<p>I have been offered scholarship money from Austin College and in the letter notifying me, it says “If you qualify or expect to qualify for need based financial aid, this scholarship will be included in your aid award from the financial aid office.” I’ve applied for aid and know I will be getting it cause my EFC is $353. Do they add the scholarship to the amount of my aid? Or if my scholarship is 11500 and they determine that I should get 20000 in aid- 15000 in grants, 3000 in loans, 2000 work study-will my scholarship not matter since my grants would be more than 11500? Or would they add 11500 to 20000 and I would get 31500 total?</p>
<p>Generally the college will not give you MORE than the overall aid needed to meet your EFC, but often they will increase the grant total and reduce the expected amounts of loans or work-study when the package includes a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>In the case you presented, they would generally use the 11,500 to reduce your loans and work-study but they wouldn’t give you over the 20,000 in aid they determined you needed. So, you would end up with 11,500 in scholarship (replacing 3000 loans, 2000 work-study and 6500 in grants) and 8500 in grants. However, Austin College is known for packing a lot of loans in need-based awards so chances are with an EFC of $353, you will be able to use that 11,500 to replace a lot more than $3000 in loans. Congratulations on the scholarship!</p>