<p>My D was contacted by a lady who said she is the chair of the “special scholarship” committee, arranged by Brown, for the New York area. Does anyone know what this is about? D will have an appointment with the committee in a couple of weeks.</p>
<p>...sounds bogus. </p>
<p>i may be wrong, but brown doesn't give anything other than need-based grants and loans.</p>
<p>i think ClaySoul is right. the grants and loans come in different names and forms, though. not just one big finaid program. something like: sidney frank scholarship.. i think the scholarship targets more characters and conditions in addition to a demonstrated financial need. so, i wouldn't be surprised if brown has a committee to wade through FA-eligible kids to pick ones that go to these special scholarships.</p>
<p>again, i might be wrong. just call brown, when in doubt.</p>
<p>icebox-- I called finaid, because my understanding what what Clay said, and I was also thinking it sounded bogus (but how would this lady get my D's name??) and they pretty much said exactly what you are suggesting. The lady said, though, that the scholarship would increase finaid. Brown's office said it would make no difference to finaid. We shall see, though. Interview is today. I will let you know. :)</p>
<p>Any outside scholarships get deducted from your amount in loans, I think</p>
<p>dont you have to meet the certain efc level before any goes to loans? something along those lines...? i remember being discouraged from seeking scholarships because I figured it would be worthless since the amount of scholarship money was below my efc number or whatever</p>
<p>Yeah, you're forced to report any outside scholarships sometime during the summer and then they adjust your financial aid accordingly.</p>
<p>goooooood luuuuuck.</p>
<p>Well, that's what I thought too. And maybe it's true for some outside scholarships, but D also got the Robert Byrd Scholarship from NY State Dept of Ed and Brown gave us the choice where to apply it. So we applied it to the loans. The choices were 1) loans 2) reduce student contribution 3) apply it to a one-time computer purchase. Bless Brown's little heart, it did NOT come off the financial aid, and our bill proved it. We chose to reduce the loans. It really seemed too good to be true, but there you have it.</p>
<p>Franglish THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!</p>
<p>I was a Robert Byrd Scholar in DC. Please be advised that sometimes they forget to send the scholarship check to Brown. In my case they sent towards the end of my first semester, which delayed my registration process. Thus, make sure you stay on them and that the payments are in order.</p>
<p>son is also a Robert Byrd Scholar from NY-they just sent a form that he had to sign verifying that he was enrolled in Brown. They did this every year in the summer. Perhaps every area is different but we didn't have a problem. But in all situations, I would always be on top of any monies.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! I love this forum...
Brunonian-- I am definitely going to call Byrd! Thanks, so much.</p>
<p>Anyway, yesterday was D's interview with the ladies from this NYC scholarship, and if she gets it, it will help with the loans.</p>
<p>franglish,
My son was able to wipe out his loans with outside scholarships as well. He was given the same choices. In fact, he was hoping to win more scholarship money to pay for a computer but no such luck (he won a bunch of local awards but mostly $600 or less each). No complaints though. He had previously reported the Discover Card Scholarship he received as a HS junior and that was deducted on his original FA pkg.</p>