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Report Outside Scholarships and Loans, Financial Aid

The Financial Aid office is required to take into consideration any outside scholarships, grants or loans a student is receiving when reviewing financial aid eligibility.

Students report any outside scholarships or loans that they anticipates receiving through the student portal.

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All outside scholarships or other resources must be reported to the financial aid office. When notification of an outside award is received, the Financial Aid Office will evaluate the student’s award using the following criteria to determine if any adjustments are required.

  • Total tuition-based awards cannot exceed tuition.

    The American University (AU) Institutional Grant and AU merit scholarships can only be applied to tuition charges. Outside awards such as ROTC, some scholarships and employer tuition benefits can also be used only for tuition.

    If students are receiving more than one type of award that is designated as tuition only, then the combined total of awards can not exceed the  tuition charges for the semester or year in which it is awarded.

    If the total does exceed tuition, then the resulting overaward must be resolved thus the institutional awards will be reduced so that the combination of awards does not exceed the cost of tuition.
     
  • Total need based PLUS gift aid cannot exceed need.

    Total gift aid includes all grants, scholarships, ROTC or employer tuition benefits from all sources. Need-based aid includes Federal grants, Federal Work Study, Federal Subsidized Direct Loan and the Federal Perkins Loan. The combined total of all of these awards cannot exceed the student’s need as determined by the FAFSA.

    If the total does exceed the student’s need, then the student is considered to be over awarded and the federal and institutional awards will be reduced to resolve the over award. Whenever possible, the Financial Aid Office will reduce loan and work study awards before reducing grant and scholarship awards.
     
  • Total financial aid cannot exceed total cost of attendance.

    Total awards include all gift aid, all need-based aid, as well as all unsubsidized loans, PLUS loans and alternative loans.

    If the total of all the student’s aid exceeds the total cost of attendance, then the students are considered to be over awarded, and the awards must be reduced to resolve the over award. Whenever possible, the office will reduce loan and work study awards before reducing grant and scholarship awards.

 

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