That person is often wrong, so never take his word for anything. </p>
<p>we will make every effort to reduce the student’s loan and/or Federal Work-Study before reducing RIT grants.</p>
<p>Glad to see that RIT reduces loans and W-S first. That’s what many schools do (however, as I mentioned, there are a few that have a “max” amount that any student can get in free money. Thankfully, RIT isn’t one of those few schools.</p>
<p>In many cases, no alteration to a student’s financial aid is necessary.</p>
<p>However, this caught my eye. This suggests that RIT often doesn’t meet need which is why these private scholarships don’t require any adjustments to aid packages.</p>
<p>In the information I saw above, it said High school scholarships. What if the scholarship comes from RIT themselves? Like say, a presidential scholarship? If the statement holds true for institutional scholarships as well, that would make me quite happy :)</p>