What happens to leftover scholarship money?

<p>So I'm pretty set on Rutgers. I live in-state and have a 4.2 W, 3.8 UW and 2360 sat score. According to people here, that is enough for a presidential scholarship at Rutgers. However, the scholarship seems to give more money than i would need. Moreover, I got a 227 psat score, so im hoping to be a NMF. If i do and choose rutgers as my first option i get another 1,000 for 3 years. So if i don't use all of my scholarship money, what happens to it? Do I just not get it or do they give me this money directly? If any Rutgers alumni has been put in this situation, I would be grateful if they answered. Anyone can answer though. Thanks.</p>

<p>In general, you can receive a total amount of financial aid up to the cost of attendance for your school. If the amount you have is above that, your school will reduce your aid award accordingly.</p>

<p>from here: [Frequently</a> Ask Questions](<a href=“http://studentaid.rutgers.edu/faq2.aspx]Frequently”>http://studentaid.rutgers.edu/faq2.aspx) </p>

<p>How will an outside scholarship affect my financial aid award from Rutgers?
Each recipient of federal student aid has a calculated financial need; and the combination of all sources of aid cannot exceed this need figure. It may be necessary to reduce your financial aid, especially loans, if an outside scholarship arrives after our aid offer.</p>

<p>In other words, an outside scholarship will reduce or eliminate one’s need based aid (except for the Pell grant if you are eligible). However it will depend on Rutgers’ policy about what happens when the merit aid exceeds the cost of attendance. If Rutgers lets you stack merit scholarships, than the refunded money is taxed as income.</p>

<p>How do you figure that you’ll get “more than you need”.</p>

<p>The cost of college is NOT just tuition, room and board…there are also books, fees, transportation and personal expenses. Those are all college costs. </p>

<p>The COA for Rutgers for an instate student is probably around $25K tp $30k per year. How much are the scholarships for?</p>

<p>Once tuition, fees, meal plan and dorm are deducted, you’ll get a check for any remainder to pay for books, transportation, and personal expenses.</p>

<p>Looks like the Presidential if for $24k per year.</p>

<p>If you make NMF, then you get another thousand for FOUR years…so 25k per year. That still sounds like it is LESS than COA. So, you won’t have “extra money” that goes beyond COA. Even so, this is merit money without any need based aid, so any extra money would go to you.</p>