internal scholarships

The College Scholarship Penalty – Don’t Get Bitten

The scholarship penalty is a little known college policy which reduces money available to college students due to scholarship monies they receive.   Scholarships are looked at as a common solution to the college funding problem. Scholarships from organizations such as the DAR, Rotary, Wal-Mart, a local church, the Gates Foundation, or other similar organizations make up only 2% to 3% of the money that is available to help send students to college; but from they attention they receive, you would think the amount available would be much higher. But there is a greater problem with external college scholarships.

External college scholarships are those scholarships which a student acquires by applying to an organization other than the college or university the student attends. Internal scholarships (or merit awards) are those funds awarded directly to a student, typically for academic achievement. Internal scholarships are always good and should be pursued at all times. External scholarships have a penalty which is rarely discussed.   The standard policy of colleges and universities across the United States is to reduce the financial award the school would otherwise give you by the amount of money in outside scholarships the student receives.

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