How to Deal with Scholarship Displacement
Scholarship Displacement is a hot topic in educational circles because it affects many students who win scholarship awards. But what is it?
What is Scholarship Displacement?
Scholarship displacement is a term used to describe the phenomenon where a student's scholarship award is reduced by the amount of money they receive from other sources. This can happen when a student receives more scholarship money than they need, or if they receive an award and then find additional scholarships later on.
Example:
Emily gets a financial aid package to cover the full cost of $40,000 to go to AB University.
Emily wins a $10,000 scholarship from Nike that gets sent to AB university.
AB University reduces Emily's $40,000 financial aid package to $30,000 and the $10,000 from Nike covers the rest of the $40,000 bill.
2 Ways to Avoid Scholarship Displacement
Talk to Financial Aid: Make sure you understand how your specific financial aid office handles outside scholarships. You may be able to negotiate delaying your scholarship to another year from either the school or the scholarship provider.
Deferral of Award: Deferring your award until after you have received all other funding for the year. This will give you time to find out how much money is available from other sources before committing to your first award.
