<p>Why do some scholarships let you know if you won or not after you apply for college, get accepted, after you see your financial aid and stuff. For example theres a scholarship that notifys you if you won or not in june. Whats the point of winning it, if you already have your fin aid set already???</p>
<p>
The “point” of winning it is to help offset the costs of college.</p>
<p>If your need-based financial aid package includes federally subsidized loans and/or work/study, many universities will allow you to apply outside scholarships - even those you are notified about in June - to those components of your package. You should request in writing that they do so and include a copy of your award letter. If they honor your request you will have less debt (a very good thing) or you will not have to work as much, leaving more time to do well in your classes.</p>
<p>If you have a need-based package that does not include subsidized loans or work/study, try requesting a one-time cost of attendace adjustment to purchase a computer for school use. Sometimes schools will agree to do this which creates a “gap” that can be covered by outside scholarships.</p>
<p>For students without need-based financial aid, scholarships - even those awarded in June - directly reduce their bill.</p>
<p>bumpity bump bump</p>
<p>Are you asking about private scholarships or scholarships from colleges?</p>
<p>oooo ok thank you so much!!! that makes so much sense</p>
<p>private scholarships</p>
<p>So here is my question. If you have received a private scholarship, should you tell financial aid about that right away or wait until your loans fund? My daughter’s school said they would return any money from her loans to her for outside expenses if her scholarships came in. The next time we talked to them about the scholarships versus the loans, they said the exact opposite and that the scholarships would make them lower the amount of loans they awarded her. I thought a loan was applied for and a set amount was decided upon, but the school says that the amount she will get in a loan is determined by them. They said they have the right to take the loans away if she gets scholarships to pay for everything. Is that true?</p>
<p>I posted about this on another thread, but never got this question answered.</p>
<p>Yes schools have the right to take the loans away and they do. In fact where any federal money is involved they have to do so if a new scholarship means that Scholarships plus financial aid (including loans) exceed the COA (cost of attendance) of the school. They also have the right (and obligation where there is federal aid involved) to reduce other aid such as work study and grants if new outside scholarships come in mean the total aid exceeds the COA. Most schools will try and take away what they call “self help” such as loans and work study before they take away grant money.</p>
<p>So I should wait until the loans fund before I have her declare the scholarships? I just want her to have enough money to pay for transportation and her commute which adds almost $5000 to her college costs. The only way I am going to get that is for them to refund some of the money to her. I am afraid that if I have her declare the scholarships first, before the loans fund, then they won’t give her enough money to make ends meet. I know you say they will fund of to the COA, but who decides what that amount is? Most students do not commute to this school and I know my daughter’s actual COA is higher because of that.</p>
<p>Also, she did not qualify for any grants because of our income before my husband lost his job this past year. Everything has been decided on his old income. I sent a letter of Special Circumstances, but they didn’t do anything about it, even though all the other schools she was accepted at lowered her EFC substantially. </p>
<p>So, no grants, only student loans and a Parent Plus loan, plus the scholarships.</p>
<p>The parent plus loan, the student loan, and the scholarships cannot exceed the COA of the school. Those are federal rules which the school has to follow. if your daughter has some specific school related expenses that you can show will exceed what is allowed in the school’s COA you can ask them if they can increase the COA to reflect those expenses. For instance my daughter’s school the COA includes 14 credit hours a semester (her school tuition is paid by the number of credit hours) and if a student takes more than that number they can ask for the COA to be increased to reflect that which then increase the amount of aid that the student is eligible for (which would probably be met with loans).</p>
<p>Whether the school would do this would depend on the expenses and if they are something that can be used to increase the COA, and what the school’s policies are.</p>
<p>You need to talk to the school.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom, Ok, I understand now. I need to call Financial Aid, once again and ask them to tell me the COA. I imagine they should have a breakdown of it and then I can request that they consider her higher commute costs, meals (as they are all purchased on the road), etc. That should help a great deal.</p>
<p>Thank you for your help. If after reading this, it doesn’t appear I understand…please lend me a hand and correct my assumptions. I would really appreciate that.</p>
<p>Yes. make sure you are talking to an actual financial aid officer, not a student helper who may not have the expertise. In fact you may be better of making the inquiry by email (I have found with my kids school’s FA office that I get answers from people who actually know the answers when I ask by email rather than by phone). There is no guarantee they will do this but it is worth asking. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thank you, I will do that. You are right, there are always a lot of student workers in there and I think that is why I keep getting conflicting answers. I will email them instead.</p>
<p>Again…thank you.</p>
<p>Getting back to the OP question - if the outside scholarship were a significant amount it could change your decision on where to attend, but it would be too late if you didn’t find out until June or August…That part doesn’t make sense to me.</p>
<p>sylvan8798: That is the problem we had. You had to make the big decision by May 1st, but Senior Scholarship Night wasn’t until the end of June. My daughter had to decline several colleges because of the cost. After the scholarships came in, she definitely could have gone. Just frustrating.</p>
<p>Some of the scholarships want to look at senior year achievement, so they like to see how the student does that last year before making the award. Also, it can take a long time to go through all of the awards. Often the awards are made by volunteers rather than paid employees.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse: I could not agree with you more. My daughter won several scholarships and has been invited to many awards luncheons and banquets, I am constantly impressed by the dedication of the volunteers for the scholarship organizations. They are hardworking and incredibly dedicated people. While it is a little disappointing to have the decision come in after our May 1st deadline, I truly feel honored that they would choose my daughter as a recipient. It will all work out in the end. She is a pretty amazing kid and will make the best of everything in life. That is my only wish for her.</p>