<p>Would applying for scholarships help when you are paying full-tuition to a public university (meaning no loans, no grants, no work-study programs). For example, if your tuition is 20k and you win a 2k scholarship, would the university lower your tuition to 18k? That makes sense but I have heard from a couple people that schools do not lower your EFC when you win money from scholarships, and I know that what schools generally do is they start lowering loans then grants… It would be great if anyone could answer this. Thanks!</p>
<p>If you have no loans etc and you win a scholarship then yes it is used towards your coa. The not lowering the EFC is really more related to need based aid. So for instance if your coa is $20,000, you have an EFC of 15,000 and have been given need based aid of $5000 then a $2000 scholarship would reduce the aid award to $3000. But if your coa is $20,000 and your EFC is $20,000 - the scholarship can go to the EFC.</p>
<p>My D for instance got a merit based full tuition waiver from her school long before we submitted any financial information. She keeps that waiver whether our EFC is 100% of the COA or 0.</p>
<p>It really matters with the school. I think it also matters if your scholarship is need-based or merit based. I would definitely contact them about it. I’m going to U Maryland College Park next year and received $8000 for merit. They do NOT lower your scholarship $ because of outside scholarships. In fact, they will send you a refund check if the office receives more scholarship checks than what’s on your bill. On the other hand, GWU gave me 20k a year merit, but then said something (in the fine print) about it possibly being lowered if I received any more aid.</p>