<p>Recently, (two days ago) I received word that I was selected to receive the Washington Post's prestigious Herbert Denton scholarship, for $95,000. I'm wondering how the finaid dept. at williams will handle this, as I do not have a finaid package yet, becasue my parents are separated and my dad's tax forms took a long time to get because he lives a distance away and is always busy.</p>
<p>I'm scared though, because a prefrosh I met at previews was told that his $1,000 scholarship would not be honored at williams because he'd already eben given a definite finaid package. I would bnot want to jeopardize so much money, and i'm being pulled in two separate directions. On one hand, the Washington Post basically is telling me to wait and not speak with the finaid dept. until they meet with me and determine the best way to fit the scholarship into my finaid, while williams is telling me to hurry up and complete the process. So basically, i'm kinda stuck. I didn't expect this money, and the flurry of attention has caught me off guard these past few days. Any parents of williams students or fellow prefrosh who can offer any advice?</p>
<p>Hmmm.... My thought was that all financial aid departments (well most, anyway) handle this situation in the same manner. Most would simply detuct their financial aid offer by the amount of the outside scholarship, starting with loans. If the outside exceeds their offer, then you don't have to pay them as much. I don't think that other prefrosh sounds particularly reliable, although I could be wrong. I don't see why Williams wouldn't want to lessen their burden by $1000.</p>
<p>rl: Don't be scared -- Williams will not make you give up the large scholarship, as kev indicated: they would definitely be pleased that they would have to provide less of your finaid in light of the other organization's generosity. The prefrosh you met at previews may have misunderstood -- as kev mentioned, any outside awards go to reducing two of the following (but not all three): student loan, campus job, and student income contribution, and any award in excess of that is used to reduce your Williams scholarship (grant). You may be responsible for income taxes on the part of your award that exceeds tuition and fees costs -- see IRS Publication 970. If you receive the $95,000 in one payment, you will most llikely not receive any aid from Williams for at least your first year. Maybe the people at the WP want to best determine how to distribute the award to you (for example, over four years, instead of one), so you should definitely try to get more specific information from them.</p>
<p>Congratulations on winning the scholarship -- that's a great accomplishment.</p>