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I am so mad. Just needed to get this off my chest. I am wondering if this ever happened to anyone?

My son was accepted to CMU. With his acceptance letter he was notified he got the Andrew Carnegie Scholarship ($15,325/yr - 1/2tuition). It is supposedly the most prestigious scholarship. A week later he got his "official financial aid response" and among other loans, work study, he was awarded a grant for $16,200. We were thrilled. He was going to CMU.

Yesterday another fin aid packet came in the mail which looked from the outside the same thing. We figured it was a duplicate mailing or maybe additional forms or brochures. Opened it up and found a "Revised" financial aid package. Instead of the grant for $16,200 they are now offering $875.00. When I called today I was told they forgot to calculate the scholarship in the package so they reduced the grant because of the merit scholarship. We are so outraged!!! There was never any mention in their fin aid info at any time that scholarships are deducted from the package. I feel like a kid being given their favorite candy and then have it taken away. It sure diminshes the merit scholarship if my son would have gotten it as a grant if he didn't get the scholarship. I do understand that the grant would be subject to change year to year but we are so mad. There are kids who could have notified other schools that they aren't going to attend there since they were thrilled with the "official " financial aid info they received, only to find out couple weeks later, it wasen't official afterall.

We are appealing by submitting an offer from another school.I am including a letter about how this unfolded. But we are talking about a huge amount of money difference. I was told there is nothing else I can do. They said they shouldn't have sent the 1st package out since the scholarship haden't been calculated.

Has anyone heard of this before? I can't believe it.

By Anxious_Mom (Anxious_Mom) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 04:13 pm: Edit

I've seen similar things happen. S1 received a grant from the school, and the aid package didn't mention a CalGrant (a grant from the state of CA, that I knew we qualified for...), so I assumed that would be more "free" money coming. (Especially, since there was a gap in the need). However, when the Cal Grant arrived, the college "replaced" their grant with the Cal Grant.

Most of the financial aid forms I've seen have disclaimers on them, and the only really "for sure" items in the packages are renewable, or guaranteed, scholarships. Unless the college states in writing that the package will be fixed for the 4 years, everything else is subject to change.

By Kjofkw (Kjofkw) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 10:52 pm: Edit

Judy, I do agree that giving your son merit aid (for supposedly great credentials), only to take it off your need seems unfair. Unfortunately, that's the typical method used by most schools in calculating packages. It is technically saying that all his hard work and effort really aren't worth that much, because you would have received it anyway. I don't blame your frustration!

By Pooh_Bearfan (Pooh_Bearfan) on Wednesday, April 14, 2004 - 02:48 am: Edit

Just apply for scholarships. the problem is that most grants are need based and with a merit award technical reduces the need. Sorry I have been dealing with fin aid for years.

By Judy (Judy) on Wednesday, April 14, 2004 - 10:19 am: Edit

Thanks for the responses. It helps me take it all not so personally when I read how normal of a practice this is.

To make matters worse, my son just found out last night from the head of the department of the other school that what he was promised right along is not going to be coming through. My son is their #1 recruit(very prestigious school for his major)in the department and has already earned a $9,000 scholarship but has been repeatedly promised since he was accepted in November that he was going to be getting $10,000 additional merit aid because they wanted him so badly. The head told my son due to stock market losses the school is looking at his scholarship as the only money being offered.

This is crazy. It really diminishes the student's academic and/or artistic accomplishments. Reading on this board the post about all of the merit aid awarded is very interesting. How some schools give so much money, even full rides, and other schools give so little or next to nothing. Being a top recruit one would think it would be cause for a lot of money or even full ride. I guess it depends on the school and perhaps even the major.

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Wednesday, April 14, 2004 - 11:16 am: Edit

Judy, that is unfortunately the way it usually works. You are not being singled out. Though there are some schools where merit awards are permitted to be kept in addition to financial aid, that is a rare scene and are mostly schools that are not way up there in the selectivity who really want that top scholar.

There are going to be more screams of anguish as kids lose their financial aid when outside money flows in. A friend of mine nearly had a seizure when her D's $7K Ebony award and $3K from H's company scholarship, reduced her D's financial aid by $10k in August when the funds hit the college office. The college refused to budge. Some outside agencies are mailing the check directly to the recipient now because they resent funding the school rather than the student. This was the way it was done when I was in highschool, and a lot of us double dipped those days. It is most unfair because the biggest double dippers these days are the kids with trustfunds or family money who get a merit award. Heck, some of them could pay the tuition 10 times over and they get the merit money free and clear whereas the struggling top student whose parents are scrimping and stressing over that EFC will lose the grant, workstudy or loan if the kid wins a merit award, and the award does not alleviated the financial situation much at all, if at all. But this is truly the way it works, unfortunately.

Congratulations on your son winning that prestigious award. The only comfort I can give you is that CMU has loads of work opportunities where he can earn $$ doing some great stuff, and since the award is merit none of those $$ will affect the award for next year (it could for fin aid). After freshman year there are a lot of low housing off campus options available in Oakland (I lived there for many years) and it's cheaper eating at home instead of using their expensive meals. Also loans are at an all time low. So there are many options there.

By Ohmadre (Ohmadre) on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 04:02 pm: Edit

What if a student who had no financial need earned a merit scholarship - would they entitled to it? If so, then are merit scholarships only "merit" for the financially able?

By Mini (Mini) on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 05:15 pm: Edit

Yes. (And I think that is a good thing.)

By Ohmadre (Ohmadre) on Friday, April 23, 2004 - 08:20 am: Edit

Mini - how so (is that a good thing)? When a scholarship earned on the basis of merit is really used in lieu of financial aid which might have been otherwise available to a student who did not qualify for the merit scholarship anyway, it makes certain schools available only to certain students.

My child received a decent merit scholarship, but no financial aid to one school. All of the other schools offered financial aid far in excess of the merit scholarship (ie consistent with EFC) - that made the school which offered the merit scholarship not remotely an option. To my view, that just means the middle class family can only hope their child can gain admission to one of (relatively) few elite schools which offer to meet full financial need, or else attend a state school. All the many, many schools that fall just below the most elite are unable to compete for children from the middle income family. Thats a whole lot of schools that are not viable options to a large group of students. And, a merit scholarship which really isn't, is pretty much dis-incentive, especially if the student had to compete for it in the first place.

By Mike (Mike) on Friday, April 23, 2004 - 05:47 pm: Edit

Most schools make it fairly clear about the plicies regarding acholarhips/grants. At Gustavus Adophus he was first awarded 3 scholaships. Then a second arrived giving him the State Scholar award and making the others honorary. Their web site had made it clear that would happen

Mke's Dad