Here is a thread from 2020 listing some colleges’ policies on how outside merit scholarships affect need-based financial aid. Note that a common policy is to apply outside merit scholarships to replace student loan and student work(-study) in the financial aid package first, but then reduce college financial aid grants.
Since the interaction between outside scholarships and financial aid varies for different colleges, how about making a list of different college policies?
Specify the order in which parts of the financial aid package are replaced. Use the following abbreviations for common terms (not all colleges include all of the following):
UN = unmet need
SL = student loan (federal direct loan)
SW = student work expectation or work study
SC = student contribution = SL + SW
IG = institutional grants (i.e. grants from the college)
PC = parent contribution expectation
Full “stacking” examples (IG is reduced last):
CMU: UN, SL, SW, PC, IG https://www.cmu.edu/sfs/financial-aid/types/scholarships-and-grants/outside.html
Maryland public universities: (UN + SC + PC), IG https://www.baltimoresun.com/education/bs-md-scholarship-displacement-20170704-story.html
St. Olaf: SL, SW, PC, IG https://wp.stolaf.edu/financialaid/outside-scholarships/
Better for the student than typical policy, but not f…