<p>I understand why scholarships lower my daughter's need-based grant. The question I have is that after talking with the financial office, they told me that the check her church gave her towards college also lowers her need. The check is made out to her and now we will be sending it to the cashier's office. This is not a problem, but how will I report it next year on FAFSA? It is a very small amount btw. The person didn't know where it will be reported for next year. She just wants it this year sent to the school. I thought we could keep this minimal amount and use it for say books, etc. She got a 20K grant from the school and now it's been lowered by the amount of two different scholarships. Do I report the money since it's being turned over to the school and it's already tracked? On another note, if all of her scholarships lower her need (and I get that), why should she keep applying for scholarships? It's a lot of work in some cases, and it's not really doing a whole heck of a lot. Thanks.</p>
<p>My son also applied for many scholarships and was frustrated by the fact that the only effect they had was to lower his need-based aid. When he received a HUGE scholarship last week that pushed him higher than the need-based number, he started to smile b/c now he could see the effect. Unless your DD has something better to do with her time, she should keep on applying for scholarships. Maybe she’ll get lucky.</p>