Can my scholarships and aid exceed the cost of attendance?

No — all forms of aid and grants are capped at the cost of tuition ($46,232 for 2026-2027).

Hanover· Scholarship Stacking

Stacking Outside Scholarships at Hanover

How Hanover treats outside scholarships when they arrive on top of institutional merit aid.

Verified Jun 2026today· COWORK

The verdict

Cost-of-attendance cap

At Hanover, an outside scholarship only triggers a cut when total aid would exceed cost of attendance. The strategy follows from that: outside scholarships are upside until the package would push past COA, at which point they start replacing institutional grants.

hanover.edu publishes the $63,819 cost-of-attendance worksheet the math is run against.

Stacking policy at Hanover

Every form of institutional aid combined is capped at the cost of tuition. Awards generally stack up to that ceiling. Awards designated for tuition (institutional scholarships/grants, Pell, Indiana state grants, and outside scholarships) together may not exceed tuition.

The page repeats 'All forms of aid and grants cannot exceed the cost of tuition' under every award. A separate statement on outside scholarships: 'All financial awards designated for tuition (institutional scholarships/grants, Pell grant, Indiana state grants, and outside scholarships), may not exceed the cost of tuition in an academic year.'

Source: https://www.hanover.edu/admission/financialaid/

Common stacking mistakes

Assuming you can stack merit + visit + other awards up to the full cost of attendance.
All forms of aid and grants are capped at the cost of TUITION ($46,232), not the $63,819 direct cost. Awards above tuition are not paid out.

Stacking questions families ask

Can my scholarships and aid exceed the cost of attendance?: No — all forms of aid and grants are capped at the cost of tuition ($46,232 for 2026-2027).

Rules that bite at Hanover

The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from Hanover's own published policy, not generic advice.

capHard $63,819 cost-of-attendance ceiling
Institutional aid at Hanover cannot push the package past $63,819. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.

Aid-office script (copy & send)

A binding written answer beats a verbal hallway promise. This script is keyed to Hanover's published displacement type. Paste it, fill in your name, and send it before you accept an outside award.

Subject: Outside-scholarship treatment question, fall applicant

Dear Hanover Financial Aid Office,

I'm a fall applicant reviewing how outside scholarships interact with my institutional aid package. I've read the public policy at https://www.hanover.edu/admission/financialaid/ and the $63,819 cost-of-attendance worksheet.

If my package is institutional merit + Pell + a $5,000 outside scholarship and the total stays under the COA worksheet, can you confirm no institutional dollar is reduced?

If the same outside award pushes the total over COA by $X, which aid line item shrinks first: institutional grant, loan, or work-study?

A written answer (email is fine) is important because the outside-scholarship awarding bodies want confirmation before disbursing. Thank you for the time.

— [Student name], [Application ID if available]

How Hanover compares across our verified dataset

62 of 272 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.
Hanover is in a recognizable cluster (62 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
247 of 272 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Hanover is one of them. The cohort minority (25 schools) only awards one-year scholarships, which means the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.

Sources used on this page

Every claim is checked against Hanover’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

policyHanover stacking policy