<p>I'm under the impression that most colleges take all money a person earns from scholarships and first apply it against the need based aid that the schools themselves would have provided.</p>
<p>My EFC is probably on the low end. Pretending for a moment that I was accepted into a school with astronomical attendance costs, and the need based aid the school provided came to a generous amount of say, $20k, with only $10k left over for me to cover for myself, would there really be any point at all in bothering to apply for scholarships? </p>
<p>If anything under $20k in scholarship fees I earned would simply be pocketed by the college, is there truly any benefit of going to the effort of applying, writing essays, and so forth for scholarships before being admitted to the college, whenever there is a large chance that substantial financial aid will be given? I ask, since it sounds as though it is very rare for a person to earn over $20k in scholarships. </p>
<p>In the above situation, would all scholarship money earned simply be void for all intents and purposes then? Would there be no way for the student to use some of it toward the extra $10k they are footing the bill for?</p>
<p>YES.. many of the schools have a portion of money called "Self Help" or some other term which means that they "Expect you" to work a job in the summer or otherwise find money. The scholarships can sometimes be used for that portion of funding too.</p>
<p>I think most schools apply outside scholarships to loans & work study first. That's where outside scholarships will help the student - they will reduce your loans &/or the need to work during school. Sadly for parents, after the student loans & work study are reduced, then the school's grants are reduced. Parents contribution is last in the equation at most schools (though I understand each school can do this differently).</p>
<p>I can't speak for private colleges since my son is attending a public college. He earned enough in scholarship money to pay for about three years. This year when he reported his scholarships the school eliminated our unsubsidized PLUS loan first, then the subsidized Perkins and Stafford loans. He gets to keep his PELL and SEOG grant, so we don't have to come up with any $$$'s at all this year.</p>
<p>At one point son was looking at an expensive private college with a good academic reputation, but decided he could still get a great education at the public university he selected without going into debt. I think more and more students are choosing this option for their undergrad degrees. It's definitely something to think about, unless you want to be $100,000+ in debt.</p>
<p>if a student is to find him/herself in a situation where he/she has 100,000 + in debt. How many years do you think it would take him/her to get out of debt, considering that he/she would have a very high paying job?</p>
<p>Personally, even with a high-paying job, I think they would be facing years and years of debt. Many rack up $20,000 per year in undergraduate debt and then add grad school/med school/law school expenses on top of that and it's a pretty hefty bill you're taking with you as you embark on your new career.</p>
<p>At the same time, you're at a point in your life where you may wish to purchase a townhome/house, a nice vehicle, and you have the everyday expenses that adults face such as utilities, insurance, food, gas, and so forth. Add a sizable monthly payment for a student loan on top of that and you probably don't have a lot of extra money to be paying it off early.</p>
<p>I have a nephew who is a recent college grad who left with around $50,000 in debt. He just signed on for a 20-year payoff on his loan, which surprised me because I always thought the max was 10 years. I guess things have changed since I was in college, but one thing that hasn't is the fact that it's not any fun to pay off loans -- no matter what they're for!</p>
<p>Keep in mind everyone's situation is different - my son will be attending a top rated private college. He applied to the UCs too but the grants & scholarships from the private college were much much better than the UC's offer of aid. The UCs offered him mostly loans. While the private college's financial aid package included mostly grants. My suggestion - apply to a wide variety of schools, wait to see where you are accepted before having your heart set on one school - fall in love with several and then compare the financial aid packages.</p>
<p>Thanks, it's good to hear that most colleges apply it to the 'self help' portion first. I assume most of the top tier colleges in particular do it this way? If that's the case, it sounds as though receiving scholarships will nearly always have at least some benefit to the student then.</p>
<p>Though, it's still disappointing that the colleges don't apply it to the EFC until everything else is accounted for - In particular I bet for students whose parents are not paying a cent for their college education.</p>
<p>Do any scholarships exist out there that a winning student is not required to inform a college about, and can be used for other expenses? (Such as misc other college expenses, or even their parents' EFC?)</p>
<p>You have to check with each school. For example, JHU only allows freshman use outside scholarship to reduce student loan or work study but not for sophomore or upper class. Swarthmore allows first $500 and 50% of the remaining outside scholarship to reduce self-help portion. CMU allows up to $6,000 outside scholarship to reduce self-help. All ivies allow outside scholarship to reduce self-help. If a school use outside scholarship to reduce need based grant first, then you might not get any benefit. For example, if your outside scholarship is $5000 and your need is also $5000, then the school will have the $5000 outside scholarship and award you total $5000 loan and work study to meet your need. For EFC computation, you have to check if the school uses FAFSA, CSS profile, the worst parts of both, or the best parts of both methods (e.g., H and P).</p>