Does That Private Scholarship Reduce Your College Costs?

Depending on your financial status, that private scholarship your student won may be used to fund another student’s education! The answer depends on two factors; whether the student qualifies for need-based assistance and the general policy of the college or university.

First a word of advice -- be careful. There are a number of "scholarship search firms" advertising for your business. Be aware that a number of these companies are being investigated for fraudulent business practices. For a price they will provide you with a list of addresses to write to, some of which don’t exist and others that have gone out of business. If you’re lucky there may be a couple of real private sources of scholarships provided. They might even make guarantees, but to hold them to their promise is next to impossible.

Here are the facts about private scholarships:

Each year over 130 billion dollars in financial aid is handed out from various sources. Less than 7% comes from private sources such as companies and organizations.

Generally, they are narrowly defined. There are very few private scholarships which do not have some limiting factor such as race, educational pursuit, parent or student affiliation or domicile, just mention a few. The majority of scholarships awarded are locally oriented or family connected through organizations or business.

In most cases they are time intensive to apply for. All have some sort of administrative requirements for applying, which takes time and effort. You might even be required to travel to be interviewed or make an oral presentation, or write some sort of essay.

Most importantly, if you qualify for need-based assistance, depending on the college’s policy, you could find your private award replacing institutional funds in your financial aid award. In effect, it does nothing to lower the family’s cost. However, if you don’t qualify for need-based financial aid, the private money does act to lower the family’s share of expenses.

But don’t give anything back. If you do happen to receive a private scholarship, accept it. You can always negotiate with the college or university to take back loans or work study rather than grants they may have awarded you.

The bottom line is that while there is private money available, the wisest course is maximize the federal, state and college programs first, then if you have any energy left, go after some of those private offerings.

Campus Financial does provide a credible list of private scholarships through the College Board, which we screen based on the student’s and family’s profile. This can save countless hours pouring through pages of private scholarship listings to find those few you might be eligible to apply for. Plus we can help you with the query letters to get applications and information. That’s a time saver as well.

GET THE FACTS ON PRIVATE AID BEFORE YOU APPLY!

Campus Financial has the answers! info@campusfinancial.org