<p>I have been blessed to have won several scholarships this past year that I applied for. However, I won't really be needing all of them, at least not for my first year of college. Would it be possible for me to, essentially, "save" them for future years? (I'm somewhat concerned, since I'm attending a school that's part of a public university system rumored to be thinking about ~30%+ tuition/fee increases <em>cough</em> that's on the West Coast <em>cough</em>.)</p>
<p>I know that I'm supposed to report all my outside resources to my college FinAid office, but it would be ironic if I reported all my scholarship amounts now, which are deducted from school need-based grants, and be stuck with unmet need in future years, which, given the state of my state's finances, seems very possible at the moment. On the other hand, if I can't "save" them, yet don't need them, I'd much rather decline them so that other students can afford college.</p>
<p>Hints/advice?</p>
<p>You need to talk to whoever is giving the scholarships and find out their policies about carrying the money over to another year. It is likely that outside scholarships will affect your institutional FA, however for many schools it is first applied towards loans and WS. </p>
<p>Call your college and the scholarship institutions, they are the only ones who can tell you how they deal with such cases.</p>
<p>You need to look at the rules governing those awards and your colleges policies towards such awards. If there is a financial need component to your awards, that may have to be reduced as those funds usually can only be dispensed if there is need. On the other hand, if it is all merit money, you can keep it all, even if it is over your school COA. YOu have to report certain amounts and may owe taxes on it however. Also if you have the money sitting in an account, it will be assessed towards school costs in the analysis at that time. It isn’t that simple of a matter. You need to check out the rules and conditions of every single award.</p>