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Stonehill· Outside Scholarship Displacement

Will Stonehill Reduce Your Outside Scholarship?

When you win a private scholarship, who actually keeps the money: your family, or the school?

Verified Jun 20268 days ago· CC

The rule at Stonehill

Loan-first displacement

Stonehill displaces loans first, then work-study. In plain dollar terms, that means a $5,000 outside award shrinks the federal loan offer by $5,000 before any grant is touched.

stonehill.edu publishes the $82,460 cost-of-attendance worksheet the math is run against.

Source: https://www.stonehill.edu/offices-and-services/financial-aid/undergraduate-students/how-to-apply-for-financial-aid/award-guidelines/

The math: a $5,000 outside scholarship at Stonehill

  1. Setup

    You've received Stonehill's institutional merit aid plus the federal loan offer in your award letter. You win a $5,000 outside scholarship.

  2. What Stonehill does

    Stonehill reduces your loan offer first, then work-study, before touching institutional grants. The $5,000 swap is effectively cash to the family: fewer loans now, less debt at graduation.

  3. Family takeaway

    Loan-first displacement is the most family-friendly treatment. Outside scholarships translate dollar-for-dollar into reduced borrowing.

Schools with the same policy

These schools also use loan-first displacement for outside scholarships. The same dollar math above applies at each.

Schools that handle this differently

If Stonehill’s policy concerns you, these schools treat outside scholarships under a different rule.

When this rule bites hardest

  • Planning to commute to save money without expecting the merit award to shrink.

    A change in residency status from resident to commuter reduces the merit scholarship by approximately 20%, because cost of attendance is one of the factors that sizes the award.

  • Budgeting only to tuition ($60,610) or the billed total ($79,960).

    The 2026-2027 estimated cost of attendance for a resident is $82,460; on top of billed tuition, general service fee, and food & housing, it adds indirect costs (books ~$893, personal ~$867, transportation ~$675, federal loan fees ~$65).

Displacement questions families ask

If I win an outside scholarship, does it cut my Stonehill merit money?
Not first. You must report all private scholarships. If an adjustment is required, Stonehill reduces SEOG/Perkins-NIL loans, then Federal Work-Study, then the Federal Direct Loan, in that order. Your Stonehill gift aid is only reduced if your total gift aid exceeds federal need or billed costs.

Aid-office script (copy & send)

The displacement rule is only binding when it's in writing. This script asks Stonehill's aid office the specific question that matters for loan-first displacement.

Subject: Outside-scholarship treatment question, fall applicant

Dear Stonehill 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.stonehill.edu/offices-and-services/financial-aid/undergraduate-students/how-to-apply-for-financial-aid/award-guidelines/ and the $82,460 cost-of-attendance worksheet.

If I win a $5,000 outside scholarship after the package is built, can you confirm it reduces my Direct Loan offer first, before any institutional grant is touched?

If the loan offer is smaller than the outside award, what is the next aid type that gets reduced (work-study, institutional grant, other)?

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 Stonehill compares across our verified dataset

  • 99 of 751 verified schools in our dataset use loan-first displacement.

    Stonehill is in the modest minority (99 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.

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

More on Stonehill merit aid