<p>If your EFC is 0 then you don’t have to worry about it. In any event, your school will reduce their grants when you have a matching scholarship.</p>
<p>yes your school may give you refund check, I received a few thousand this year in them. However, this depends on your school because some schools have policies to ensure that you never see a bit of your scholarship money. If you don’t get all of your scholarship money back (don’t expect to), you should at least get the amount back that you would have received from work-study. My advice would be to talk to a fin-aid officer and see what options are available. Ask them what their policy is regarding refund checks and what students get refunds for. Every school is different so there isn’t a one size fits all answer.</p>
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<p>If your EFC is zero, there is no way to reduce it. Suppose your EFC is $2495, no matter how many scholarships outside Gates you receive, you’ll still pay a minimum of $2,495.</p>
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<p>That is TOTALLY untrue in the context of the Gates Scholarship. To qualify, you need to file the FAFSA and qualify for a Pell Grant. If you receive a Pell Grants, there is ZERO possibility to “pocket” extra scholarship money. NONE!</p>
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<p>You SHOULD receive a check back from your school for this simple reason:</p>
<p>Your Cost of Attendance (also called your budget) includes your allowance for books, travel, and personal expenses. The amount covering those will be paid by Gates to the SCHOOL. Although your name is also on the check, you’ll have to give to your school. After deducting all your expenses due to the school, the school will “refund” your the surplus … which magically will correspnd exactly to the number of your budget sheet.</p>
<p>Because Gates REPLACES the loans and work study reported on your budget with a grant, you should not have any work study.</p>
<p>Fwiw, some students have been able to use outside scholarships for a computer. However, you will need the approval of your school to increase the COA by a similar amount. Without an increase of the COA, it would be a violation of the federal guidelines for the outside scholarship to be larger than the COA. This is also why you CANNOT keep any of the money from outside scholarships. Please note that trying to get Gates to pay for a computer is a highly questionable tactic that a few students pursued in past years. Have so decency and do not do it. Your scholarship is one of the most generous in the world, but don’t abuse it. Unless your school REQUIRES it (like Pratt) abandon the idea.</p>
<p>Again, your school may insist that in spite of Gates making it a “full ride” you may have to work in the summer or borrow the money from your school. This is called a summer earning expectation and can be UNAVOIDABLE. Check Brown web site for an example of this. </p>
<p>Lastly, please be aware that you will owe taxes on the difference between your TOTAL grants and the amount of deductible expenses, which are tuition, fees, and sometimes book. In so many words, you’ll have to report the anount received for room and board, travel, and personal expenses. You’ll owe taxes but not social security. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if your school does NOT refund you your entire travel, personal, and book expenses, contact Gates immediately. That money is yours!
That should cover it.</p>
<p>Xiggi,</p>
<p>Thank you, you seem pretty knowledgeable about this stuff. So by winning the GMSP, will I have to pay a dime to go to school?</p>
<p>How long is it taking to receive notice that you were selected for the scholarship after sending in all of your information?</p>
<p>I am wondering the same thing about when to hear from them. I am sooo doubting me getting it now. I have heard nothing from them. No email, no mail, nothing. I am soo down about it because I worked soo hard and got everything in on time and I was so confident, and If i dont get it i am going to be very dissapointed in myself. I know that it isnt the end of the world of anything like that, but I will be down in the dumps.
A friend of mine said she was a finalist and stuff, and she goes to my school, and I havent even heard anything yet…I don’t know what to think. Is there anyone who JUST heard recently that they got the scholarship or is a finalist and just found out recently, maybe that can give me some hope?</p>
<p>I just found out today that I’m a Gates Scholar!! I’m so excited!! What a great birthday gift!–lol</p>
<p>yes, based on the previous messages Gates recently sent out the 1st round congrats. Those individuals will find out in May whether they are going to be a scholar.</p>
<p>happy birthday bookwormgirl</p>
<p>I’m now an official Gates Scholar!!! woot!</p>
<p>You just found out that you were a scholar today? happy birthday. IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY! WOW! I am very happy for you. I just hope i get it too.</p>
<p>Thanks for the b-day wishes!! I hope you get it too, Lecole206.</p>
<p>Argh happy B-day bookworm. Let’s all pray that more decisions are mailed out tomorrow.</p>
<p>i don’t understand this. how come some people are saying the decisions for scholars aren’t mailed until may. others are saying they recieved notice of being choosen scholars? can someone help me clarify this.</p>
<p>I don’t know, maybe that’s how it was last year. Perhaps, they’re making it faster to get decisions. If it’s any help, I faxed my information on 3/26 and got my decision on 4/6. Thanks for the b-day wishes, hoa1180!!</p>
<p>this is exciting, i feel blessed… my financial aid grants and scholarship awards total more than the cost of attendance… at least for the first year. I might not even need the GMS(made it to the 2nd round). But I hear it funds graduate school too if one decides to attend. Is that true? And also is it possible to pocket any of the extra money or at least can it roll over to the next financial year?</p>
<p>Woohoo, got the scholarship! I’m officially a Gates Millennium Scholar!</p>
<p>for those people who had receive their decision, do u mind sharing ur race?</p>
<p>I’m African.</p>
<p>ummm…why does it matter? All Gates Scholars are minorities.</p>