A few days ago, I received my financial aid package. I had received $30,000 in university grants, not including scholarships.
After seeing this, I paid the enrollment fee (cost was the biggest factor in making college decisions and USC had the most financial aid).
Today, I checked the portal again, and they reduced my grants to $9,000. They added the presidential scholarship in this time, so technically, I had $2,000 more in aid, but I really thought I had 30,000 + the half-tuition scholarship when I first checked the package a few days ago.
I know that the university has the right to reduce grants with scholarships, but then there is no value to the scholarships I earned. If I qualified for $30,000 financial aid, shouldn’t I be receiving that PLUS the merit scholarship? It seems odd that the “half-tuition scholarship” is only worth $2,000.
I’m really sorry, @bbbbaa8762811. I think this is one of the most misunderstood things about finances and colleges. Colleges very often will reduce financial aid by roughly the amount of the merit scholarship. But, by all means, give them a call and see what they say! I don’t think you have anything to lose, but be prepared.
The aid is reduced by the amount of the scholarship, you do not get them on top of each other. It has always been this way. You need x amount of aid and the scholarship goes toward that amount. If you want to ask for your deposit back because you did not understand this, you could ask them. It’s spelled out in several places in the FA info, here’s one from a quick google search:
Scholarships and Financial Aid
Any scholarships you receive will not be in addition to your need-based financial aid but will change the composition of your financial aid eligibility. In most cases, we allow outside scholarships to reduce the amounts of student loans or Federal Work-Study in your financial aid package. We make every attempt to preserve any university need-based grant you may have been awarded. Each situation must be reviewed in light of the availability of funds, state and federal regulations, and the university’s financial aid policies.
This happened to my son as well, although he didn’t go as far an enrolling. He called the financial aid office 3 times to confirm. First time they said it would stack. Second two times they said no. Very disappointing, as it is no longer a financially viable option. I agree that this reduces the value of the merit scholarship. I thought the scholarship was a perk. Not so much.