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Immaculata· Scholarship Stacking

Stacking Outside Scholarships at Immaculata

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

Verified Jun 20264 days ago· COWORK

The verdict

Cost-of-attendance cap

At Immaculata, 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.

catalog.immaculata.edu lists Associate Degree Grant as the baseline automatic award that any outside scholarship will sit on top of.

Stacking policy at Immaculata

Immaculata caps all institutional aid (including combined with outside, tuition-only resources) at the cost of full-time annual tuition — note this is a TUITION cap, not a cost-of-attendance cap. Students must report all outside scholarships, which 'may impact' eligibility or institutional award amounts. Institutional scholarships and grants apply to tuition only, never to housing, meals, or fees, and employee/veteran tuition benefits supersede and replace IU merit/need scholarships.

Per the 2025-26 undergraduate catalog, a full-time student 'cannot receive institutional aid including tuition benefit programs that exceeds the cost of full-time annual tuition,' 'must report any aid received from outside sources (i.e., private scholarships, tuition remission, etc.) as these awards may impact the student's eligibility and/or institutional funding amounts,' and 'cannot receive institutional aid in combination with outside resources (tuition only) that exceeds the cost of full-time annual tuition.' The Financial Aid Terms and Conditions page (labeled 2024-2025) adds that tuition assistance 'may not be applied to room and board or other fees or charges' and that the University 'may replace any form of tuition assistance in part or full with other University aid at any time.' The cap is full-time tuition, not full COA; which award is reduced first when outside aid pushes the total over tuition is not specified.

Source: https://catalog.immaculata.edu/undergraduate-catalog/expenses-payment-policy-and-financial-aid/immaculata-scholarships-and-grants/

Common stacking mistakes

  • Assuming outside/private scholarships stack freely on top of Immaculata aid.

    The catalog requires students to report all outside aid and states it 'may impact the student's eligibility and/or institutional funding amounts.' Institutional aid combined with outside tuition-only resources cannot exceed full-time annual tuition, so large outside scholarships can reduce your IU scholarship.

  • Expecting to keep an IU merit scholarship on top of employee or veteran tuition benefits.

    The catalog states tuition benefit and veterans benefit awards 'will supersede and replace any IU merit/need scholarship or Institutional grant aid applied towards tuition charges only' — they displace, not stack.

Stacking questions families ask

Do outside scholarships reduce my Immaculata aid?
They can. You must report all outside aid, which 'may impact the student's eligibility and/or institutional funding amounts,' and your institutional aid combined with outside tuition-only resources cannot exceed full-time annual tuition ($29,550 for 2026-27). Ask the aid office exactly which award is reduced first.
Is there merit aid for transfer students?
Yes. Transfers qualify for Academic Scholarships ($6,500-$16,000), and community-college graduates with an associate degree and a 2.5+ GPA automatically receive a $1,500/year Associate Degree Grant that stacks on top of other aid. PTK members get an additional $1,000.

Rules that bite at Immaculata

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

  • renewalCentennial Scholarship: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out

    This academic merit scholarship can be attained for an additional three consecutive years of full-time undergraduate enrollment at Immaculata. Students must maintain the required GPA for the scholarship to be renewed each year (the specific GPA is not published on the page). A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.

Aid-office script (copy & send)

A binding written answer beats a verbal hallway promise. This script is keyed to Immaculata'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 Immaculata 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://catalog.immaculata.edu/undergraduate-catalog/expenses-payment-policy-and-financial-aid/immaculata-scholarships-and-grants/.

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 Immaculata compares across our verified dataset

  • 160 of 751 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.

    Immaculata is in a recognizable cluster (160 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 669 of 751 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.

    Immaculata 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 Immaculata’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.

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