<p>For my S, it first reduced his “self-help”, so he will not need to work or contribute from summer earnings. But the remainder of his outside scholarships do decrease the grant aid we would have received. Thus our expected contribution as parents is not helped by the outside scholarships and remains at the same level. The college is giving him less. This is the situation at Stanford, which does not offer merit aid. So in summary, the outside scholarships are worth the effort for the student but do not assist the parents. We were very disappointed.</p>