Hello!
This is a hypothetical scenario. If my government grants plus outside scholarships awarded only (no loans or work study) are more than my cost of attendance, including dorm and tuition, do I receive a refund check? I am aware that some schools lower their grant amount if something like this happens. However, what if even then my government grants plus outside scholarships are more than cost of attendance?
If it’s a Pell Grant, it’s an entitlement and you will get it.
If it’s something like SEOG, it’s very possible you won’t get the full Grant amount as other federally funded aid cannot exceed the cost of attendance.
It’s possible because the COA is usually more than the billed costs (tuition, fees, r&b). You can use the extra money for books, travel, incidentals.
It also may matter how the funds (the order) are applied. My daughter’s school did not refund any of the money provided by the school, including school merit, grants, and her athletic scholarship. The school also required bright futures funds to be used only for tuition (BF allows the schools to decide), and a few other awards could only be used for tuition. So, the school first applied the BF award, the the resident grant (also could only be used for tuition, not even fees). then it applied the school grants which they did allow to be used for other things billed by the school but NOT for insurance. When daughter lived on campus and paid R&B, no problem, there were plenty of charges to cover. When she moved off campus she got a meal plan because she had enough money to cover it.
On FA officer applied the SEOG last, so she got it as a refund. Another would not, so she got about $1000 less per year as a refund. Her athletic scholarship was also reduced her senior year because there just wasn’t enough billed to need the entire amount she had been awarded.
If all aid is outside scholarships and Pell, you would get a refund. Remember, COA includes allowances for personal expenses, transportation, books and supplies - not just tuition, fees, room & board.
If you have institutional aid and/or SEOG (federal), these will be reduced or eliminated to keep the aid within COA. Almost all schools will reduce their own aid to keep everything within COA. It might be possible that a school won’t reduce institutional merit scholarships. Other federal aid, like SEOG, must be removed or reduced to keep all awards within the COA.
If your commuting in this situation, would housing still be considered part of COA?
Some schools have different COAs for instate and OOS, some have different for commuting when living at home and another for living off campus. You have to check with your school.