Overawards and External Scholarships

Per Federal regulations for Title IV aid programs, scholarships must be counted toward a student's need-based federal aid eligibility. The policy regarding awarding is that students may not receive Title IV assistance in excess of their cost of attendance. For this reason, receiving outside scholarships may cause a reduction in the amount of aid awarded.

Excess financial aid or an "overaward" occurs when the student receives more financial aid than the calculated financial need or the estimated cost of attendance (COA). In most cases, this occurs when the student receives additional scholarships or other outside resources. The basic formula is COA minus Student Aid Index (SAI) minus Other Financial Assistance (OFA) equals need.

To avoid this situation, students should notify the office in advance if they will be receiving outside scholarships. To complete an outside scholarship form - click here.

For instance, if the financial aid package has already been assembled, and the office receives notification afterwards that the student is receiving an additional scholarship, the scholarship will be added to the award summary. If the student had aid up to their cost of attendance, the addition of the scholarship will cause the student to be over-awarded, that is, receiving more financial aid than the cost of attendance. This could cause aid to be reduced or cancelled as a result.

However, as long as the student has reported all awards fully and completely before awards disburse, there should be minimal effect to other financial aid on the account.