<p>Okay...I am being totally honest here:</p>
<p>I have received a very generous scholarship that will pay for everything (even got a free mac). That scholarship will pay for my loans and workstudy. With a efc of 0...that basically means that I pay absolutely nothing. It includes books and travel..etc...</p>
<p>On top of that single scholarship..I found out that I won a total of $15000.00 in outside scholarship. Since I got some grant from my college, if I send in my scholarships, they reduce the grant money. So my question is</p>
<p>should I just call my other scholarships so that they can give it to another person...or so I just give it to my college...I heard that colleges can give their grant money to a needed student...</p>
<p>One more thing..I called the other scholarships about my situation, and they said that the money can be spent on the summer term, since my huge scholarship won't pay for it. ..do you guys know what that mean??? is summer term like summer school...or what???</p>
<p>Summer term is summer school & study abroad if done in summer term. Colleges don't generally give financial aid for summer term school or summer term study abroad.</p>
<p>I would choose a for-sure scholarship over a need based grant for this reason: Scholarships that are not based on need remain stable, while grants can come & go from year to year depending on your family's income and the college's financial situation. Grant money comes from the school's endowments, and they will be happy to keep your grant money in the bank to draw interest for future awards.</p>
<p>Well <em>I</em> would choose renewable aid over one time aid. If your scholarship from the university is renewable for all four years, that would be my choice. BUT if you think you might go to summer school next year, then you can use both. </p>
<p>You need to contact the college. If you reduce your scholarship there by $15,000 for one year, will that money be available to you in subsequent years?</p>
<p>well technically the huge scholarship is not a merit aid...I won an outside scholarship that will pay for everything my college won't give me in grants...</p>
<p>Okay, you have me confused. How much did you get in scholarships from your school ... how much in grants from your school ... how much in outside scholarships (and what are the terms of the scholarships if there is some need component)? It would be easier to advise you with this info.</p>
<p>okay</p>
<p>Total cost $50,000
School Grant: $25,000
Federal Grant :$ 10,000
Outside Scholarship (big one) $15,000---renewable
Other Scholarship (12,000- 15,000)---some renewable some one time only...</p>
<p>my question is for the "other scholarship" is it better to say no or should I just tell them to send it to my school...</p>
<p>If I plan on studying abroad...should I just hold on the the scholarships until my junior year???</p>
<p>What kind of federal grant did you get that was $10,000?</p>
<p>it was a combination of alot of them....
Pell Grant ~ 4681.00
Academic Competitiveness ~750.00
Federal SEOG College ~4000.00</p>
<p>technically its not 10,000...but I rounded everything off a little bit....</p>
<p>Take the scholarships. If your grants are reduced by that amount, you can rest well knowing that some other student at your school who needs the money was able to get a few more dollars thanks to you. </p>
<p>If your EFC is really 0, then the grants (school & federal) do not pay your full cost of attendance (COA). You will be able to keep the grants as long as your scholarships do not exceed the gap between the grants & COA. Ask your school what number they use for COA. My D's school uses a COA that includes books, travel, and miscellaneous ... if yours does, that might be another couple thousand in scholarships before your grants are reduced. In any case, you will have your entire first year covered, which is exceptional.</p>
<p>I am not sure about the whole "hanging onto the scholarship to use for summer study" thing. If it is paid to you in the fall, you will probably be expected by your school to use it for the fall. If you can get the scholarship donor to hold onto the funds for you until you actually need them (that is, until you are ready to pay for the summer study), that would be best. Also, if some of the one-timers are small scholarships (like local ones), you may be able to work something out with them to hold off on payment until next year.</p>
<p>oh okay...thanks kelsmom...</p>
<p>BTW, congratulations on getting it all together.</p>