From Dad or from Uncle Harry?

TheGFG
Mon, 24 Apr 2006 08:17:40 +0000

I only mentioned Uncle Harry as a catchy way to get people to read the thread, since last time I posted this question no one answered. My S doesn’t have a rich uncle, so what I really want to know is why a college cares how you meet your EFC as long as it’s legal. If you get money from an outside source, such as a scholarship contest or even Uncle Harry, then of course you’d have to report that as income or a gift or whatever and pay taxes on it according to the rules. An outside scholarship would then show up on the FAFSA and possibly raise your EFC for the following year. I have no problem with that–that’s fair. But the way it is now, unless there’s something I’m not understanding, an outside award is assessed by the college at 100% and is assessed immediately–unlike all other income. So it seems to me that an outside scholarship will reduce your financial aid TWICE–once in the calendar year you get it (because it immediately reduces your grant for that year), and then again the next year when it shows up as student income on taxes and FAFSA.