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Stillman· Scholarship Stacking

Stacking Outside Scholarships at Stillman

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

Verified Jun 20264 days ago· COWORK

The verdict

Displacement policy unclear

At Stillman, 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.

catalog.stillman.edu publishes the $23,600 cost-of-attendance worksheet the math is run against.

Stacking policy at Stillman

Per the catalog, academic scholarships (combined with tuition remission or any other award from any source) cannot exceed full tuition and fees. The website adds that merit awards apply only to tuition and on-campus housing. Treatment/displacement order for outside scholarships is not stated, but students must report outside awards immediately on donor letterhead.

Catalog: tuition-and-fees cap across all sources. Website: merit awards limited to tuition and on-campus housing charges; outside scholarship checks are mailed to the aid office and must be disclosed immediately.

Source: https://catalog.stillman.edu/academic-scholarships

Common stacking mistakes

  • Assuming awards stack without limit.

    The catalog caps academic scholarships: 'The scholarships awarded cannot exceed full tuition and fees,' and this applies to combinations with tuition remission 'or other awards from the College or any other source.'

  • Forgetting to report an outside scholarship.

    'If you receive an outside scholarship, please advise our office immediately. Scholarship notices must be submitted on official letterhead from the donating organization.'

Rules that bite at Stillman

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

  • displacementNo published displacement order

    Stillman'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 Stillman'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 Stillman 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.stillman.edu/academic-scholarships and the $23,600 cost-of-attendance worksheet.

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 Stillman compares across our verified dataset

  • 199 of 751 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.

    Stillman 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.

    Stillman is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.

Sources used on this page

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

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