OK, update - just got off the phone with the FA office at Miami. The gentleman seemed to be very knowledgeable and I I don’t believe he was a student so I’m fairly confident this information is valid. If there is anyone that has first hand knowledge of this policy, i.e. it happened to them, I would be interested to hear.
So Miami scholarships and Miami grant aid are completely separate entities and do not affect one another during FA review. So if a student is awarded a Miami scholarship AND they qualify for Miami Grant aid, then as long as the student does not go over COA with the total aid, then both can/will be added to the package. Now, the interesting part - if a student is awarded an OUTSIDE scholarship(s), Miami reduces LOANS FIRST in the package. I don’t know how many colleges deal with aid in this manner - I think many of them reduce the school aid first then go into loans, so this is seemingly a great deal for a student and a big incentive to go after outside scholarships if they are truly interested in Miami.
I hope that helps - again, if anyone has any dealings with FA at Miami and corroborate (or deny) the above, would love to hear your story. This school is #2 on my D’s list but financially VERY close to her #1 choice. If Miami is as generous with the grant aid as their NPC indicate, March/April are going to be very interesting in this house!