Does an outside scholarship reduce my UND award?

UND states you may accept non-UND scholarships without affecting your UND scholarships, but external awards must be reported and accounted for in your financial-aid package (so total aid cannot exceed the cost of attendance). Ask the aid office how an over-award is absorbed.

North Dakota· Outside Scholarship Displacement

Will North Dakota 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 North Dakota

No displacement

North Dakota doesn't displace institutional aid at all. In plain dollar terms, that means a $5,000 outside award lowers the family bill by the full $5,000.

und.edu publishes the $24,204 cost-of-attendance worksheet the math is run against.

Source: https://und.edu/one-stop/financial-aid/scholarships.html

The math: a $5,000 outside scholarship at North Dakota

Setup
Imagine you've already received North Dakota's institutional merit award and you win a $5,000 outside scholarship from a community foundation.
What North Dakota does
North Dakota stacks the outside scholarship on top of institutional aid up to the cost of attendance. The full $5,000 reduces your family's bill.
Family takeaway
Outside scholarships are pure upside here. Apply broadly; every dollar you win is a dollar the family doesn't pay.

Schools with the same policy

These schools also use no displacement for outside scholarships. The same dollar math above applies at each.

Schools that handle this differently

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

When this rule bites hardest

Treating the $24,204 'Direct Cost of Attendance' as the full price.
That figure is the ND-resident direct cost (base tuition, fees, room/meal plan, and books/supplies). It excludes indirect costs UND lists separately — transportation ($1,200) and miscellaneous/personal ($2,200) — and is based on 2025-26 rates, subject to change for 2026-27. Non-residents pay more (150% of the ND rate for contiguous/WUE states; flat $31,948 + fees for SD/MT residents).

Displacement questions families ask

Does an outside scholarship reduce my UND award?: UND states you may accept non-UND scholarships without affecting your UND scholarships, but external awards must be reported and accounted for in your financial-aid package (so total aid cannot exceed the cost of attendance). Ask the aid office how an over-award is absorbed.

Aid-office script (copy & send)

The displacement rule is only binding when it's in writing. This script asks North Dakota's aid office the specific question that matters for no displacement.

Subject: Outside-scholarship treatment question, fall applicant

Dear North Dakota 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://und.edu/one-stop/financial-aid/scholarships.html and the $24,204 cost-of-attendance worksheet.

Can you confirm that a $5,000 private outside scholarship, added after my package is built, stacks on top of institutional merit and need-based aid up to COA, without reducing any institutional grant dollars?

Is there a specific reporting form I need to file when the outside award is confirmed?

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 North Dakota compares across our verified dataset

19 of 751 verified schools in our dataset use no-displacement displacement.
North Dakota is in the small minority (19 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.
North Dakota 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.
133 of 751 verified schools publish a dedicated National Merit Finalist package.
North Dakota is one of them. NMF packages typically carry their own stacking and renewal carve-outs separate from the standard automatic merit ladder; confirm those before assuming the headline NMF value is final.

Sources used on this page

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