<p>I was planning on applying for the Gates Millennium scholarship. I'm also applying to Harvard REA. Harvard has that income threshold thing where if you make under a certain amount, they cover everything, or nearly everything. I am under that threshold. </p>
<p>So in the unlikely event that I win Gates or a similar scholarship and get into Harvard, would Gates even do anything? </p>
<p>(My sister won the Gates scholarship and got into a good school with a big endowment, and Gates paid an extremely small amount her first year since the school already covered so much).</p>
<p>My daughter was in that situation years ago. Gates covered her work study, she got a lump sum check at the beginning of each semester. Initially she wasn’t thrilled about filling out the extensive Gates app but was glad she did when she realized that not having to work would allow her more time for EC’s. </p>
<p>Outside scholarship will cancel both workstudy and summer earnings expectations. Not sure what H amounts are but it may be over 6K/y after Freshman year. So it may be worth over 20K over 4 years. But if you actually work - then your finaid may be cut.</p>
<p>Look on Harvard’s website as to how they handle outside scholarships. Harvard does have a required student contribution, and does tend to include workstudy but no loans in their packages. If you get outside scholarships, it is possible they they can replace those items first and then continue on a dollar to dollar replacement of any of their grants. What’s nice when you get that kind of merit money is that you can work on the side and pocket that money instead of putting it towards the school costs, or not work at all. </p>
<p>The laws governing federal aid do not permit you to get more federal aid than your FAFSA EFC, nor can you get PLUS or Direct loans beyond what the COA of the school is. So these things have nothing to do with what a school has control But they can make any rules they please in terms of their own money. Talk to their financial aid office and those of other schools and find out what can be stacked and what cannot. Some schools do permit stacking of their in house financial aid granta; many do not. </p>
<p>OP, if you call H financial aid office ask for the person that handles Gates. Many schools have one FA officer that will handle all Gates Scholars. Cpt, Gates covers all unmet need, and since it is a requirement to be Pell eligible, generous need based aid schools take care of grants as usual first, then Gates comes into play, such as covering work study. Gates doesn’t cover of course any parental EFC, if any. For schools that don’t have generous aid like Harvard or Amherst, Gates would pay out more to the school but the end result is the same.</p>
<p>Is Gates scholarship given only to Harvard applicants? </p>
<p>If not, why care so much about one school which might NOT admit you when the scholarship should be useful at many schools? You don’t apply to ANY scholarship expecting to be admitted to a SINGLE school unless it is a scholarship at that school.</p>
<p>@texaspg I agree. This shouldn’t really be a concern for the OP seeing that the chances they will get into Harvard are already low. Harvard is not the only school out there :)</p>
<p>For those students who get these wonderful scholarships, when all of the school offers are on the table, they can they pick and choose where the most benefit can be achieved with college package and outside awards. I made money my first year of college because in those days double dipping was allowed. A major part of my decision to go where I did was because it was one of the most generous packages. I got two full rides from my acceptances, and a lot of outside awards. </p>
<p>The question the OP posed is quite valid…substitute Harvard for Amherst, Yale, or any school that meets full need through grants. I have been asked this same question countless times over the past 6 years. Students are wondering what the benefit of applying to Gates is at these schools, and most don’t know about the work study benefit. Of course getting admitted to any of those types of schools is difficult, but many of the kids that would apply to Gates would have a decent chance at getting accepted at least one… low income, high stat and mostly URM’s.</p>
<p>Quite possibly every one of those schools works exactly the same way although I doubt that very much since some schools apply Pell grants and some want you to take on Stafford loans. </p>
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<p>So should OP be advised not to apply to Gates because it won’t help her much at Harvard? What happens if she makes into none of the schools which meet full need without loans?</p>
<p>I absolutely advise the OP to apply for Gates. If the OP gets Gates, she will graduate with NO loans at all, doesn’t matter if she attends Harvard or directional state U. I can’t link from my phone, but if you look under the FAQ’s at gmsp.org I think it has some info there. The only difference is how much Gates pays to various schools…could be work study only or could be 40k a year if that is how much unmet need a student has from the school they choose to attend as a scholar.</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone who answered! Once again, this is all hypothetical. I know that the odds of getting both are astronomically small, and I never said that I wouldn’t apply for Gates (I’m applying no matter what). My dad just asked me this hypothetical question the other day, and I had no idea what the answer was. </p>