Holy Family· Scholarship Stacking

Stacking Outside Scholarships at Holy Family

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

Verified Jun 20264 days ago· COWORK

The verdict

Displacement policy unclear

At Holy Family, an outside scholarship isn't fully spelled out in published policy. The strategy follows from that: assume the worst-case (grant-first) until the aid office confirms otherwise in writing.

holyfamily.edu lists Merit Scholarships — First Time Freshmen (Fall 2026/Spring 2027) as the baseline automatic award that any outside scholarship will sit on top of.

Stacking policy at Holy Family

Holy Family does not publish a displacement formula, but its policies page requires students to report all outside scholarships to the Financial Aid Office — implying packages may be adjusted. How outside awards affect institutional aid is not stated.

Policies page lists a reporting duty only; no statement of whether outside scholarships reduce loans, grants, or merit aid.

Source: https://www.holyfamily.edu/admissions-aid/financial-aid/financial-aid-policies

Common stacking mistakes

Not reporting an outside scholarship.
Policy: 'Students who receive outside scholarships are required to inform the Financial Aid Office of the name and amount of the scholarship.' The effect on your package is unstated — ask before assuming it stacks.

Rules that bite at Holy Family

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

displacementNo published displacement order
Holy Family's policy doesn't specify whether outside scholarships hit loans, grants, or only the COA ceiling. Get a written aid-office answer before chasing private awards.

Aid-office script (copy & send)

A binding written answer beats a verbal hallway promise. This script is keyed to Holy Family'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 Holy Family 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.holyfamily.edu/admissions-aid/financial-aid/financial-aid-policies.

The public policy doesn't specify how outside scholarships are treated against institutional merit and need-based aid. Can you confirm in writing whether outside awards reduce: (a) loans first, (b) institutional grant first, or (c) only trigger a reduction when total aid exceeds COA?

If the answer varies by aid type or award size, what's the dollar threshold or category split?

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 Holy Family compares across our verified dataset

199 of 751 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.
Holy Family is in a recognizable cluster (199 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
199 of 751 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.
Holy Family is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.
669 of 751 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Holy Family is one of them. The cohort minority (82 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 Holy Family’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.