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 Jul 202625 days ago· COWORK

The verdict

Cost-of-attendance cap

At Holy Family, 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.

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 grants and scholarships are reduced only when total aid from all sources exceeds general tuition and fees; the reduction equals the excess above that tuition-and-fees cap, which sits well below full cost of attendance.

Verified policy language (2026-07-02): When a student’s financial assistance from outside sources in combination with federal, state and Holy Family funded grants and scholarships exceeds the general tuition and general fee cost, their Holy Family funded grant and/or scholarship will be reduced by the amount in excess of the general tuition and general fee cost.

Source: https://www.holyfamily.edu/about/administrative-services/university-policies/student-affairs-policies/various-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.

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/about/administrative-services/university-policies/student-affairs-policies/various-financial-aid-policies.

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 Holy Family compares across our verified dataset

241 of 750 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.
Holy Family is in a recognizable cluster (241 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
668 of 750 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.