<p>Where do old, rejected merit scholarships go to die? In other words, when a student is accepted at a college and given a nice merit/academic award but then decides to attend another school what happens to that scholarship? Is it then up for grabs by another accepted student? Does it automatically go to a waitlisted person? </p>
<p>Point is, my D was accepted to a couple of schools which (due to lack of aid) look like they are going to have a serious rate of people declining acceptance and therefore, merit awards. Is it worth it to wait a week or so until these decline letters start to come in to approach these schools for more money in the event some money gets "freed up" by students turning the schools down? Or, does that money theoretically not exist to begin with? Kind of like, we have X amount of dollars to give in merit/scholarships but we can guess that X amount of students will not attend so we give out a lot of "pretend" scholarships figuring about half will not even be collected on?</p>
<p>Some schools have a "second round" of merit awards (DS's grad school did) and some just don't (DS's undergrad school scholarships just weren't awarded to anyone for that year if someone declined enrollment). It depends on the school. I would guess if you call them and ask, they will tell you their policy.</p>
<p>What we were told when we asked was that merit scholarships are not "re-allocated" when a student attends elsewhere...they are used to "draw-in" the best and the brightest and go back into next year's pool when turned down....Yes, they do have a method for figuring out what % will be collected on.....</p>
<p>Yes, I agree it would depend on the school....You can definitely ask...</p>
<p>Too bad...the answer that I expected but not what I had hoped for. IDK if I will pose this exact question but it helps knowing before trying to ask for more $$.</p>
<p>Four years ago my D was accepted to Brandeis but got no merit money. I called Brandeis and told them about my D's full-tuition scholarship to Boston U. and that Brandeis was our first choice. They called me half an hour later to tell me that they are awarding my D a Presidential scholarship ($20K/yr for 4 yrs). They also apologized for the mistake. I truly believe that the money became available because someone already declined. I was calling in mid April.<br>
My daughter ended up at Brandeis which was more money than BU but definitely worth it. She got an early acceptance to Tufts Medical School which she is starting this fall.</p>
<p>It is always worth asking - if there are awards you might be eligible for. My daughter retook the ACT after graduation to increase it in hopes of a better scholarship. She got the 1 extra point but at first we were told all of that scholarships were already offered - we corresponded with the scholarship guy - very nicely - and when one became available she was given it. I think it was a case of the squeaky mouse getting the cheese (or wheel getting the grease? - something like that).</p>
<p>Anyway we are not normally very good at 'squeaking' but sometimes it pays off!</p>