Will This Outside Scholarship Reduce My Financial Aid?

Schools in our policy database

This tool currently covers 586 schools with verified displacement policies. Each policy is sourced directly from the school’s financial aid pages or Common Data Set filings. Schools are added as our analyst team completes verification.

• Alabama: UA's published FAQ states that external scholarships, military benefits, and college savings plans do NOT impact scholarships at UA. The cost-of-attendance cap on UA's own institutional scholarships explicitly excludes outside sources of aid.
• SMU: SMU's outside-scholarship treatment is not stated explicitly on its public Student Financial Services pages. Families should confirm with SFS before assuming outside awards will add on top of institutional merit.
• Auburn: Auburn allows institutional scholarships and outside awards to stack up to published cost of attendance. Families must notify Auburn of outside awards to avoid over-award repayment situations.
• Oklahoma: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Ole Miss: Ole Miss uses loan-first displacement. Outside scholarships reduce loan awards before touching other aid, and total aid cannot exceed cost of attendance.
• Mississippi State: Mississippi State caps total aid at Cost of Attendance. The published policy warns that institutional scholarships may be adjusted or canceled if outside awards push a student over COA, and MSU does not publish a loan-first or grant-first displacement order.
• Oklahoma State: When an outside award arrives, Oklahoma State reduces loans first before replacing other need-based aid such as grants or work-study — a loan-first displacement order. Separately, a Cost of Attendance cap governs how its own scholarships stack: automatic qualifier awards cannot exceed COA when combined with other aid, with Oklahoma's Promise and Cowboy Covenant explicitly stackable. A student may only have one tuition scholarship in effect at any time, and the University Assured and Partnered categories pay only the highest-value award from each category (except OK Promise and Cowboy Covenant).
• Arizona: The University of Arizona reduces undisbursed loans first when outside scholarships would create an over-award. Arizona Tuition Award and Wildcat Tuition Award cannot be combined with each other or with the National Scholars Tuition Award base. NMF and NMSF supplements layer on top of the base tuition award rather than replacing it.
• Kentucky: The University of Kentucky enforces a Cost of Attendance cap across all aid sources, and publishes a self-help-first over-award order: when combined aid exceeds COA or need, loans are canceled or reduced first, then Federal Work-Study is stopped. Outside scholarships must be reported via a Declaration of Additional Resources form.
• Liberty: Liberty does not cap outside scholarships at the student's full Cost of Attendance. Instead, combined federal grants, state grants, and Liberty institutional aid cannot exceed the combined cost of actual tuition and Tier 2 room and standard board charges. This is a narrower cap than the full COA used at most public flagships, and it is generous to outside-scholarship stacking.
• BYU: BYU's published scholarship eligibility page is explicit that recipients cannot combine awards from different semesters, and caps total institutional scholarship eligibility at 8 semesters of fall/winter scholarship per student. BYU does not publish an explicit displacement rule for how outside scholarships interact with institutional need-based aid calculations, it publishes an application order instead, routing outside funds to tuition, then class fees, then housing, meals, and personal items before refunding any leftover amount to the student.
• The Master's University: TMU allows merit, need-based, and outside scholarships to stack together in most cases, but publishes two specific restrictions: TMUC-named scholarships cannot stack with each other, and athletic-scholarship recipients forfeit all other institutional aid, qualifying only for federal/state aid and the outside portion of ministry or external scholarships. TMU does not publish an explicit loan-first or grant-first displacement rule for how outside scholarships interact with institutional aid packaging.
• Hillsdale: The school states that outside scholarships do not reduce institutional aid.
• Grove City: Grove City is one of the cleanest outside-scholarship stacking environments in U.S. higher education because the college does not participate in any federal student aid program, so the federal overaward rule does not apply. Grove City's published policy is plain: outside scholarships will not decrease Grove City institutional aid unless the total amount of aid exceeds cost of attendance. The only ceiling is COA.
• TCU: Outside scholarships count as resources in the total aid package. TCU reduces loans and work-study first when possible, then adjusts grants and scholarships if needed, and total aid may not exceed cost of attendance. Institutional merit plus National Merit is separately capped at the cost of tuition.
• Baylor: Baylor first reduces work-study or educational loans when outside scholarships arrive, but federal and state regulations can force the financial aid office to adjust grants and scholarships too, so outside aid can displace institutional grants depending on the package.
• Tulane: Tulane does not reduce merit scholarships for outside awards, but reduces need-based aid to stay within cost of attendance, and all named full-tuition scholarships are mutually exclusive with each other.
• Wake Forest: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Fordham: Presidential, Fordham, and Excellence in Theatre scholarships are reduced dollar-for-dollar by tuition-specific outside aid and by half for non-tuition-specific outside aid. Dean's, Loyola, Jogues, and need-based grants are adjusted dollar-for-dollar after outside scholarships fill unmet need, displacing subsidized loans, then work-study, then university grants.
• Case Western Reserve: Outside scholarships first reduce self-help aid (loans and work-study). If self-help is eliminated, outside scholarships may reduce need-based grants. Total aid from all sources cannot exceed cost of attendance.
• Lehigh: Outside scholarships first reduce loans and work-study. If total aid exceeds cost of attendance, Lehigh reduces institutional aid. State grants directly displace Lehigh grants dollar-for-dollar. Employer tuition benefits displace Lehigh grants once total gift-aid exceeds calculated need.
• Boston College: Outside scholarships first replace loans and work-study. Once self-help is eliminated, additional outside scholarships reduce BC institutional grants dollar-for-dollar because total aid cannot exceed demonstrated need. BC meets 100% of demonstrated need for all admitted students.
• USC: USC merit scholarships are mutually exclusive (student receives only the highest-value award). Outside scholarships typically replace loans and work-study first, and USC attempts to preserve university need-based grants. Total aid from all sources cannot exceed cost of attendance.
• LSU: LSU does not publish a dedicated stacking or outside-scholarship displacement policy on lsu.edu. Total aid from all sources cannot exceed cost of attendance (federal requirement). TOPS (state-funded) stacks with institutional aid subject to the COA cap.
• University of Miami: UM merit scholarships are tuition-restricted and cannot be combined with other merit or talent-based tuition-restricted aid (athletic, employee tuition benefits). Outside scholarships reduce self-help aid (loans, work-study) first before need-based grants. Total aid from all sources cannot exceed cost of attendance.
• ASU Barrett: ASU does not award multiple New American University scholarships to the same student: the higher-dollar tier replaces lower tiers, and the National Scholar (NMF/NRP) award replaces any prior NAMU merit. Per ASU's published policy, when an outside scholarship arrives the university reduces student loans and work-study first (self-help) before adjusting institutional grant aid — a loan-first displacement order.
• Vanderbilt: Outside scholarships first replace the student's earnings expectation (work-study) before reducing Vanderbilt need-based grant assistance. Outside scholarships cannot replace the Expected Family Contribution. Merit-based outside scholarships can be added on top of Vanderbilt merit awards up to the cost of attendance.
• Duke: Outside scholarships first replace loans and work-study in the aid package. Once self-help is eliminated, additional outside scholarship dollars reduce need-based Duke grant aid. Total aid cannot exceed the cost of attendance.
• Northwestern: Outside scholarships first reduce Federal Work-Study and need-based loans. Only after those are fully eliminated do outside scholarships reduce the Northwestern Scholarship (institutional grant). The financial aid office makes every effort to avoid reducing institutional grants.
• Rice: Outside scholarships first displace work-study, then reduce Rice institutional need-based grants. Pell grants and merit scholarships are protected and not reduced by outside aid. Total aid cannot exceed the cost of attendance.
• WashU: Outside scholarships do not automatically reduce WashU need-based or merit-based financial aid. They are generally added to the existing aid offer, but total aid from all sources cannot exceed the cost of attendance.
• Harvard: Outside scholarships first replace the student work expectation (~$3,500/year). Any excess reduces the Harvard scholarship dollar-for-dollar. Outside awards cannot reduce the parent contribution.
• Yale: Outside resources first reduce the Student Share ($3,700/year). Excess beyond $3,700 reduces the Yale Scholarship dollar-for-dollar. Up to $2,500 can be used for a one-time technology purchase instead of reducing Yale aid.
• Princeton: Outside scholarships reduce the Princeton grant dollar-for-dollar. Students may recover reduced funds for a one-time computer purchase.
• Stanford: Outside awards first replace the Student Responsibility (work earnings expectation). Excess reduces the Stanford scholarship dollar-for-dollar. Outside awards cannot replace the expected parent contribution.
• MIT: Outside scholarships first cover the student contribution (up to $5,400). Excess reduces the MIT Scholarship. Students may use a portion toward a one-time computer purchase or health insurance before the MIT Scholarship is reduced.
• UChicago: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Columbia: Outside scholarships first replace the Student Contribution and work expectation. Excess reduces the Columbia grant dollar-for-dollar. Outside scholarships will not reduce the Parent Contribution.
• Penn: Outside scholarships first reduce or eliminate the Summer Savings (Student Contribution) component of the aid package, then the Work-Study/Penn Job component. Only if outside funds exceed both does the remainder replace institutional need-based aid such as the Penn Grant or Institutional/Endowed Scholarship; outside scholarships never reduce the Parent Contribution.
• Cornell: Outside scholarships reduce student loans and work-study dollar-for-dollar first. Only after self-help is fully eliminated may Cornell reduce institutional grants.
• Johns Hopkins: JHU has a favorable threshold: first-year students can bring up to $4,500 in private scholarships before the Hopkins grant is reduced. Returning students: up to $5,300.
• UCLA: Outside scholarships first reduce need-based loans and work-study. Only as a last resort do they reduce UCLA grants and institutional scholarships.
• UC Berkeley: Outside scholarships first reduce need-based loans and work-study. Only as a last resort do they reduce UC grants and institutional scholarships.
• UC San Diego: Outside scholarships first reduce need-based loans and work-study. Only as a last resort do they reduce UC grants and institutional scholarships.
• Cal Poly SLO: Outside scholarships must be reported. The specific displacement order is not publicly documented. Contact Cal Poly Financial Aid for case-specific guidance.
• Pepperdine: Outside scholarships may exceed tuition and fees but cannot exceed the standard cost of attendance. The Regents Scholars Program and George Pepperdine Achievement Award cannot be combined (student receives the higher award). The Christian Leadership Award stacks on top of merit awards. The Tuition Exchange Scholarship replaces all other institutional grants and scholarships.
• Emory: Outside scholarships are subject to the cost of attendance cap. Emory's published policy states the combined total of all financial aid cannot exceed a student's eligibility or cost of attendance, and outside scholarships will impact federal, state, and institutional aid. The National Merit Scholarship is an explicit exception: Emory states institutional grants will not be reduced by NMF award amounts.
• Santa Clara: SCU states that outside scholarships may affect the original financial aid award. The Financial Aid Office requires notification of all outside awards and issues a revised offer letter reflecting any changes. No published formula specifies whether outside scholarships displace merit aid, need-based grants, loans, or work-study first.
• Villanova: Outside scholarships reduce self-help aid first, then Villanova institutional grants if total aid exceeds demonstrated need. A student cannot receive funding that exceeds cost of attendance.
• Michigan: U-M treats outside scholarships as a resource within the financial aid package. Outside aid is first applied against unmet costs (gap between COA and EFC + aid), then reduces loan or Work-Study, and only reduces grants once loan/Work-Study has been fully replaced. State-funded awards and the Detroit-pipeline scholarships are an exception: they reduce U-M institutional grants directly.
• Ohio State: Ohio State applies a federal cost-of-attendance cap to the total aid package. Most institutional merit scholarships are explicitly non-combinable; the student receives whichever is largest. The single exception: National Buckeye stacks with Maximus, Provost, OR Trustees Scholarships. External scholarships are revised into the package once received and may reduce institutional aid if total exceeds COA.
• Illinois: Illinois's published policy is loan-first: private outside scholarships reduce loans and Federal Work-Study before grant aid. COA is the outer ceiling: total aid cannot exceed cost of attendance. Outside scholarship checks must be sent to OSFA with a Private Outside Scholarship Form, made payable to the University of Illinois with the student's name and UIN.
• Purdue: Purdue applies a federal cost-of-attendance cap. The total financial aid package may be reduced if it exceeds Purdue's COA. Indy Scholars + Trustees OR Presidential is the ONE explicit stackable pair (Indianapolis campus only). All other Purdue institutional merit awards are non-combinable. Outside scholarships count toward the COA cap. Awards are explicitly nonnegotiable.
• Wisconsin: Other financial aid is reduced only when the student's current offer is already meeting full financial need and a newly reported scholarship would push total aid beyond that need cap; below that ceiling, aid is not displaced.
• Indiana: Hutton Honors College discloses explicit displacement: HHC awards may not pay out as cash to the bursar account but instead reduce student/parent loan burden or federal/state grants. The broader IU policy on outside scholarship displacement is administered through OSFA on a case-by-case basis. The practical implication: HHC and Cox awards are useful but not always net new dollars when stacked on top of FAFSA-driven aid.
• Michigan State: MSU publishes clear rules for stacking its OWN awards (Honors College scholarships combine with the Non-resident Scholarship; the big competition awards replace rather than stack) and makes every OOS award residency-contingent — but it publishes NO policy on how outside scholarships are treated. Get that answer from the aid office in writing before counting outside dollars.
• Iowa: Iowa applies a strict cost-of-attendance cap per Title IV. The sum of all scholarships and grants (institutional + outside + federal/state) cannot exceed COA. When outside scholarships push the package over COA or financial need, University of Iowa scholarships and grants are reduced. Within the institutional pool, Iowa Flagship Award, Iowa Scholars Award, and National Scholars Award explicitly do not stack with each other; the highest-dollar award is automatically applied.
• Minnesota: UMN applies a strict cost-of-attendance cap: total financial aid offered cannot exceed COA for the aid year. The published reduction order (which awards reduce first when total exceeds COA) is not publicly documented; OSFA administers on a case-by-case basis. Reciprocity-state residents (MN, ND, WI, Manitoba) are explicitly excluded from the National Scholarship; they receive reciprocity tuition rates instead, which is itself a form of merit-equivalent benefit.
• Maryland: Maryland enforces an institutional cost-of-attendance cap on combined merit + need + outside aid. The President's Scholarship policy explicitly says the award may be reduced by other merit funds so that the student does not financially benefit beyond UMD direct costs plus the book allowance. Outside scholarships count as a financial resource and can trigger overawards.
• Rutgers: Rutgers caps total aid (institutional, federal, state, and outside) at the cost of attendance. The signature constraint is the single-award merit process: admits get one Rutgers merit scholarship, not several stacked. Need-based aid, the Scarlet Guarantee, the Garden State Guarantee, and outside scholarships all stack on top of merit but are constrained by the COA cap.
• Nebraska: When an outside scholarship arrives, Nebraska reduces self-help aid (loans or work-study) first so all aid stays within the cost of attendance, and — unlike most schools — does not reduce or cancel its campus-based scholarships for outside awards unless required by law (loan-first displacement). The Chancellor's Tuition Scholarship and Regents Scholar Tuition Commitment remain a separate constraint: they cannot be combined with any other tuition benefit or waiver from federal, state, or University sources; they replace, not stack with, other tuition-specific awards. Other merit, need-based grants, and outside scholarships layer on top within the cost of attendance.
• Notre Dame: Outside scholarships reduce work-study first, then University Scholarship, with the total package held at Notre Dame's full-need commitment; nothing is displaced beyond what keeps total aid at that cap.
• Northeastern: Northeastern caps total aid at the cost of attendance and has a specific outside-scholarship displacement order: outside awards apply FIRST to unmet financial need, THEN to replace loans and/or work-study, AND if still excess, reduce institutional grants and/or scholarships. Internal merit awards stack with each other (e.g. Honors + Dean's, or Honors + National Merit) within the COA cap, but accepting a National Scholar award can specifically reduce previously awarded NU Grant funds.
• Texas A&M: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Florida: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• UVA: UVA meets 100% of demonstrated need: outside scholarships replace 'self-help' aid (Direct Subsidized Loans, Institutional/Nursing Loans, Federal Work Study) FIRST, before reducing state and University grants. Total aid cannot exceed cost of attendance.
• UNC Chapel Hill: Students may accept only ONE non-need-based academic award from UNC, even if considered for multiple. UNC also no longer offers college-sponsored scholarships to National Merit Finalists. Outside scholarship treatment for Covenant and other need-based recipients is governed by the standard self-help displacement order.
• UGA: HOPE and Zell Miller are state-funded and cannot exceed total tuition charges for the semester. UGA outside-scholarship policy reduces self-help (loans and Federal Work Study) BEFORE federal or institutional gift aid. External scholarships of $1,000+ are split evenly across fall/spring unless the donor directs otherwise.
• Georgia Tech: Georgia Tech treats outside scholarships as part of the total cost-of-attendance package. Outside awards reduce need-based aid first when total aid exceeds demonstrated need; institutional merit (Stamps, Gold, Provost) is generally protected unless the student is over-awarded.
• Virginia Tech: Virginia Tech makes a four-year combined-aid commitment per the Office of University Scholarships and Financial Aid: 'the combined total of grants and scholarships will remain unchanged provided students maintain eligibility.' Outside scholarships are part of the total package; VT will adjust the institutional grant/scholarship mix rather than reducing combined aid below the original commitment, except where federal regulations require it.
• Florida State: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Tennessee: UT Knoxville stacks state HOPE + Tri-Star (UT Promise, Pledge, Flagship) + institutional Volunteer/Provost + outside scholarships up to the cost of attendance and UT-specified award maximums. Volunteer + Orange & White cannot combine; most other awards can stack subject to the COA cap.
• Arkansas: Arkansas applies a Cost of Attendance Overaward Policy: combined institutional aid + state aid + outside scholarships cannot exceed the COA. Awards are reduced (cancelled or reduced) until the overaward is eliminated. The NRTA is treated as a tuition reduction (not a cash scholarship), which means it does not displace need-based aid the way a cash scholarship would.
• Mizzou: Mizzou applies a cost-of-attendance cap: federal, state, institutional, and private aid combined cannot exceed the annually assigned COA. Outside scholarships displace need-based aid first; institutional merit awards are typically protected. Bright Flight (state) explicitly stacks on top of most institutional automatics per Mizzou's combination chart.
• South Carolina: USC's general university awards are mostly mutually exclusive: recipients receive only one general award, with three explicit exceptions (the Provost Scholars Award, Presidential Scholars Award, and USC STEM Supplement, each of which can combine with another general award). State scholarships (Palmetto Fellows, LIFE, HOPE) explicitly stack on top of general university awards per state regulations. Total aid cannot exceed cost of attendance.
• Clemson: Clemson's recruiting scholarships (National Scholars, Trustee, Presidential, Palmetto Pact, Clemson Non-Resident Merit, Clemson Scholars, Lyceum, Out-of-State Tuition Scholarship) are renewable four-year awards based on residency. They CAN be combined with each other and with the state-funded Palmetto Fellows, LIFE, and HOPE Scholarships, but the Clemson Non-Resident Merit Scholarship is reduced or removed if a student receives tuition-specific aid such as an ROTC scholarship. Total aid cannot exceed cost of attendance.
• NC State: NC State applies the Estimated Cost of Attendance cap to total financial aid resources. Outside scholarships must be reported promptly to the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid; if total aid exceeds COA, need-based grants are typically reduced before merit. National Merit Finalists do NOT receive automatic NC State institutional funding; this is unusual among public flagships and a key planning constraint.
• Iowa State: Iowa State applies cost of attendance as a hard cap on total aid. Most automatic awards (Loyal, Forever, True, Academic Achievement Award) are mutually exclusive; students receive the single highest award they qualify for. Full-tuition awards (Iowa NMF, GWC Carver, First Cyclones) replace automatic awards entirely and have specific stacking restrictions documented per program. ROTC and tuition-specific aid interactions follow standard COA-cap displacement.
• ACU: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Adrian: Adrian's policy is unusually explicit: institutional scholarships/grants cannot exceed tuition; only one academic scholarship per student; outside scholarships may affect institutional or state grants; VA benefits, Post-9/11 GI Bill, and ROTC full-tuition scholarships reduce institutional eligibility dollar-for-dollar; and any non-original award over $99 (including outside scholarships) can reduce the Adrian College Need-Based Grant.
• Agnes Scott: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Albertus Magnus: One core merit award only, but designated 'Select Awards' (St. Catherine of Siena, St. Dominic, Legacy, DeRicci Honors, Pillar PTK) explicitly stack on top of it. Outside scholarships do not replace College aid but can impact federal and state eligibility, and total aid is capped at the COA budget.
• Albion College: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Alcorn State: Qualified applicants may receive only one of the listed scholarships.
• Alice Lloyd: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Allegheny: The scholarship page lists external/outside scholarship resources but does not state how OUTSIDE/private scholarships interact with or displace Allegheny institutional aid. Multiple Allegheny awards (Trustee + Referral + Visit Grant) are presented as separately renewable, implying they stack, but a formal stacking/cap policy was not found on the pages opened.
• Alma: Alma's published bonus awards (visit, FAFSA, legacy, out-of-state, performance, e-sports) are presented as additive to the merit grid, with two explicit caps: only one Scottish Hospitality award ever, and only one performance/arts award per year per category (Distinguished replaces base). No outside-scholarship displacement policy is published on the scholarships page.
• American: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Anderson: AU's five core merit awards do not stack with each other (one only). SC state awards (PFS/LIFE/HOPE) are mutually exclusive with each other. Outside scholarships must be reported, and the aid office recalculates overall assistance; for Fellows winners, outside scholarships and federal aid may be applied to housing and food. Whether outside awards displace AU merit aid is not stated.
• Appalachian State: Outside scholarships must be reported to Financial Aid and are incorporated into the student's package; the published policy explicitly allows institutional aid to be adjusted in response.
• Aquinas: Aquinas publishes no single general stacking policy, but several specific rules appear across its pages: the Byrne full-tuition award supersedes (replaces) the Aquinas College Scholarship rather than stacking; for the Aquinas Assurance program, total aid cannot exceed the cost of attendance and the Assurance is reduced if an outside scholarship (including VA benefits, tuition exchange, or tuition remission) covers tuition; students are responsible for reporting all outside aid, and awards may be revised when the college learns of other resources; the college also reserves the right to swap general-fund grants (Aquinas Grant / Aquinas Opportunity Grant) for donor-specific dollars.
• Arkansas Tech: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Asbury University: Asbury's awards explicitly stack, capped at 100% of tuition, with one carve-out: the John Wesley Hughes (full-tuition) award is NOT stackable with any other Asbury gift aid. The Morrison, Francis Asbury (National Merit), Windgate, alumni, and competition-participation awards all stack on top of the automatic GPA scholarship up to 100% of annual tuition. No published policy was found on the financial-aid pages describing how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships displace institutional aid; the catalog notes the Governor's Scholarship 'will not affect' KEES or other external sources but this is not a general displacement rule.
• Auburn at Montgomery (AUM): AUM's eight automatic freshman grid scholarships do NOT stack with each other — a student receives only the single highest grid award they qualify for. The AUM Freshman Leadership Scholarship is the explicit exception: it may be combined with other freshman academic scholarships, but NOT with Deichelmann. No official AUM page was found stating how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships displace institutional aid.
• Augustana (IL): Augustana typically leaves other grants, scholarships, work-study, and federal loans untouched when a student receives an outside scholarship; aid is reduced only if total aid from all sources exceeds financial need and/or cost of attendance, and then in order starting with work-study, then loans, then institutional grants, with scholarships cut last.
• Augustana University: Augustana explicitly STACKS outside (private) scholarships on top of Augustana scholarships — it will not reduce its own scholarships because a student won outside awards. The only caveat is for students who file the FAFSA and accept federal aid: total aid must stay within the cost of attendance, so outside awards can reduce federal subsidized loans, work-study, and AU need-based grants. Internal named talent/legacy awards also stack on the Academic Scholarship.
• Austin College: A student may receive only ONE institutional scholarship in addition to the general academic scholarship. Merit scholarships apply to tuition only. Outside scholarships can stack up to the full cost of attendance if the student has merit aid only; for students with need-based aid, outside scholarships reduce need-based loans first, and then need-based grants if necessary (typically not merit aid), with total aid capped at the cost of attendance. A merit-based award may also replace, in whole or in part, a need-based grant or loan that applies to tuition.
• Avila: Avila explicitly states that when outside scholarships require an aid adjustment, it reduces need-based loans or work-study BEFORE reducing any gift aid (scholarships/grants) — i.e., gift aid is protected first (loan-first displacement). Internally, the page warns that not all grants and scholarships are stackable with academic and athletic awards, and athletic awards specifically are combined with the academic award into one scholarship rather than stacked.
• Azusa Pacific: APU caps total financial aid at the Cost of Attendance: 'Financial aid cannot stack above Cost of Attendance (COA),' with the only stated exceptions being ROTC scholarships and VA Benefits. Outside scholarships must be reported and can reduce or eliminate awards already offered when they push total aid over COA.
• Baldwin Wallace: INTERNAL stacking is mixed: the Academic Merit Scholarship, President's Horizon Award, and the $2,000 Visit/Alumni/Sibling special awards all stack on each other — but the $15,000 community-based awards do NOT stack with merit (a student gets one or the other). For OUTSIDE (third-party) scholarships, BW applies them to unmet need first by reducing Parent PLUS / alternative loans, then reduces self-help (direct loans, federal work-study) before touching grants or other scholarships.
• Belhaven: The four first-year academic awards (President's, Dean's, Achievement, Advantage) are mutually exclusive merit tiers — a student is placed in one based on GPA/ACT, not granted several. Some add-ons layer on top (the Presbyterian PSP is explicitly 'added to the student's total award'), but Belhaven publishes explicit non-combination rules: the Residence Hall Grant 'cannot be awarded in combination with tuition discounts, waivers, sponsorships, and some Belhaven scholarships.' No published policy describes how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships displace institutional aid.
• Bellarmine: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Belmont Abbey: Belmont Abbey publishes explicit internal anti-stacking rules: the GPA-based Merit Awards cannot be combined with Honors and Premier Scholarships; the Abbey Advantage Scholarship cannot be combined with any other institutional scholarship; and the Out-of-State Grant cannot be combined with an athletic scholarship. The college encourages students to pursue outside scholarships but publishes no policy on how outside/private scholarships affect institutional aid.
• Belmont: Belmont applies outside, federal, and state aid first toward expenses. Institutional aid is non-refundable, so when outside scholarships combined with other resources cover or exceed cost of attendance, Belmont's institutional scholarship gets reduced rather than refunded back to the student.
• Beloit College: Beloit allows students to stack outside scholarships only up to the cost of tuition, not the full cost of attendance; as long as combined aid stays within tuition costs, the Beloit scholarship is not reduced.
• Bentley: Bentley protects grant aid against outside scholarships: an outside resource first replaces Work-Study and the Subsidized Direct Loan (the 'self-help' portion) before reducing Bentley Grant funds — a loan/self-help-first displacement order. Bentley's own PTK transfer awards are explicitly 'eligible to be combined with other merit scholarships,' and BentleyFirst states academic scholarships are added on top of the BentleyFirst award.
• Berklee: Berklee does not publish an outside-scholarship displacement order on its public pages. The cost-of-attendance page states that total aid from all sources (grants, scholarships, loans) cannot exceed cost of attendance, and the scholarship policy states institutional scholarships are never increased beyond the initial award.
• Bethel (MN): COA cap: Bethel grants and scholarships are reduced if total gift aid from all sources exceeds the financial aid cost-of-attendance budget; total aid (scholarships + grants + loans) cannot exceed COA.
• Bethune-Cookman: B-CU institutional merit scholarships explicitly combine with Florida Bright Futures, Florida Prepaid, private scholarships, and need-based assistance. However, the two largest awards (Presidential, Excelsior) are structured as LAST-DOLLAR: they only cover what federal/state aid and other non-institutional scholarships leave unpaid, so an outside scholarship or Bright Futures effectively REDUCES the institutional award rather than adding cash on top. Scholarship funds apply first to tuition and fees, then to other university debts.
• BHSU: Scholarships of Distinction may be fulfilled by one or multiple BHSU Foundation donors and/or other institutional aid; the pages do not state a general policy on how private/outside scholarships displace the award.
• Bluefield: Bluefield's own example shows institutional tuition discounts stacking with the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant and the federal Pell Grant. Outside awards must be reported and are added into the student's aid package, which 'directly impacts your balance due'; SAGE Tuition Rewards are absorbed into normal institutional/merit scholarships rather than stacking on top; the International Scholarship cannot be combined with athletic or performing-arts scholarships. The school does not publish a loan-first/grant-first displacement order for outside awards.
• BJU: BJU's General Scholarship Rule caps all institutional aid plus federal/state grants and scholarships at the student's direct costs (tuition + fees for day students; tuition + fees + room and board for residence students). Aid above the cap triggers reductions to BJU's institutional aid, starting with need-based awards — including retroactively if state/federal aid arrives after BJU aid was packaged.
• Boise State: A COA cap applies: institutional funds may be combined with outside funds up to the student's Cost of Attendance. If total aid exceeds COA, Boise State reduces student loans first and may ultimately reduce or cancel institutional scholarships (loan-first displacement).
• Brenau: Brenau's flagship awards are gap-fillers rather than stackers: the Brenau Promise pays only the remainder after ALL institutional, state, and federal gift aid is applied to tuition + I&I fee, and the Presidential Award covers full tuition 'in conjunction with' state grants. Federal loans, work-study, Parent PLUS, and private scholarships are excluded from the Promise calculation and can be kept for other costs.
• Brevard College: The school states that outside scholarships do not reduce institutional aid.
• Brewton-Parker: Brewton-Parker uses award-by-award no-stacking rules rather than a single policy: the Presidential and Athletic Scholarships cannot be combined with each other; the PTK, International, and Program of Study scholarships are 'un-stackable' with most other institutional awards (PTK and International explicitly allow stacking only with Extracurricular, Georgia Baptist Mission Board, or external scholarships); only the small Extracurricular awards ($1,000-$2,500) are expressly stackable with Presidential and Athletic. Outside scholarships must be reported and 'may affect your BPC financial aid package,' but no displacement order is published.
• Brown: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Bryn Mawr: Treatment of outside scholarships explicitly differs by aid type or program; see the sourced policy excerpt for the split.
• Bucknell: Bucknell publishes a clean COA cap on gift aid from all sources. Once total gift aid (Bucknell + federal + state + private + tuition benefits + VA + similar) reaches Bucknell's cost of attendance, Bucknell reduces its own aid — both need-based and merit-based — dollar for dollar to prevent surplus. Non-need loans (Unsubsidized Stafford, PLUS, Alternative) do not trigger a reduction.
• Butler: All Butler gift assistance (including the Academic Scholarship) is for tuition only unless otherwise stated and is limited to full-time students pursuing a first bachelor's degree. The Morton-Finney 'full tuition' ceiling and the Butler Tuition Guarantee 'full tuition' are both reached by COMBINING Butler gift aid with state and federal aid, not by a single flat award.
• BYU-Idaho: BYU-Idaho institutional scholarships cannot be combined to exceed the full LDS (Church-member) tuition rate, except the Returned Missionary, Music, or Jack Wheatley Scholarships, which may exceed it. How outside/private scholarships interact with institutional or federal aid (displacement) is not stated on the pages reviewed.
• BYU-Pathway Worldwide: BYU-Pathway does not publish whether its own discounts (Heber J. Grant, Returned Missionary, Mentor Bridge) can be combined with each other. On outside aid, the tuition-discounts page says students may apply for private scholarships, yet in the very next breath says U.S. citizens working toward a degree are not eligible for federal loans, Pell Grants, VA benefits, 'or other third-party scholarships' — an apparent internal contradiction.
• Cal Poly Pomona: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Cal State Fullerton: Cal State Fullerton uses a cost-of-attendance cap on total aid. All aid (including scholarships) must fit within the standard COA and the student's unmet need; aid cannot be awarded above the COA. Outside/external scholarships are coordinated into the package, and need-based 'last-payer' awards — notably the Middle Class Scholarship (MCS) — can be reduced or eliminated when a scholarship is added. No published rule says institutional merit (e.g., President's Scholars) is itself reduced by outside awards, but the COA ceiling governs the package as a whole.
• Cal State LA: Cal State LA requires you to report every scholarship you receive (including outside/external awards and those paid directly to you), and the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office must fold all funding into your aid package and 'may adjust other awards' if necessary. This is a displacement policy: an outside scholarship can reduce other components of your aid. No rule was published guaranteeing outside scholarships stack on top without reducing institutional aid.
• Cal State Northridge: CSUN's published guidance does not specify a threshold for when outside scholarships trigger an aid reduction; it only warns that unreported fee waivers or outside awards may result in reduction or cancellation of aid or a debt owed. Confirm the actual displacement rule with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Cal State San Bernardino: CSUSB does not publish an outside/private-scholarship displacement policy on its financial-aid, awarding-process, or types-of-aid pages. As a federally-aided institution, total aid (including outside scholarships) cannot exceed the cost of attendance, so an outside award can trigger a package revision, but CSUSB does not state on its public pages whether it reduces loans/self-help first or reduces grants. Treat as unclear and confirm with the aid office.
• Cameron: Tuition waivers are subject to anti-stacking rules: some cannot be stacked at all (only the highest-value waiver applies), and when stacking is permitted, combined waivers cannot exceed the tuition charged. Scholarships (cash awards) reduce loans/work-study first when total aid equals financial need or COA. Total aid cannot exceed COA; need-based aid is capped at unmet financial need. All external/outside scholarships must be reported to the aid office and are included in the financial aid package.
• Campbellsville: Campbellsville reserves the right to reduce a merit scholarship only when an outside (non-CU) scholarship, benefit, or funding source alone equals or exceeds the total cost of tuition, not the full cost of attendance. Students receiving GI Bill/VA benefits are exempt from this reduction.
• Capital University: Capital's GPA-based Capital Merit Scholarship explicitly stacks on top of the automatic Main Street Scholarship (the published grid sums the two, e.g., $8,000 President's Award + $20,000 Main Street = $28,000/yr). No published rule was found describing how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships displace Capital institutional aid for traditional undergraduates; the only displacement-style language found ('institutional scholarships cannot exceed the direct cost of tuition') appears on the Law School site, not the traditional-undergraduate pages.
• CMU: CMU's published outside-scholarship policy is unusually friendly: institutional aid is NOT reduced when outside scholarships arrive unless total aid exceeds COA or exceeds financial need. Even then, federal aid (loans first) is reduced before institutional grant.
• Carroll University: Carroll's FAQ states that an outside scholarship in most cases has no effect on a student's aid, but occasionally may change the type and amount of loan a student qualifies for, and that financial aid from all sources cannot exceed Carroll's established cost of attendance. This is loan-first behavior with a COA cap. Note: MacAllister recipients are explicitly NOT eligible for additional Carroll scholarships or grants, so the headline full-tuition award does not stack with the automatic merit grid.
• Carson-Newman: Outside scholarships can reduce institutional grant or scholarship dollars; see the sourced policy for the exact mechanism.
• Carthage: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Catholic University: University scholarships apply only to tuition charges and are not refundable. Merit and need-based aid combined cannot exceed total tuition charges. Tuition Exchange cannot be combined with any other CUA scholarship or grant; the John Paul II grant and music awards can be combined with other merit up to full tuition.
• Cedar Crest: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Cedarville: Cedarville's academic, talent (music/worship), pharmacy, and ministry awards are explicitly combinable with other scholarships and grants. However, total gift aid (institutional + outside) is capped at the student's direct University charges: if combined scholarships/grants exceed direct charges, Cedarville reduces its own institutional gift aid down to the charges. Outside awards of $1,500+ are automatically split between fall and spring.
• Centenary (LA): Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Central College: Outside (third-party) scholarships are treated as resources toward financial need. They do NOT reduce the gift portion of the Central aid package; instead an increase in gift aid may reduce the loan or work-study portion. This is a loan-first (self-help-first) displacement pattern that protects Central's grants/scholarships.
• Central Connecticut State: CCSU's Honors Program scholarship explicitly may be combined with other Central scholarships 'only to the extent allowed by University policy' — i.e., stacking is permitted but capped by an unpublished University policy. No published rule was found on ccsu.edu describing how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships displace institutional merit aid.
• Central Missouri: The Red and Black Scholarship is explicitly described as combinable with other scholarships, and the ACT Excellence award adds onto it. However, the page warns the Red and Black award 'could be reduced or removed due to federal regulations to avoid over-awards' — i.e., institutional aid is capped to avoid over-awarding when total aid (including outside/private grants) is too high. The Mule Grant is a last-dollar grant that fills tuition/fees 'remaining after federal, state, institutional and private/outside grants and scholarships have been applied,' meaning outside scholarships reduce the Mule Grant before institutional merit. No single page states a clean, comprehensive outside-scholarship displacement order, so the precise displacement mechanics are unclear.
• CWU: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Centre: Centre publishes an unusually specific outside-scholarship rule: outside awards under $1,000 do not reduce the Centre grant; outside awards of $1,000 or more may reduce it. All outside scholarships must be reported to the Office of Financial Aid.
• Chadron State: CSC requires students to report all outside (third-party) scholarships and warns that additional outside awards may force an adjustment to — or repayment of — Federal Student Financial Aid; the pages do not say which aid type is reduced first. Within the State College Tuition Guarantee, outside scholarships are NOT counted against the tuition gap and may be applied to non-tuition costs. The Davis-Chambers Scholarship 'is applied after all other aid.' No page found states a school-wide rule on combining multiple CSC institutional merit awards.
• Chaminade: Chaminade does not publish a general institutional stacking or outside-scholarship displacement policy on its financial-aid pages. The only stated combination rule is for the Hawai'i Guarantee: it is awarded AFTER institutional aid is applied (it tops up to the UH in-state tuition level rather than stacking on top), and Pell Grants can still be applied in addition to it. Need-based aid is capped at demonstrated financial need.
• Champlain: Outside scholarships do NOT reduce a Champlain scholarship in most cases. EXCEPTIONS: tuition benefits, tuition exchange, and military/veterans' benefits are not treated as outside scholarships and could impact eligibility for additional Champlain scholarships. The Count-On-It guarantee (merit never declines at full-time + 2.0 GPA) does not extend to recipients of Champlain tuition benefits, Tuition Exchange scholarships, or Yellow Ribbon benefits, nor to need-based federal/state grants and Champlain funds impacted by them.
• Chestnut Hill: Chestnut Hill reduces institutional grant funding only when combined outside grant/scholarship aid and institutional grant funding would create a credit balance on the student's account (i.e., aid exceeding billed costs); no refund is issued in that case. This credit-balance trigger is narrower than the full cost of attendance the college separately uses to define an overaward.
• Chico State: Chico State applies federal over-award rules: outside scholarships must be reported, and total aid from all sources cannot exceed the cost of education — if it does, the financial aid package is reduced. The recipient page also warns that scholarships earmarked for tuition/fees can reduce other fee-based aid. No published rule states institutional merit is reduced loan-first vs grant-first; the displacement is described only as a cost-of-education cap, so it is treated as a COA cap.
• Chowan: Chowan caps total scholarships and grants from ALL sources (institutional + outside + state/federal) at direct costs plus a books-and-supplies allowance — or at financial-aid need when federal funds are received. The scholarships page also warns generally that 'receipt of additional funding may impact your award offer,' and institutional aid is reduced if a student changes from residential to commuter status. Which aid type is reduced first (loan vs. grant) is not published.
• Christopher Newport: CNU states it makes every effort to reduce loans and work-study before reducing grants when an outside scholarship changes need-based eligibility, but the published policy does not state that grants are reduced only to prevent an over-award — that specific condition is not established.
• Clark: Clark's aid is based on the assumption you receive no non-Clark aid; if you do, Clark may revise its offer. For MERIT-based outside scholarships, outside funds first fill unmet need, then reduce self-help (work-study, then loans), and any remainder reduces the Clark grant DOLLAR-FOR-DOLLAR. NON-merit outside awards (federal/state grants) reduce the Clark grant dollar-for-dollar. Tuition subsidies based on a parent's employment reduce the Clark grant $0.50 per dollar after the first $5,000. All Clark merit + need-based aid is capped at eight semesters.
• Clarkson: Clarkson does NOT reduce its own scholarship/grant offer when a student wins an outside scholarship, UNLESS total scholarship money from all sources exceeds Clarkson's cost — i.e., a cost-of-attendance cap. ROTC scholarships are explicitly carved out and may cause Clarkson awards to be adjusted for room-and-board incentives. Separately, Tuition Exchange (TE) awards cannot be combined with other Clarkson scholarships or grants.
• Clayton State: Clayton State enforces a cost-of-attendance cap: total financial aid from all sources cannot exceed the annually defined cost of attendance. When an overaward would occur, loans, work-study, and/or scholarship awards are adjusted. The pages do not specify the exact order of reduction or single out private outside scholarships.
• Coastal Carolina: the published policy only states that external scholarships are recorded on the award letter and may affect the total amount of aid a student receives, without specifying any cap, threshold, or reduction order. Confirm the actual displacement policy with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Coe: Outside scholarships may reduce a student's federal self-help aid (Direct Loans, work-study), but Coe affirmatively states it will not reduce institutional need-based gift aid because of outside scholarships.
• Colgate: Colgate handles outside scholarships differently based on type: MERIT-based outside awards first offset family contribution, work-study, and loans (student-favorable). State/federal ENTITLEMENT aid and parent-employer tuition benefits reduce the Colgate Grant dollar-for-dollar (less favorable).
• Charleston: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• College of Wooster: Internal Wooster merit is capped: total merit scholarships cannot exceed full tuition annually and apply to tuition charges only. The three core academic awards (Presidential, College, Dean's) are mutually exclusive, and if Presidential Scholar is awarded, all other merit scholarships become honorary. Interest-based, National Merit and the Visit Award can layer on top of a Dean's/College award up to the full-tuition cap. For OUTSIDE third-party scholarships, Wooster adjusts work-study or Federal Direct Loan first, but warns it may reduce Wooster aid based on other aid received, per federal regulations.
• Colorado Mesa: Cost of attendance represents the highest dollar amount of financial aid a student can receive during an award year.
• Colorado Mines: If a student is eligible for more than one Mines scholarship, only the single highest-dollar award is paid (excluding athletic and music). All Mines awards are tuition/fee-only and capped at actual tuition/fee charges. Outside scholarships are applied to replace loans and/or work-study before reducing any Mines grant or scholarship.
• CSU Pueblo: The defining rule at CSU Pueblo: the automatic merit award (Presidential/Distinguished/Promising) CANNOT be combined with any other institutional scholarship, with the single exception of the $1,000 First Generation Scholarship. The Honors Program scholarship and the $1,000 Commitment to Colorado award are both explicitly called out as non-stackable with Automatic Merit. No published rule was found describing how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships displace institutional aid; the only related policy is that merit scholarships may be reduced if total aid exceeds cost of attendance.
• Concordia College (Moorhead): Outside (external) scholarships must be reported. If they push aid over federal need, Concordia first reduces loans or work-study — but total gift aid from all sources cannot exceed comprehensive fees (tuition, standard fees, standard housing and food plans); past that cap, Concordia's own scholarships/grants are reduced. Separately, the $26,500 Presidential Scholarship replaces other scholarships and gift aid, and the Concordia Promise comprises (rather than stacks on) Concordia scholarships plus federal/state gift aid up to the cost of tuition.
• Concordia Ann Arbor: CUAA states outright that outside scholarships are stacked on top of institutional aid rather than displacing it. Separately, the system-wide 'Uncommon Scholarships' (for adult/post-traditional/online learners) may NOT be stacked with each other, with Concordia tuition discounts, or with Concordia scholarship programs.
• Corban: Corban's structure is explicit: ONE scholarship or grant in each of the Academic, Talent, and Affiliation categories (non-athletes choose one Affiliation; Talent and Affiliation are alternatives for athletes since Affiliation is marked 'non-athletes choose one'). 'Additional Aid' awards (Corban Grant, $500 Visit Scholarship, $500 FFA Officer Award), outside scholarships, and federal aid 'may be added on top of this.' Outside checks are split equally between fall and spring unless the scholarship specifies otherwise.
• Cornell College: Talent awards are added on top of merit scholarships. However, if you live off campus, your merit and/or fine-arts scholarships are reduced proportionately, and the National Academic Scholarship requires living and dining on campus each year. Outside scholarships listed on the site are not Cornell programs and may have their own rules.
• Covenant College: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Crown College: Crown's published Cost of Attendance worksheet caps total aid at the cost of attendance: all scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study combined cannot exceed COA. Separately, the C&MA 50% tuition discount is explicitly composed of the student's other institutional aid (it tops up to 50% of tuition rather than stacking on top). The pages do not state how outside/private scholarships affect institutional aid.
• CSU Bakersfield: CSUB requires all outside scholarships to be disclosed; they are treated as a resource and added to the financial aid package as an externally awarded scholarship, with a revised award notification issued. Total aid from all sources is coordinated against Cost of Attendance/unmet need. Merit scholarships and fee waivers are themselves 'included when determining unmet need,' so outside awards can reduce other need-based aid rather than the merit award. No grant-vs-loan displacement order is published, so the precise displacement order is unclear — confirm with the aid office.
• CSU San Marcos: CSUSM publishes NO explicit outside-scholarship displacement policy on its scholarship pages. The Financial Aid office maintains external-scholarship listings but states those programs are administered by the awarding agency. As a CSU campus, federal/state over-award rules apply (an outside award plus other aid cannot exceed cost of attendance), but the campus does not publish how an outside scholarship reduces institutional vs. self-help aid.
• CU Boulder: When outside or additional aid arrives, CU Boulder tries to reduce loans first, but explicitly reserves the right to replace other need-based aid such as grants or work-study when necessary. Loan-first is the goal, but not a guarantee.
• Baruch College: Baruch publishes no general institutional outside-scholarship displacement rule on the pages reviewed. The official financial-aid brochure states 'merit-based only scholarships are rarely available' and that most Baruch undergraduate scholarships have mixed merit/need criteria and are for currently enrolled students. No verbatim stacking or third-party displacement policy was found.
• Brooklyn College: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• City College of New York (CUNY): Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Hunter College: the published policy describes CUNY institutional scholarships as additional to federal, state, and city aid, but does not address how private outside scholarships affect institutional aid or specify any program-specific split; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• John Jay College: John Jay states that scholarships typically do NOT reduce entitlement aid (Pell Grants, NY State grants) but MAY reduce loans or other aid, and that combined aid cannot exceed the cost of attendance. This protects need-based grants but caps total aid at COA.
• Macaulay Honors College: This school's guaranteed tuition award is last-dollar: outside scholarships and other gift aid are applied first, and the institutional award covers only the remaining balance of base tuition and fees - so outside awards reduce it dollar-for-dollar once gift aid approaches that threshold.
• Queens College (CUNY): No outside-scholarship displacement or stacking policy is published on Queens College's financial-aid, honors, or external-scholarships pages. The one explicit coordination rule found is that the Macaulay full-tuition scholarship is calculated as tuition minus TAP, NYS HESC Scholarship, CUSTA, PELL, NYC Council Merit Scholarship, and other tuition-only scholarships — i.e., the Macaulay award fills the remaining tuition gap after those tuition-specific awards apply (a coordination/last-dollar mechanic for tuition awards, not a general outside-scholarship displacement statement).
• College of Staten Island: No outside-scholarship displacement or stacking policy is published on CSI's financial-aid pages. The Office of Student Financial Aid page describes federal, NY State, and Excelsior aid but says nothing about how an outside scholarship reduces or coordinates with institutional aid.
• Davidson: Davidson uses an unusually student-friendly outside-scholarship rule: outside funds first reduce the student employment award, then the Expected Family Contribution. Only after total outside resources exceed $5,000/year — OR student employment and EFC have both been fully replaced — does Davidson aid get reduced. This explicitly protects Davidson Trust grants from displacement up to a meaningful threshold.
• Defiance: Final scholarships are coordinated with other federal, state, and Defiance College awards and can be influenced by on-campus vs. commuter status; several specific awards (Presidential Service Leadership, Alumni Legacy Grant, UCC Grant, Defiance College Grant) may not be combined with athletic or music scholarships. Treatment of private outside scholarships is not addressed on the pages opened.
• Delaware State: Aid is adjusted only when total institutional funding plus external resources exceeds the semester's direct costs; past that cap, DSU reduces its merit and/or need-based aid by the excess.
• Delta State: Delta State publishes no general outside-scholarship displacement policy on its scholarships page. The one explicit stacking mechanic found is on the Delta State Free Tuition program: it is LAST-DOLLAR — Pell and any other earned scholarships are applied to tuition first, and the university covers only the remaining tuition balance. For free-tuition recipients, an additional merit/outside scholarship therefore reduces the university's own contribution rather than adding net new money against tuition.
• Dickinson: Total aid cannot exceed need as computed by federally approved methodology. Crucially, the college will always reduce or eliminate SELF-HELP (loans or work) before reducing grant aid — a family-favorable order. Tuition Exchange recipients cannot receive any other Dickinson merit scholarship.
• Dillard: Dillard's Scholarship/Grant Agreement reserves the right to SWAP an institutional award for an outside (external) scholarship when the external award covers the same costs — a same-amount replacement, not additive stacking. All recipients are required to pursue outside scholarships and must report them; total aid cannot exceed Cost of Attendance.
• Dixie Tech: Dixie Tech institutional scholarships cannot be combined with each other — one Dixie Tech scholarship per student. Full Pell Grant recipients are excluded from Tech Success and Double Take and 'may not be eligible' for the Pathway Scholarship (the school's awards backfill behind Pell rather than stack on top of it). Tech Success, Double Take, and Pathway awards are tuition-only with no cash value. The pages do not address how OUTSIDE/private scholarships are treated.
• Dordt: Dordt's $3,000 National Merit Finalist Award is explicitly stated to be 'in addition to the academic scholarship,' so internal merit awards stack with it. For THIRD-PARTY outside scholarships, the official pages only describe how the outside check is credited (applied to the tuition account when received, split evenly across two semesters) — they do NOT state whether an outside award reduces Dordt institutional aid or only the remaining out-of-pocket balance. Displacement behavior is therefore unclear from published sources.
• Drew: Favorable to merit holders: outside scholarships first fill unmet need, then may reduce self-help (work-study/loans). Drew need-based grants are reduced only if total scholarships+grants exceed financial need. Outside awards have NO impact on Drew merit scholarships unless total grants+scholarships exceed the cost of attendance (a COA cap that protects merit).
• Drexel: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Drury: Drury explicitly stacks: 'In addition to your academic scholarship, you might also qualify for various awards and need-based aid from Drury that can be stacked on top of your academic scholarship.' Named activity/Meador/Legacy/Dual-Credit/PTK awards add on top of the academic scholarship. No published rule was found describing how third-party OUTSIDE/private scholarships displace institutional aid; the FAQ only tells students to notify the Financial Aid Office of outside awards.
• Duquesne University: Duquesne only reduces financial aid when total aid exceeds cost of attendance; within that COA-triggered reduction, student loans are always reduced first, and institutional aid may also be reduced depending on the amount and type of the outside award.
• Earlham: You must notify Earlham of any outside scholarships. Outside scholarships will, in most cases, reduce your least advantageous aid (loans or work-study) first. For INspire Earlham recipients, additional scholarships cannot exceed full tuition.
• East Carolina: Honors College awards (including Brinkley-Lane) may be stacked with other scholarships, including discipline-based awards, as long as total aid does not exceed the cost of attendance — a COA-cap rule. Outside (third-party) scholarship checks are mailed to the Office of University Scholarships and are automatically split between fall and spring unless the Cashier's Office is told otherwise; the page does not state which aid is reduced first when total aid would exceed COA.
• East Central: ECU Foundation Scholarships may be combined with ECU scholarships, and Oklahoma residency is not required.
• East Texas A&M: Institutional scholarships (Presidential, Blue and Gold, President's Promise, and Honors Fellowship) are explicitly described as combinable with each other and with donor-funded scholarships. Outside/private scholarships must be reported to the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships via an Outside Resource Form; an adjustment in the financial aid offer may be needed and the student may be required to repay previously disbursed aid if they are no longer eligible. The specific mechanism of adjustment (loan-first vs. grant-first) is not published on the pages reviewed.
• Eastern Kentucky University: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Eastern Mennonite: Total aid from all sources cannot exceed the cost of attendance, and EMU institutional aid cannot exceed tuition. Most EMU scholarships and grants (academic scholarships, EMU grants, math/music scholarships, international grants, alumni grant, tuition discounts, church match) are explicitly 'for tuition only,' while federal/state grants may be used for full cost of attendance. The pages do not state how private outside scholarships are treated (which aid is reduced first).
• ENMU: Among out-of-state tuition discounts, only one can be applied per student. State Opportunity + Lottery awards combined cannot exceed 100% of tuition and fees. Receipt of any scholarship may reduce other financial aid.
• EOU: The freshman merit awards do not all stack: the University Achievement Award cannot combine with University Scholar, Scholarly-Need, or Scholar Athlete awards; University Scholar and Scholar Athlete are mutually exclusive. All EOU awards require a current FAFSA on file.
• EWU: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Eckerd: Total awards cannot exceed the cost of attendance (a COA cap). The need-based Eckerd College Grant may at any point be replaced in whole or part by a named (donor) scholarship. Veterans' Yellow Ribbon institutional grant explicitly REPLACES any previously awarded Eckerd scholarship or grant.
• Edward Waters: EWU institutional scholarships are last-dollar awards: they are packaged after all other aid, may only cover direct costs (tuition, fees, on-campus room and board) not met by other assistance, can never produce a refund, and are reduced if additional aid (other than work-study and loans) arrives after disbursement.
• Elizabethtown: Outside scholarships first fill unmet need (including need-based self-help); if they exceed unmet need, the College reduces its need-based gift aid (e.g., Trustee Scholarship) dollar-for-dollar. Merit scholarships (Excelsior/Presidential/Founders/Dean's) are NOT reduced by outside scholarships, BUT are reduced if the student receives tuition benefits or if total gift aid exceeds the cost of Tuition, Food, and Housing (a COA-subset cap). Late PA state grants reduce institutional need-based gift aid 100%.
• Emerson: Emerson adjusts a student's aid package in a set order when private scholarships are reported: Federal Work Study first, then Perkins Loans, then Emerson's No Interest Loans, then Emerson Grant Funds, and only then Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loans — so the institutional grant is reduced before Federal Direct Loans rather than being preserved as the last thing touched.
• Emmanuel (GA): Emmanuel layers several explicit caps: total aid cannot exceed the aid-office-determined cost of attendance; the Founders and Legacy awards (with other scholarships/grants) cannot exceed tuition + housing/residence charges; the EUI and Graphic Design scholarships cannot push institutional aid past tuition; the Valedictorian award cannot be combined with the named academic-merit awards; and athletes' academic scholarships apply to tuition only.
• Emporia State: ESU explicitly allows students to stack scholarships, with a single hard cap: total financial aid plus stackable scholarships cannot exceed the total cost of attendance. No published rule was found describing how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships specifically displace ESU institutional aid (beyond the same COA cap).
• Fairfield: Outside (third-party) scholarships are applied first to unmet need, then to replace loans and/or work-study, and only 'if necessary' do they reduce institutional grants/scholarships — and Fairfield generally does NOT reduce institutional aid for an outside award unless the combined institutional aid plus the outside scholarship exceeds the cost of attendance. In practice this is a loan/work-study-first treatment with a cost-of-attendance cap on institutional grants and scholarships.
• Faulkner: Faulkner caps total aid at the direct cost of education: if a student's financial aid package exceeds tuition, fees, room and board, the Faulkner scholarship/award is reduced so no credit or refund is created. Several awards (National Merit, Christian High School Award) are explicitly 'coordinated with' federal, state, and institutional aid — meaning they fill up to a stated level rather than stacking — and the Zorn Scholarship cannot be stacked with other institutional scholarships. All scholarship recipients are required to apply for all available federal and state aid.
• Fisk: Fisk applies federal, state, and outside scholarships and grants before counting institutional scholarship funding, and institutional merit scholarships are non-refundable: if a credit balance would otherwise result, Fisk reduces the institutional scholarship to remove it (refunds are limited to loan funds instead), so protection runs only up to billed costs/credit-balance level, not the full cost of attendance.
• FAMU: FAMU does not publish a university-wide stacking/displacement policy on its main financial-aid or scholarship pages. The only explicit displacement rule found is in the CAFS 1890 Scholarships program: CAFS awards are paid MINUS the sum of Bright Futures, National Merit, and any other scholarships and financial awards, and total aid may not exceed cost of attendance.
• FGCU: A student may receive only ONE admissions scholarship or waiver unless otherwise stated — FGCU says scholarships are generally not stackable (a stated exception: a non-Florida National Merit Finalist can hold the $10,000 NMF award plus the $15,000 Blue & Green Scholars award). For outside scholarships, total aid cannot exceed FGCU's cost of attendance; loans are reduced first if possible, but work-study, grants (except Pell), and/or scholarships may also be reduced.
• Florida Tech: Outside scholarships can reduce institutional grant or scholarship dollars; see the sourced policy for the exact mechanism.
• Florida Memorial: Institutional scholarships never pay out as cash: credit-balance refunds are prohibited, and any credit balance is reduced by the amount of any outside scholarship or grant — so outside money displaces institutional scholarship dollars once charges are covered. Housing-inclusive scholarships cover double occupancy only.
• Florida Southern: Florida Southern's Financial Aid Office states it reserves the right to adjust academic scholarships when a student receives aid from multiple sources 'to keep within college packaging parameters'; the published language does not name a cost-of-attendance or other specific threshold, so confirm with the aid office how an outside scholarship would affect the award before counting on full stacking.
• Fort Lewis College: Merit tuition scholarships cannot be combined with each other (the lone exception is the Colorado Scholars top-up that adds $3,000 to the in-state Presidential base). They also cannot be combined with the Native American Tuition Waiver — a student picks the waiver OR a merit scholarship, not both. For outside/third-party scholarships, FLC does not publish a loan-vs-grant displacement order; it states only a cost-of-attendance cap (total aid may not exceed COA).
• Francis Marion: Outside scholarships must be reported to the Financial Assistance Office (FAO). For 4-year renewable scholarships, a signed Terms & Conditions form limits the total amount of scholarships, grants, etc. that can be received in addition to the scholarship. Outside scholarships credited to the student account as soon as received by the university. The Premier Pledge is explicitly tuition-only and does not apply when existing scholarships/grants already cover the full tuition of $10,384.
• Franklin College: Franklin College states outright that if a student qualifies for multiple awards, some may not be stackable, and that award amounts may be adjusted so the college can support as many students as possible. Cost of Attendance is the maximum total aid a student can receive in a year. One exception is stated explicitly: the Ben Franklin Scholarship from Scholars Day IS added to any existing merit scholarship. For Lilly Endowment scholars, other aid is redirected to housing and food rather than stacked on tuition. Treatment of private outside scholarships is not specified (the college encourages applying for them).
• Franklin Pierce: All aid combined (including athletic awards) cannot exceed the cost of attendance. Students must report private/outside scholarships to Student Financial Services. Under Pierce Promise, private scholarships/grants may be applied to room, board, and book expenses (they do not void the tuition coverage). Tuition Exchange scholarships CANNOT be combined with any other Franklin Pierce aid.
• Olin College: Merit awards are coordinated with need-based aid: the Olin Tuition Scholarship is counted as a resource used to meet demonstrated need and cannot reduce the family's calculated contribution. Outside scholarships restricted to tuition only reduce the Olin Tuition Scholarship if they exceed remaining tuition; otherwise outside awards reduce self-help (subsidized loans) first.
• Freed-Hardeman: FHU caps total UNFUNDED institutional aid at $15,000/yr per student. Discounts (Chester County, Participating School, Children of Minister's) may combine with other institutional awards (excluding other discounts) only up to that $15,000 cap. The Honors Scholarship is the explicit exception — it stacks on top of the Trustees' Scholarship up to the full $27,050 comprehensive charge. Endowed and Nursing scholarships are stated to SUPPORT merit awards and do NOT stack on top of them. The Church Scholarship Match (up to $2,500) may stack above the institutional cap up to the comprehensive charge. No dedicated 'outside / third-party scholarship displacement' page exists; the governing ceilings are the $15,000 unfunded-institutional cap and the comprehensive charge.
• Fresno State: Aid is reduced only if the total package exceeds the student's calculated need, and any reduction comes from federal or state aid - Fresno State states that scholarship funds are never reduced.
• Frostburg State: Total combined aid from ALL sources — federal, state, FSU, and private outside scholarships — cannot exceed the student's FSU cost of attendance. When the limit is exceeded, FSU reduces the least favorable funds first (usually loans, then FSU awards). Reach plus an Athletic Differential Waiver is separately capped at the resident/non-resident tuition difference.
• Furman: Furman caps gift aid at total cost of attendance. Outside scholarships stack on top of Furman aid up to that ceiling; when total gift aid (Furman + federal + state + private) exceeds COA, Furman reduces its own grants/scholarships to bring the total back under the cap.
• Gallaudet: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Gardner-Webb: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• George Fox: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• George Mason: Most merit awards can combine with other scholarships and aid, but because merit applies only to tuition and mandatory charges, a merit award may be cancelled or adjusted if other aid/scholarship/benefit pays partial or full tuition. Outside (private) scholarships are treated as resources: if they exceed a student's need or cost of attendance, the OSFA first reduces student loans or Federal Work-Study.
• GWU: Outside resources are treated as part of the need-based aid package, not as additive to it. The one exception is outside scholarships awarded to new students after May 1 — those apply to unmet need rather than displacing institutional aid. GW Employee Benefits and Tuition Exchange cannot combine with most GW merit and grant awards.
• Georgetown: Georgetown publishes a four-step displacement order for outside scholarships: student expected contribution, federal loan, federal work-study/campus employment, then University need-based scholarship. Unlike Brown, Georgetown WILL reduce its own grant once self-help is fully displaced.
• Georgia College: No published institutional rule was found describing how outside/third-party scholarships displace GCSU merit or need-based aid. The university-and-private-scholarships page only explains how private scholarship CHECKS are processed (made out to GCSU, applied to the current term). Whether an outside award reduces institutional aid is not stated.
• Georgia Southern: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Gettysburg: Merit scholarships can be combined with need-based grants, federal/state grants, loans, and work-study. Outside scholarships reduce work-study and/or loans first; once those are exhausted and federal need is exceeded, the Gettysburg College Grant is reduced. Total aid from all sources may not exceed the family's estimated federal financial need (PLUS/alternative loans plus other aid cannot exceed COA). Merit scholarship values themselves are fixed once enrolled.
• Gordon College: INTERNAL GORDON AWARDS: the scholarships grid publishes an explicit per-award stacking label. The named cohort awards (A.J. Gordon, Clarendon City, Dokes, Global) and the Music Leadership / Music Education Honors Award each say 'Replaces all other Gordon aid' — they are mutually exclusive with the automatic academic merit tier and with each other (a recipient gets the cohort/music award INSTEAD OF, not on top of, the $13,000-$22,000 academic award). By contrast, the Gordon Honors Institute Fellowship ($2,000) and the music/art/theatre minor and major talent awards are each labeled 'Added to your academic scholarship' — those DO stack on top of the academic tier. OUTSIDE AWARDS: Gordon does not publish an explicit institutional displacement formula for private/outside scholarships. It states that receiving private (outside) scholarships or grants is a change that may trigger a revision of the financial aid award, and it is the student's responsibility to notify the Student Financial Services (SFS) Office. No published rule was found stating whether outside awards reduce institutional merit aid specifically versus need-based aid.
• Goshen College: Goshen caps students at a maximum of two awards across academic scholarships, achievement scholarships, and tuition-discount benefits combined, and generally allows only one achievement award. The top competitive awards (President's Leadership Award, First Gen Leadership Award) REPLACE the automatic academic scholarship rather than stacking. Tuition-discount recipients can combine discount plus scholarships only up to full tuition. How outside/private scholarships are treated is not published on the pages reviewed.
• Goucher: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Grambling State: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Greensboro College: Institutional aid is capped at the cost of attendance: if total aid exceeds the student's COA budget, aid is reduced loans-first (PLUS, private, Unsubsidized, Subsidized) before Greensboro College funds are touched. Donor-named endowed scholarships REPLACE previously offered institutional scholarships/grants dollar-for-dollar rather than stacking. The published policy does not state whether private outside scholarships reduce institutional merit before reaching the COA cap.
• Grinnell: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Guilford: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Gustavus Adolphus: A student may hold only ONE of the five academic merit tiers (Gold/Three Crowns/Dean's/President's/Excellence). Fine-arts talent awards (music, theatre & dance, art) and the Esports/Clay Target award are in addition to the academic tier. For OUTSIDE (third-party) scholarships, Gustavus first applies them to reduce the loan and/or job (work-study) portion; if total awards exceed demonstrated financial need, the Gustavus scholarship may be reduced.
• Hamilton: Hamilton's outside-scholarship policy is loan-first: outside awards first replace self-help (work-study and loans) before they touch the Hamilton College Scholarship. Outside awards exceeding the self-help components do replace Hamilton grant, but the loan/work-study layer protects institutional aid from displacement for most outside scholarships.
• Hampden-Sydney: Outside awards reduce College aid only when combined grant aid would exceed billed costs (tuition, required fees, room, and board); reductions then come from the need-based grant first, then the academic scholarship, then the citizen/leader award.
• Hampton: Hampton caps the total of all scholarships at the school's direct cost. The total financial package for students who receive scholarships through Admission, the Athletic Department, and/or Academic Departments cannot exceed the direct cost (tuition, fees, room and board). Students must report all expected aid, including outside scholarships, or risk reduction or cancellation of aid — i.e., outside awards are absorbed under a cost-of-attendance / direct-cost ceiling rather than stacked on top without limit.
• Hanover: Every form of institutional aid combined is capped at the cost of tuition. Awards generally stack up to that ceiling. Awards designated for tuition (institutional scholarships/grants, Pell, Indiana state grants, and outside scholarships) together may not exceed tuition.
• Hardin-Simmons: HSU does NOT stack its own academic scholarships — a student who qualifies for more than one is offered only the single highest dollar-value award. Every HSU-funded award is tuition-specific and cannot exceed the cost of tuition. Outside (third-party) scholarships may fund any cost-of-attendance area, but total aid cannot exceed COA, and a large amount of outside money can reduce federal aid if a FAFSA was filed.
• Harding: Institutional scholarships may be combined but total institutional aid is capped at full tuition ('the tuition cap'). Multiple official scholarship descriptions repeat the 'may not exceed full tuition' / 'up to full tuition' limit. The Missionary Children Grant page states plainly that all institutional aid is limited to the tuition cap. No published rule was found describing how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships specifically displace institutional aid.
• Hawaii Pacific: HPU caps all tuition support at actual tuition cost: institutional scholarships (merit, PTK, talent, athletic, waivers) plus external tuition-designated awards cannot exceed tuition (not including fees). If tuition benefits paid directly to HPU (employer tuition, 529 tuition payments, VA tuition benefits, or external scholarships designated for tuition) reach 90% or more of total tuition, ALL HPU institutional tuition scholarships and grants are canceled; below 90%, they may be reduced or canceled. Tuition discount programs (Tuition Exchange, community partnership programs, employee/dependent discounts) cannot be stacked with HPU institutional scholarships or grants at all. HPU also reserves the right to reduce, cancel or substitute any institutional scholarship/grant at any time, and students must report all outside scholarships.
• Heidelberg University: Heidelberg's published academic catalog states that OUTSIDE (third-party) scholarship funds are applied to unmet need first, and that the student's self-help (loans/work) is reduced BEFORE the University grant is reduced. This is a student-protective, self-help-first displacement order: outside awards bite into loans/work before they cut institutional grant aid. Institutional academic merit and the named grants above appear to layer/stack with each other (multiple named grants are listed without exclusivity language), though the pages do not publish an explicit 'these stack' statement.
• Henderson State: No specific institutional stacking/displacement policy was published on the pages reviewed. The financial-aid pages state only that the federally defined Cost of Attendance sets the maximum total aid (loans, grants, scholarships, fee-waivers) a student may receive.
• Hendrix: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• 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.
• Hood: Hood designates only its small Honors ($2,000), Legacy ($1,000) and — for transfers — Phi Theta Kappa ($2,000) awards as 'stackable' on top of a merit scholarship. Outside (private) scholarships must be reported and may reduce the student's loan or work commitment, and may also reduce a portion of Hood's own grant aid. Students living off campus (not with relatives) and independent students cannot receive aid above the cost of attendance from any combination of sources.
• Hope International University: Hope International University limits institutional grants and scholarships to one per student.
• Cal Poly Humboldt: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Huntingdon: With the exception of the Montgomery Public Schools Investment Scholarship, institutional awards listed below cannot be stacked or combined.
• Husson: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Huston-Tillotson: Scholarships don't increase total need-based aid; they change its composition. Outside scholarships are in most cases used to replace loans or Federal Work-Study first, and HT says it attempts to preserve university need-based grants — but every case is reviewed individually.
• Idaho State: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Illinois Wesleyan: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• 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.
• Indiana Wesleyan: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Ithaca: The Presidential Scholarship cannot be combined with a scholar program and replaces any previously awarded Ithaca College Scholarship. Separately, the catalog requires students to report all outside awards and reserves Ithaca's right to change (reduce) Ithaca awards when students receive additional awards from any source; the reduction order is not specified.
• Jacksonville State: Freshman merit scholarships (Gamecock tiers) cannot stack with the Leadership Scholarship or the Jax State Honors Scholarship, but CAN stack with competitive and talent-based scholarships. Transfer merit scholarships cannot stack on one another, with the sole exception of the Phi Theta Kappa Enhancement Scholarship. Outside scholarships: the page states receiving outside scholarships 'may affect the amount of federal financial aid you are eligible to receive' — no explicit displacement type specified beyond that general note. Military tuition rate cannot be used with any other institutional scholarships, aid, or discounted tuition.
• Jacksonville University: JU institutional scholarships and grants are subject to a direct-cost cap: combined gift aid that exceeds a student's direct costs (tuition + on-campus room and board) may be reduced. No separate displacement rule is published for third-party OUTSIDE scholarships, so outside awards plausibly count toward that same cap.
• JMU: JMU applies federal/state over-award rules: total financial aid (institutional + federal + state + outside) cannot exceed cost of attendance. Outside scholarships must be reported via the Outside Scholarship/Award Notification Form. Receipt of outside funds 'may reduce your eligibility for need-based state and federal financial aid.' The package can fluctuate throughout the year as outside aid is reported.
• Jarvis Christian: Jarvis institutional scholarships are 'last dollar' awards that cannot exceed full tuition and fees, and total institutional aid must not exceed 60% of the cost of tuition/fees and room and board. Private/funded scholarships may be added, but the total financial aid package cannot exceed the student's cost of attendance; the catalog says awards are revised when scholarship funds plus Title IV funds exceed the cost of education and/or remaining unmet need.
• John Brown University: JBU's published stacking/displacement rules differ by award. For ATHLETES, total aid from ALL sources (including academic scholarships, need-based aid, federal/state grants, loans, work-study and any outside scholarships) is capped at full-time tuition + room and board + general fee + up to $600 in course fees, and the athletic scholarship is reduced dollar-for-dollar by other sources — a COA-cap. For non-athletes, no general outside-scholarship displacement rule is published on the scholarships page; recipients of an outside scholarship are only told to complete the Outside Scholarship Notification Form. Within named awards, the Presidential explicitly stacks on the Chancellor's, but Music & Theatre awards do NOT stack with each other and the Chancellor's REPLACES any prior Assured Merit Award.
• JWU: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Johnson University: Bible Bowl Scholarship awards cannot be stacked with multiple certificates and are awarded for the highest placement during years of competition.
• Juniata: No general institutional rule was found describing how third-party PRIVATE outside scholarships displace Juniata merit aid. The one explicit displacement rule on official pages is for the PA State Grant: Juniata reduces its own grant/scholarship aid by an amount equal to the value of the state grant where it has recognized financial need consistent with institutional practice. Talent awards (music, art) and the Burkholder/endowed awards function alongside the base academic merit scholarship, but the pages do not state an explicit 'stacks with' rule for private outside awards.
• Kalamazoo College: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Kansas State: K-State states a student may earn only ONE general university scholarship or award (the GPA-based resident grid award OR the Wildcat Nonresident Award). Competitive awards (Presidential, Vanier, Campbell, Edgerley-Franklin, Kassebaum, Civic Leadership) and KSN college/departmental awards are separate tracks and are not constrained by the 'one general university award' rule on the pages reviewed. No published rule was found on these pages describing how outside (third-party) scholarships displace institutional aid.
• Keene State: Keene State applies a cost-of-attendance cap: total financial aid cannot exceed the COA. If a student is over-awarded, KSC reduces aid in a fixed order — student loans first, then work study, then gift aid (scholarships/grants) last. Outside/private scholarships must be reported and may reduce eligibility for other aid or loans; KSC frames private scholarships as primarily reducing the loan or work commitment.
• Kettering: You must report all outside scholarships. Outside scholarships will NOT typically reduce the Merit Scholarship, but in certain circumstances they may (the office will inform you). VA tuition benefits may adjust the Merit Scholarship. Co-op employer scholarships (GM, Piston) explicitly fill remaining tuition/room-and-board after all other aid is applied.
• King's College (PA): Outside scholarships must be reported. They first fill any unmet financial need; once need is met, they reduce or replace federal loans or work-study before touching grants or merit — a loan-first displacement policy. Separately, on the Tuition Match and LLEO program pages King's states total funding from all sources cannot exceed cost of attendance (or direct costs for LLEO).
• Knox College: The combination of Knox scholarships and grants and federal and state grants cannot exceed the cost of tuition.
• La Salle: Outside grants and scholarships are applied to University charges FIRST, before La Salle's own aid. If total grants and scholarships exceed direct costs (tuition, room, board, fees), La Salle reserves the right to reduce institutional need-based or merit-based funding. Most severe: a student who wins an outside scholarship of half-tuition or greater becomes ineligible for La Salle merit-based scholarships altogether. Total aid (including PLUS and alternative loans) cannot exceed cost of attendance. Exception: a need-based-aid recipient who later receives a private scholarship loses no other aid as long as total aid does not exceed need.
• Lafayette: Lafayette explicitly does not displace institutional grant aid in response to outside scholarships, except when total aid would exceed federal limits — one of the most stacker-friendly published policies among LACs of this tier.
• LaGrange: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Lake Forest: Academic merit scholarships are restricted to tuition and fees (they cannot offset room and board). They are combined with financial aid into an award package. The Forester Flagship Program bundles grants + scholarships to cover 100% of tuition and fees for qualified Illinois students.
• Lamar: No specific institutional stacking/displacement policy was published on the pages reviewed. The cost-of-attendance page notes only that COA 'determines the maximum amount of financial aid you can receive' (a federal COA cap).
• Lander: Total aid (scholarships + grants + loans + other awards) may never exceed the total Cost of Attendance. Departmental scholarships explicitly may reduce other Lander institutional aid. Students must report outside/private scholarships to the Financial Aid Office. No explicit COA-displacement rule favoring loans or grants over merit is published; the cap is COA. The PTK scholarship explicitly stacks with the highest transfer scholarship ($3,000 combined).
• Langston University: Langston's excerpt describes only the federal overaward rule: when a student's total aid exceeds financial need or cost of attendance, the student's federal loan awards are cancelled or reduced and returned to the Department of Education. the published policy does not state whether or how Langston's institutional grants or scholarships are affected by outside awards.
• Lawrence University: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Lebanon Valley: Full-tuition award holders (Allwein, Tuition Exchange, Tuition Remission) cannot receive any other LVC aid, and outside scholarships may reduce the full-tuition award. For everyone else, need-based LVC grants are reduced when private scholarships plus LVC aid exceed total LVC tuition and fees — a tuition-and-fees cap.
• Lee University: Lee limits a student to ONE general merit scholarship (you get Ignite OR Dean's OR Presidential, never two), so the three named tiers do not stack on each other. Outside/private scholarships do not automatically displace institutional merit, but Lee 'may reduce awards if total aid exceeds the cost of attendance' — i.e., a cost-of-attendance cap rather than a dollar-for-dollar institutional-aid reduction. Renewable institutional scholarships can be applied toward only one off-campus study program during enrollment.
• Lewis & Clark: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Liberty Online: Liberty's General Scholarship Rule (GSR) caps combined federal grants, state grants, and Liberty aid at the cost of tuition for online students; any excess is resolved by reducing Liberty aid first. Many discounts are explicitly non-stackable with each other.
• Limestone: Limestone caps combined awards: students eligible for multiple academic, divisional, athletic, and/or special scholarships may receive totals only up to full tuition, room and board — and that ceiling counts federal and state grants. The Presidential Palmetto award goes further, explicitly deducting federal, state, AND outside scholarships/grants from its full-cost coverage.
• Lindsey Wilson: Hard one-award rule: no student may receive more than one institutional academic scholarship, except participants in the Begley Scholars and Wesley Scholars programs. The Eagle Scout & Girl Scout Gold award ($1,000) is explicitly stackable with other academic scholarships. Institutional grants and scholarships are limited to students enrolled on the A.P. White (Columbia) campus. Treatment of outside/private scholarships is not addressed on the pages opened.
• Linfield: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Lipscomb: Awards are governed by Lipscomb's Direct Cost Policy: aid is adjusted to prevent an over-award of institutional aid against direct costs, and additional gift aid, including outside scholarships, can trigger that adjustment.
• Livingstone: Outside scholarships must be reported and the aid package may be adjusted; the only displacement trigger Livingstone states explicitly is total aid exceeding cost of attendance, listed among other eligibility factors.
• Louisiana Tech: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Loyola Maryland: Outside scholarships are layered onto the package 'in the most favorable way possible' — they first cover any remaining balance, then reduce self-help (loans/work-study) before institutional grants are touched.
• Loyola Marymount: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Loyola Chicago: Loyola Chicago documents both a tuition-cap rule for merit (outside + merit scholarship cannot exceed tuition; merit is reduced first) and a need-based rule (private scholarships may reduce need-based aid, with loans and work-study cut before grants per federal regulations).
• Lynn: Lynn caps outside (private) scholarships: outside awards combined with Lynn assistance may not exceed the DIRECT cost of tuition and fees. Aid is disbursed in the order Title IV (federal), then state, then institutional. The catalog does not state which award is cut if the cap is exceeded.
• Macalester: Macalester runs one of the cleanest and most family-friendly outside-scholarship policies in the U.S. Outside aid does NOT affect Macalester merit scholarships at all. For need-based grants, the first $10,000 in outside scholarships is fully protected; above $10,000, only half of the excess reduces Macalester need-based grants — and only up to the cost-of-attendance ceiling.
• Madonna: Madonna's merit scholarships are flat dollar awards that can be reduced if a student receives outside (third-party) awards restricted to tuition, or if total federal, state and institutional aid would exceed tuition/cost of attendance. Affiliation scholarships cannot be combined with athletic scholarships, and some awards cannot be stacked with the $2,000 Visit Scholarship. FAFSA is required for all aid, including institutional aid.
• Manchester: Manchester does not publish a general stacking or outside-scholarship displacement policy on its scholarships or award pages. What it does state: institutional scholarships may only be applied to undergraduate tuition expenses, and the top competitive awards (Honors, Trustee) REPLACE the Presidential Scholarship rather than stacking with it. Outside scholarships must be reported to Student Financial Services, but the pages do not say whether or how they reduce institutional aid.
• Marietta: Two-award rule: a student may hold up to two non-need-based awards totaling no more than full tuition. Merit funds are tuition-only (except McCoy). Premier awards supersede all other college-funded awards, and full-tuition recipients get nothing additional. A short list of small awards ($1,000-$2,500) explicitly stacks with all other aid; another list (eSports, Fine Arts, McDonough, Music, Theatre, WV Pioneer) is one-per-student. Endowed scholarships swap in without increasing total institutional aid. Outside scholarships are ADDED to Marietta aid to the extent federal regulations permit (no institutional displacement). Need-based grants: scholarships+grants may not exceed tuition.
• Marist: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Marquette: Outside scholarships first stack against unmet need. They begin displacing institutional aid once the total either exceeds tuition (for tuition-restricted awards) or exceeds total cost of attendance (for the full package). Marquette is explicit that merit awards can be cut when the combination tops these caps.
• Marymount: A student may hold only ONE Marymount academic (admissions merit) scholarship — freshman or transfer — and these awards apply to tuition only. Marymount states its merit scholarships CAN still be applied if a student wins a TheDream.US National Scholarship. No general policy on how other private/outside scholarships are treated was found on the pages opened.
• Maryville: State/federal aid from the FAFSA and Maryville's competitive scholarships/fellowships can stack on top of the Scots Legacy Award — OR the Scots Legacy is replaced by the highest merit scholarship the student qualifies for (largest-award logic, not unlimited stacking). Total scholarships and need-based aid cannot exceed the cost of attendance.
• Marywood: Outside scholarships must be reported and are applied first to unmet need; once need is met they reduce federal work-study or federal loans (self-help) first. Marywood's own scholarships and grants are not reduced by an outside scholarship unless the student's total gift aid exceeds the Cost of Attendance.
• Mercer: Mercer reduces self-help (loans, work-study) before institutional grants when outside scholarships displace existing aid. The published rule is unambiguous: loans go first, grants only if necessary. All outside scholarships must be reported in writing.
• Messiah: Outside (third-party) scholarships are not free of displacement: if total aid exceeds the student's financial need, Messiah is bound by federal regulation to correct the overaward by FIRST adjusting/returning undisbursed loans, and only if loans are insufficient does it reduce institutional grant/scholarship aid. Internally, the Messiah University Scholarship and the Provost's Scholarship cannot be combined, and the premier honors awards 'cannot be combined with any other Messiah University premier scholarships' (President's/Faculty/Trustees are mutually exclusive premier tiers), though President's/Faculty/Distinguished Scholar each stack on the base Provost's Scholarship.
• Miami (Ohio): Scholarships covering tuition and fees may be reduced when additional aid covers the same charges or when total funding exceeds cost of attendance - two distinct triggers, one of which can bind below full COA.
• Michigan Tech: Michigan Tech's tuition-equalizing / resident-rate awards behave as 'one award only' against the main scholarship: the non-resident Alumni Legacy Award cannot be combined with the National Scholars Program, University Student Aid Grant, Military Family Education Award, or International Ambassador Scholarship; the Military Family Education Award cannot be combined with National Scholars, Alumni Legacy, or University Student Aid Grant; and the College Partners Pathway Award cannot be combined with the National Transfer Scholarship. No general outside-scholarship displacement rule was published on these pages.
• MACU: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• MSU Texas: Stacking is partly restricted and partly allowed. Within institutional merit: the ISD Valedictorian/Salutatorian award is NOT stackable with the Regents scholarships (pick one), and transfer merit awards are NOT stackable with freshman merit awards. Phi Theta Kappa IS stackable with other merit scholarships. For OUTSIDE/third-party scholarships, MSU Texas applies a cost-of-attendance cap: total MSU scholarship money may not exceed the cost of attendance, and an outside scholarship 'could impact' MSU awards — i.e., it can reduce MSU-funded scholarships when the COA ceiling is reached. No explicit loan-first vs grant-first displacement order is published.
• Millsaps: Millsaps institutional merit awards do NOT stack with each other — when a student qualifies for more than one, they receive only the single award with the highest monetary value. Outside/third-party scholarships must be reported and the financial-aid award is then revised; the page does not state which component (merit, need-based, or self-help) is reduced first, so displacement order is unclear.
• Minot State: Total institutional funds (award programs plus endowed scholarships) cannot exceed tuition, fees, books, and room/meals (if living on campus). The Academic Excellence Scholarship is a tuition waiver that cannot be combined with other tuition waivers, and a student eligible for more than one tuition waiver receives only the greater award.
• Misericordia: Institutional scholarships and grants can stack with each other, but the combined total of all institutional scholarships and grants is capped at the annual full-time undergraduate tuition price — institutional gift aid will not cover fees, housing, or food. The pages do not state how OUTSIDE scholarships interact with institutional aid; outside checks are simply split between fall and spring semesters and must be reported to Student Financial Services.
• Missouri State: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Missouri S&T: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Mitchell: Mitchell does not publish an outside-scholarship displacement policy on its aid pages. The Promise 2.0 page says families may combine the program with state/federal aid and federal loans. Aid renews yearly contingent on SAP and continued demonstrated need for need-based funds.
• Montana State: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• MSU Billings: No published institutional rule was found on msubillings.edu describing how outside (third-party) scholarships displace MSUB merit aid, or how the Yellowjacket Excellence Scholarship interacts with the Chancellor's Excellence Award. The Yellowjacket Excellence and Chancellor's Excellence pages each describe their own award without a cross-stacking statement.
• MSU Northern: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Montana Tech: Cost of attendance serves as a cap on the total amount of aid a student can receive in an academic year.
• Morehead State: Total financial aid from all sources cannot exceed the Cost of Attendance (COA). When an overaward occurs, MSU first eliminates loans (work-study, private, PLUS, unsubsidized federal, subsidized federal) before reducing institutional merit scholarships. The Pell Grant and KEES are never reduced. The Honors Scholarship is applied after other financial aid is posted. Transfer scholarships may only be combined with the Alumni Award and Phi Theta Kappa Transfer Scholarship. The International Student Scholarship cannot be combined with the non-resident tuition scholarship.
• Morehouse: Institutional awards are non-refundable and applied directly to the student's account FIRST, before all other eligible aid. They cannot be used for summer term, Study Abroad, or Dual Degree programs, and Morehouse Online students are ineligible. The page does not address how outside/private scholarships are treated.
• Morgan State: Students awarded full academic, institutional, or athletic scholarships are not eligible to receive other MSU institutional awards, and students offered multiple full MSU awards must select only one.
• MVNU: MVNU publishes no general stacking or outside-scholarship displacement policy on its scholarship pages; the one explicit combination rule is that the Nazarene Pastor or Missionary Dependent award and the Nazarene Challenge award may not be combined.
• Muhlenberg: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Murray State: FAFSA is required every year. University general-fund awards are capped at billed direct costs (tuition + required fees + semi-private room + basic meal plan). Total Murray State scholarship aid combined with tuition adjustments AND outside scholarships may not exceed the cost of attendance; external awards must be reported and Murray State may reduce institutional awards to stay within COA/need.
• Muskingum: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• National Louis: NLU's D214 partnership scholarship is last-dollar (outside scholarships apply first and the award covers only remaining tuition), but the university does not publish a general outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office.
• Nevada State: A student's combined financial aid from all sources cannot exceed their Cost of Attendance.
• New College of Florida: New College's automatic institutional scholarships do NOT stack with each other: 'If a student qualifies for more than one scholarship, we will assign the best option (unless the scholarship indicates otherwise)' — i.e., a student receives the single largest award, not the sum. The transfer Phi Theta Kappa and All-Florida Academic Team awards are explicitly mutually exclusive. Separately, total combined financial assistance from ALL sources (including outside scholarships and Foundation awards) cannot exceed the student's cost of attendance, which can displace other aid.
• NJIT: Awards are coordinated against each other and capped at the student bill. Tuition-based awards (Faculty, National Merit) are paid 'minus other tuition-based awards,' and any combination of scholarships and other aid exceeding actual charges triggers a reduction (over-award correction).
• New Mexico State: All aid (institutional, state, and outside) cannot exceed the total Cost of Attendance (COA); scholarship stipends will be reduced to prevent an over-award. Students must notify NMSU of all outside scholarships. The NM Lottery/Opportunity Scholarship is explicitly reduced or cancelled for any term where tuition and fees are already partially or fully covered by other funding sources. Institutional merit scholarships for in-state freshmen are awarded IN ADDITION TO the NM Lottery Scholarship (i.e., they stack). Out-of-state students may qualify for one merit scholarship AND one tuition discount. Transfer students qualify for one scholarship and one tuition discount. COA cap enforced across all aid sources.
• New Mexico Tech: Strict one-institutional-scholarship rule: NMT awards no more than one scholarship per student. Exceptions: the NM Legislative Lottery Scholarship stacks on top of any award; non-residents who qualify for a tuition-reduction scholarship (Competitive, WUE, or Tuition Reduction Agreement) and CORE recipients ALSO qualify for a GPA-based merit scholarship. Outside/private scholarships may be added to the student's award, but the displacement method is not stated.
• NYU: NYU's policy is unusually generous about outside scholarship layering compared to peer privates: outside scholarships generally do NOT displace NYU institutional aid below the cost-of-attendance ceiling. Displacement happens only when total financial aid (including outside) would exceed COA. Outside checks should be sent to the Bursar's StudentLink Center.
• Niagara: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Nicholls: Nicholls' published pages do not state a dedicated institutional stacking or outside-scholarship displacement policy. The catalog's general rule: aid is need-capped, and any increase in a student's resources after the initial award 'may result in a reduction or cancellation of financial aid funds or a requirement to repay awards already released.' The two freshman grids (Academic Honor + Housing and Meals) are published side-by-side as separate awards.
• North Carolina A&T: NC A&T explicitly states that University-based awards will NOT be reduced by external (outside) awards from entities such as high schools, churches, or fraternities/sororities. However, total aid (federal, state, institutional, and external) cannot exceed the total Cost of Attendance, and federal/state assistance may be reduced to prevent an over-award. Outside scholarships may affect need-based aid.
• NCCU: Cost of attendance reflects the maximum total of grants, scholarships, work assistance, and loans a student may receive for the enrollment period; need is COA − SAI − Other Financial Assistance.
• North Central (IL): Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• NDSU: This school's guaranteed tuition award is last-dollar: outside scholarships and other gift aid are applied first, and the institutional award covers only the remaining balance of base tuition and fees - so outside awards reduce it dollar-for-dollar once gift aid approaches that threshold.
• North Greenville: North Greenville reduces institutional aid only when combined institutional aid plus outside grants and scholarships would exceed actual charges for tuition, fees, room, and board, and books - not the full cost of attendance; parking permits, fines, and supplies are excluded from that cap, and the aid office adjusts institutional aid as needed to enforce it.
• Northeastern State: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• NAU: The freshman tuition scholarships apply to tuition only and cannot be combined with other NAU tuition awards. Outside scholarships are allowed as long as the total does not exceed tuition.
• Northern State (NSU): No general stacking or outside-scholarship displacement rule was found on the pages reviewed. The WolfPACT page notes additional program scholarships (Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, Fine Arts, Honors) 'are also available' alongside WolfPACT, suggesting they coexist, and per-award policies (full-time status, transfer cancellation, suspension) live on the Scholarship Policies page.
• Northwest Missouri State: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Northwest Nazarene: NNU does not publish an outside-scholarship displacement policy on its financial-aid pages. The NNU Matching Scholarships page directs students to present a copy of each outside award so it 'can be included as part of the student's overall financial aid offer,' and NNU itself matches church gifts — implying outside church awards add value rather than reduce institutional aid. Whether a private/outside scholarship reduces NNU institutional merit or only need-based/self-help aid is NOT stated, so displacement is unclear.
• Norwich: NU Merit scholarships are tuition-only awards: merit funds plus tuition-specific outside resources may not exceed tuition and fees for the year, a ceiling below full cost of attendance; need-based grants are packaged separately.
• Nova Southeastern: Institutional awards are reduced only when total tuition-designated awards, institutional or external, exceed tuition charges; NSU reduces its own award by the excess above that tuition cap, which is narrower than full cost of attendance.
• Oakwood University: Outside aid is applied FIRST and Oakwood merit fills behind it under a hard cap: institutional scholarships (including denominational tuition assistance) cannot exceed the total cost for tuition, room and board, and recipients cannot be over-awarded or receive refunds from academic awards. In practice a large outside scholarship can reduce or displace the Oakwood merit award rather than add on top of it.
• Ohio Northern University: The Mathile Scholarship replaces all other ONU scholarships and awards.
• Ohio U: Ohio University applies a strict cost-of-attendance cap on all financial assistance (institutional, federal, state, plus outside Estimated Financial Assistance). When outside EFA is added, Federal Direct Loans are typically reduced first, but certain grant funds may also require reduction. Outside scholarship checks of $1,000 or less are applied fully to fall semester; larger awards split fall/spring.
• Ohio Wesleyan: Total institutional aid is capped at the cost of tuition. Many awards stack (Wesleyan, Visit, Referral, Bishop Bound, Meek), but the two full-tuition awards (Schubert; Scout $38,000) and the Clergy award replace/do not stack with base merit.
• Oklahoma Baptist: OBU-funded scholarships are reduced only when they would exceed a student's OBU charges -- tuition, fees, and on-campus room and board -- a narrower cap than full cost of attendance; total aid overall is separately capped at COA under federal rules.
• Oklahoma Christian (OC): Outside scholarships (excluding state/federal grants) may stack above Ike's Promise only up to the full cost of room, board, and fees -- a narrower cap than full cost of attendance.
• Oklahoma City University: OCU scholarships stack but are capped at the block-price tuition (12-16 credit hours). Performing-arts academic awards explicitly stack with audition talent scholarships up to the cost of full tuition. The OKCPS scholarships stack on the OCU Academic Merit Scholarship but NOT with the Clara Luper or American Indian scholarships. No published rule was found describing how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships displace OCU institutional aid; the Outside Scholarships page is only a curated resource list.
• Oklahoma Wesleyan (OKWU): OKWU's page is dense with no-combine rules: athletic agreements 'are not stackable with other institutional aid'; the Wesleyan (50% off), Commuter, Opportunity Knocks, Second-Degree, LPN-BSN, GMC, and minister-dependent scholarships each 'cannot be combined with other OKWU institutional aid'; many smaller awards cannot combine with percentage-of-tuition or athletic agreements; OKWU Prep lists its own exception list; and Bible Bowl awards are capped: 'Total awards, regardless of source, cannot exceed tuition.' Treatment of general private outside scholarships is otherwise unstated.
• Old Dominion: Outside/agency scholarships must be reported to financial aid and are considered when calculating the automatic deferment. State veterans' benefits (VMSDEP) are treated as a financial resource and may reduce state grants, university grants/scholarships, federal loans, work-study, and private loans; a student cannot receive both VMSDEP and a state grant.
• UOlivet: Aid is adjusted only when required to comply with federal and state regulations; any necessary reduction comes in a fixed order - the Olivet need-based grant first, then the state of Michigan grant, then work-study, then loans.
• Oral Roberts (ORU): ORU's On Campus Need Grant is reduced when a student receives additional gift aid, including certain outside scholarships, with no stated cost cap; merit awards are not documented as being reduced the same way.
• Otterbein: Otterbein reduces the student's loan and work-study eligibility first when an adjustment is necessary due to outside scholarships or non-school-certified private loans; the published policy does not specify whether or under what condition institutional grants would also be reduced.
• Ouachita Baptist: University scholarships may be combined up to a cap equal to total tuition, fees, housing and food for the year. Several named awards explicitly stack with merit aid (Missionary Dependent 'can be stacked with merit based aid'; Athletic and Spirit Squad 'stackable with Ouachita aid, not to exceed tuition'; Pruet School of Christian Studies awards 'can be stacked with their merit aid from Ouachita'). No separate official statement describes how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships displace institutional aid.
• PLU: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Pacific (OR): Pacific caps aid at federally defined need / cost of attendance: outside scholarships can reduce financial aid awards if they exceed remaining need or push total aid over COA. Several big awards are either/or rather than stackable: students may receive only one Academic Scholarship; UCC Tuition Scholarship OR Academic Scholarship (whichever is higher); Oregon Promise Award replaces the transfer merit scholarship.
• Palm Beach Atlantic: PBA does not publish an outside-scholarship displacement formula. Outside awards must be reported to the Financial Aid Office; checks are split between fall and spring by default unless the sponsor specifies otherwise. The page's key cap: institutional scholarships and grants (Academic, Talent, Athletic, PBA Lead, Honors) defray TUITION AND FEES ONLY — they cannot be applied to room and board.
• Penn State World Campus: Scholarships count toward total financial aid and are credited to tuition and fees first. The Military Grant-in-Aid has explicit anti-stacking rules: it cannot be combined with GI Bill chapters 30, 31, 33, or 35, or with any other Penn State Grant-in-Aid — only Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve (Chapter 1606) may be combined. General outside-scholarship displacement policy was not found on the pages opened.
• Peru State: Peru State's competitive scholarships are tuition-waiver scholarships that 'cannot be combined' with each other, are subject to availability, and generally require living in on-campus housing and full-time enrollment. The page does not address how private/outside scholarships are treated.
• Piedmont: Piedmont caps and channels its aid in several ways: any scholarships above the cost of room, board, and tuition are returned to the scholarship fund; institutional aid cannot exceed the cost of tuition (stated in the Lion Grant terms); total financial aid cannot exceed cost of attendance; the Premier Scholarship is reduced dollar-for-dollar by state and institutional aid; and residential merit scholarships are applied 50% to tuition and 50% to housing.
• Plymouth State: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Point Loma Nazarene: PLNU's published rule is that performance-based awards (athletic, music, forensics) may be combined with the academic merit grid and with science honors scholarships. For OUTSIDE/third-party scholarships, PLNU does not state that they reduce institutional merit aid; instead recipients must report the award and PLNU verifies there is room in the Cost of Attendance/Budget before adding it to the offer — implying a COA-cap rather than a dollar-for-dollar displacement of institutional aid.
• Pomona: Pomona's published outside-scholarship order is unusually student-favorable: outside awards first reduce the standard student contribution ($1,900 for first-years), then the student work award ($2,800), then the expected parent contribution, and only after all three of those are absorbed does Pomona reduce its own institutional scholarship.
• PUCPR: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Prairie View A&M: PVAMU treats outside/third-party scholarships as resources that can REDUCE other aid. The official policy says a student's financial aid award may not exceed the cost of attendance and the financial aid office is required to review and adjust over-awards; students must report all external scholarships, and a University Merit scholarship (Regents' or Presidential) is explicitly 'subject to adjustments when receiving... third party scholarships (external/outside) or other institutional financial aid.' This is grant-first/over-award displacement, not a no-displacement stack.
• Presbyterian (PC): PC enforces a direct-cost ceiling on all gift aid: if total aid (including private scholarships) exceeds the direct cost of attending, institutional and state aid 'may be adjusted.' The big Promise awards (Boys/Girls State $30,000, Presbyterian Promise $24,000) cannot be combined with other merit scholarships; the Griffith is awarded 'less all other applicable aid.' Only the small Laurens County Promise ($2,000/yr) and the transfer PTK award ($2,000) explicitly stack.
• Providence: Outside scholarships (including tuition benefits) are treated as need-based and applied against unmet need first. If an adjustment is needed, the reduction begins with the least-beneficial monies: loans are reduced/reallocated first, then work study, then institutional assistance only if necessary. Outside scholarships do not replace the family contribution.
• Purdue Fort Wayne: The available excerpt is generic explanatory content about how outside scholarships and overawards work broadly; it does not state Purdue University Fort Wayne's specific reduction order, cap, or which aid type gets cut first. Confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Purdue Northwest: No institutional stacking or outside-scholarship displacement policy is published on the pages opened. The COA page notes only the federal cap: 'Federal regulations may necessitate a reduction in awards if aid or resources exceed a student's estimated cost of attendance,' and that aid may be adjusted if additional aid is received after initial offers.
• Quinnipiac: Total aid is capped at the cost of attendance (the COA 'represents the maximum financial aid you may receive'). Additional resources — athletic scholarships, Tuition Exchange grants, veterans benefits, outside scholarships, etc. — may affect the aid calculated. The Multiple Sibling Award is a tuition-only benefit that cannot be used on top of other tuition benefits or toward housing/fees/indirect costs. Town scholarships are awarded in place of other academic scholarships.
• Radford: Institutional merit scholarships are applied only to tuition and mandatory fees. Other tuition-specific awards (e.g., military tuition stipend, Academic Common Market) reduce the merit award. Any portion not used for tuition/fees is not refunded and does not roll over. A residency change to in-state reduces the award amount.
• Randolph College: The only stacking rule published on the pages reviewed concerns the Presidential Scholarship: it is tuition-only and replaces ALL other institutional scholarships and grants from Randolph College. The WildCat Commitment is itself described as a combination of merit scholarships, need-based grants, and other incentives, and the smaller named awards (Alumni Referral, Campus Visit Grant, FAFSA Filing Grant, etc.) are listed alongside it without an explicit combination rule. How outside/private scholarships are treated is not stated anywhere on the pages reviewed.
• Randolph-Macon: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Regent: Awards can stack (e.g., Honors stacks with merit), but with limited exceptions no combination of scholarships and grants may exceed 100% of tuition, and university-funded aid applies only to tuition charges. Students must report any outside resources, and existing awards 'must be modified.' The need-based Regent GAP Guarantee Grant is reduced dollar-for-dollar by any new Regent-funded gift aid.
• Regent Online: On the evening/online awards page, students eligible for multiple listed awards may receive only ONE — Regent picks whichever is the largest/most beneficial — with the Church Match Grant as the sole stated exception that can combine with any listed award. All scholarships and grants pay toward tuition only, and COA caps total aid from all sources.
• Reinhardt: Reinhardt publishes award-specific combination rules rather than a general policy: the Presidential Scholarship 'can be coupled with another merit award' (but priority goes to students NOT receiving other talent aid); students may hold only ONE Reinhardt-funded United Methodist (Hagan) scholarship, and Hagan awards are tuition-only; outside/private scholarship displacement is not addressed on the page.
• Rhode Island College: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Richard Bland College: Outside (private/third-party) scholarships are treated as resources and may reduce need-based financial aid; if an outside award exceeds the student's financial need and/or cost of attendance, the aid package is adjusted to stay within federal/state limits (a cost-of-attendance cap). Institutional Endowment Scholarships are awarded by the Financial Aid Office based on need.
• Roanoke: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Robert Morris (PA): RMU caps total institutionally funded aid at the student's direct costs (billed charges), so institutional scholarships and grants can never exceed what RMU bills you. The pages do not state how outside/private scholarships are treated when added on top.
• Roger Williams: RWU publishes an explicit outside-scholarship order: outside money fills unmet need first; if there is no unmet need, RWU reduces federal work-study first, then loans, and grant money last. Several add-on awards (Academic Excellence, Travel Grant) explicitly do NOT stack with full/near-full tuition scholarships, and the Onward We Learn award is capped at COA.
• Rollins College: Donald J. Cram Science Scholarships are typically awarded in addition to one of Rollins' other academic scholarships.
• Rowan: Rowan states that adding an outside scholarship sometimes requires adjusting need-based aid, and a large scholarship may force a subsidized loan to convert to unsubsidized, but does not specify a reduction order or confirm institutional grants are protected. Confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Sacramento State: Sacramento State does not publish a scholarship-stacking or outside-award-displacement grid. The one governing rule found is a cost-of-attendance cap: a student may not receive funding beyond their full cost of attendance, so an outside scholarship can reduce other aid once total aid reaches the COA ceiling.
• Saint Anselm: Scholarship/grant offers may not exceed the cost of tuition. Non-need-based aid is folded into the need-based package if a student applies for need (not added on top). The four named non-need institutional grants may stack with each other up to $6,000 total.
• Saint Louis U: SLU requires students to report outside scholarships and notes that each award is governed by its own donor-specified limits (e.g., tuition-restricted vs cost-of-attendance restricted). The public site does not publish a single displacement formula — call the Office of Student Financial Services before assuming a large outside award will stack on top of the Vice Presidents' or Presidential tier.
• Saint Mary's (CA): Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Salisbury: Federal over-award rules apply: students must report outside scholarships, and when total aid from all sources exceeds the cost of education, Salisbury reduces or cancels other aid in the package. The Sea Gull Sibling Scholarship is tuition-only and unavailable to students receiving any other tuition waiver.
• Salve Regina: Outside scholarships do not reduce Salve scholarships or grants unless required by law; if an outside award exceeds financial need, Salve may reduce federal need-based loans or work-study first (loan-first displacement). Salve's own arts award stacks on top of academic merit. Institutional aid is reduced when students move off campus (about $3,500/year) or study abroad (about $1,750/semester), and employer tuition benefits are counted as a resource before need-based aid.
• Sam Houston State: SHSU publishes an explicit displacement policy (per Texas SB 2995): total aid cannot exceed financial need or the cost of attendance; when extra gift aid (including outside scholarships) pushes a package over those caps, loans are reduced first where possible, state/institutional grants only in rare cases, and merit scholarships 'will not be reduced or canceled.' Outside awards must be reported to the Financial Aid & Scholarships Office.
• Samford: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• San Diego State: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Seattle Pacific: A student may hold only ONE of the four merit awards per academic year, but the 'Other Scholarships' (Christian Leader, Legacy, Welcome to Washington, Church Match, Engineering, Visit, etc.) are explicitly stackable on top. A hard cap applies: total institutional aid per quarter cannot exceed quarterly tuition; overages are trimmed in the order tuition discount, then grant, then scholarship.
• Seattle U: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Sewanee: Sewanee documents internal stacking rules clearly (Wilkins layers on top of EQB; Hopper layers on top of any other academic scholarship; arts and choir fellowships stack on top of academic awards) but does not publish a single uniform displacement formula for outside private scholarships. Contact the Office of Financial Aid before counting on layering a large external award on top of a Vice-Chancellor's or Benedict.
• Shenandoah: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Shorter: Combined grant and scholarship aid from all sources may not exceed direct education costs (tuition, room, board, and books) rather than full cost of attendance; for students living off campus, HOPE and Shorter University aid specifically may not exceed the narrower cap of tuition and books only.
• Smith: Smith's published outside-aid policy is self-help first: outside aid reduces work-study first, then can offset a one-time computer purchase or Smith health insurance, with any excess replacing Smith Grant dollar-for-dollar. State and federal grants displace Smith Grant dollar-for-dollar. Merit scholarships fill need before adding to grant.
• Sonoma State: Sonoma State says not reporting external scholarships may result in adjustments to need-based aid, including possible repayment of funds already disbursed; the published policy does not specify whether loans, work-study, or grants are reduced first, so families should confirm the displacement order with the financial aid office.
• Southeast Missouri State: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Southeastern: No general institutional stacking or outside-scholarship displacement policy was published on the pages opened. One specific stacking rule is published: students eligible for both an institutional Louisiana National Guard tuition waiver and TOPS must accept the waiver and receive a reduced TOPS award. The Dual Enrollment award is explicitly described as a supplementary award ('can also receive'), implying it adds to the freshman scholarship.
• Southeastern Oklahoma State: Automatic freshman scholarships do NOT stack with Honors & Leadership scholarships, and Valedictorian/Salutatorian cannot be combined with Academic Excellence or Stronger Storm. Exceptions going the other way: the Former SE Concurrent award is explicitly 'in addition to other automatic scholarships,' and SE Foundation general-scholarship cash awards 'may be combined with SE scholarships above.' Treatment of outside/private scholarships is not addressed on the pages opened.
• Southeastern (SEU): SEU publishes no general outside-scholarship displacement policy on the scholarships page, but specific caps exist: Bible Quiz Scholarship recipients may add other institutional/tuition grants only up to tuition and fees for a semester, and Fine Arts Festival applicants 'can only receive one of the listed awards.' Treatment of private outside scholarships generally is unstated.
• Southern Arkansas (SAU): University academic scholarships are NOT stackable — a student receives only one academic scholarship. Performance (art/music/theatre) recipients may receive only one performance scholarship. The page does not address how outside/private scholarships are treated.
• Southern Nazarene (SNU): SNU caps total scholarships and grants (other than Pell) at ACTUAL CHARGES (tuition, covered fees, room & board, books): if combined awards exceed actual charges, SNU's institutional scholarships are reduced first. Off-campus students get no institutional refund and may use outside funds (including Pell) only up to the equivalent of a double dorm room + 15-meal plan. For Kairos, government/state aid is applied first and the award gap-fills to the promised amount.
• SNHU: No stacking or outside-scholarship displacement policy was visible on the pages opened. The international scholarship page does note that scholarship funds exceeding tuition and required fees may be taxable for international students.
• Southern Oregon (SOU): Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Southern Wesleyan: Southern Wesleyan caps total grants and scholarships at direct on-campus expenses, not full cost of attendance; if the outside, state, and federal aid already secured doesn't cover those direct costs, institutional aid is layered in order (Church Matching Scholarship, other SWU scholarships/grants, Athletic or Music Scholarships, Academic Scholarships or Grants, then the Wesleyan Ministers Dependent Grant), but the combined total never exceeds that narrower cap.
• Spelman: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Spring Arbor: Outside (private) scholarships count as financial assistance: if an outside scholarship pushes total aid above financial need and/or cost of attendance, SAU adjusts the aid package, and aid already disbursed may have to be repaid. Separately, athletic scholarships preclude all other forms of SAU aid except academic merit awards, while the E.P. Hart honors award explicitly stacks on top of merit.
• Spring Hill College: Spring Hill publishes no general institutional stacking or outside-scholarship displacement policy on its scholarships page. The one explicit stacking rule found is for the Magis Scholar Award, which REPLACES (does not add to) any other merit scholarship — a Jesuit-high-school graduate gets either the $8,000 Magis award or a higher merit award, never both. How third-party outside scholarships affect institutional aid is not stated.
• St. Cloud State: SCSU does not publish a quantitative outside-scholarship displacement rule. The Financial Aid Office requires that any new outside scholarship, tuition waiver, or other third-party funding be reported via its electronic Scholarship Notification Form so it can be added to the student's financial aid package, which can trigger a revision of the existing package. The direction of any adjustment (loan-first vs. grant-first) is not stated on the official pages reviewed.
• St. Lawrence: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• St. Mary's (MD): Hard anti-stacking / COA cap: tuition waivers plus institutional scholarships cannot exceed billable charges; institutional scholarships are reduced when the combination exceeds billable charges (no cash stipend from excess merit). For the Baltimore City award, total gift aid including outside funding cannot exceed direct tuition/fee/room/board.
• St. Olaf: Students may apply for as many scholarships as they wish, but the total value of all merit scholarships cannot exceed $42,000 unless the family's demonstrated need exceeds that amount. Merit scholarships may be used to meet some or all of demonstrated financial need.
• STU (Miami): Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Stanislaus State: Outside/off-campus scholarships and any other aid must be reported to the Financial Aid & Scholarship Office. If total aid exceeds eligibility (an over-award), the student repays the excess and the repayment may be treated as a loan. The page does not specify a displacement ORDER (i.e., whether loans, work-study, or grants are reduced first).
• SFA: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Stetson: Stetson awards merit packages on an 'all sources of funding' model — institutional aid can be reduced to accommodate outside scholarships, and total aid will not exceed actual educational costs.
• Stillman: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Stonehill: Outside/private scholarships are applied loan-first: students must report all private scholarships, and Stonehill reduces SEOG/Perkins-MASS NIL loans, then Federal Work-Study, then the Federal Direct Loan, in that order. Stonehill's own gift aid is protected and is only cut if total gift aid exceeds federal need or billed costs (a billed-cost / need cap overlay).
• Stony Brook: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• SUNY Brockport: Brockport's institutional merit awards stack in defined combinations (e.g., Empire stacks with Gold/Green/Prometheus; Eagle and Residential Scholars stack with Gold/Prometheus), but Gold, Green and Prometheus cannot be combined with each other. Across ALL aid, a student's total aid may not exceed the cost-of-attendance figure; if an overaward occurs, federal self-help (loans/work-study) is reduced FIRST and the institutional scholarship is reduced only if necessary — a coa-cap with self-help-first ordering. The page also states the NYS Excelsior Scholarship and any private scholarship are not impacted by housing choice.
• SUNY Fredonia: No published institutional policy was found describing how outside (third-party) scholarships displace Fredonia's own merit awards. The one displacement rule that IS published concerns the NY Excelsior Scholarship: it is a 'last dollar' award, so all federal, state, and institutional grants/scholarships reduce the Excelsior amount. Treat outside-award displacement of the Fredonia merit grid as unconfirmed.
• SUNY New Paltz: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• SUNY Oneonta: SUNY Oneonta requires students to report any outside/additional scholarships not on the award letter, and the school 'may be required to adjust the awards' on the award notice. No published rule states the order of displacement (loan-first vs grant-first) or how an outside award interacts specifically with the institutional merit scholarships, so the displacement behavior is unclear from official pages.
• SUNY Plattsburgh: SUNY Plattsburgh publishes no explicit institutional stacking or outside-scholarship-displacement policy on its scholarship pages. The structure is mutually exclusive at the regional/nursing level — a nursing applicant gets the $1,500 Cardinal Nursing Scholarship INSTEAD of (not on top of) the $3,500 regional Cardinal/North Country/NYC scholarship; an EOP/NYC applicant is routed to the equivalent EOP grant instead of the NYC grant. The out-of-state Welcome to New York Grant ($9,000) and Cardinal Out-of-State Grant ($2,500) are designed to be received together (combined $11,500). NYS Excelsior is explicitly last-dollar (it covers tuition remaining after TAP, Pell, and other grants/scholarships). No statement was found on how a third-party OUTSIDE scholarship affects institutional awards.
• SUNY Potsdam: SUNY Potsdam's named merit scholarships and the SLA Grant are applied to NON-TUITION (room/meal) charges only, and an individual award 'cannot exceed the cost of room rent charges.' That is a hard COA-style cap on the housing line, which makes the award worthless to a commuter and shrinks it if a student receives a housing waiver or other housing benefit. The College in High School (CHS) $1,000 award explicitly stacks 'in addition to any other SUNY Potsdam scholarships.' No published rule was found describing how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships displace these institutional awards.
• Susquehanna: Outside scholarships are applied first to reduce loans and/or work-study (loan-first treatment), not to displace the merit grant. University scholarship + grant aid is capped at eight semesters. Named endowed (need-based) awards may be exchanged dollar-for-dollar with need-based aid. Add-on awards such as the Janet Weis writing scholarships may not exceed the total cost of tuition.
• Sweet Briar: All scholarships — Sweet Briar's own and outside/private awards — are counted as part of the financial aid package, the total package may not exceed the student's need/cost of attendance, and outside gift aid that arrives later triggers a review. When an adjustment is needed, Federal Work-Study or need-based student loans are reduced before any need-based grant.
• Syracuse: Syracuse's published policy is loan-first displacement: self-help (Federal Work-Study and educational loans) is reduced before the SU Grant when outside scholarships arrive. Tuition-specific outside awards, however, directly reduce the need-based SU Grant dollar-for-dollar.
• Taylor (IN): All outside awards must be reported and will trigger a repackaging of the aid offer; actual reductions are governed by Taylor's cap that outside aid plus Taylor aid and family resources cannot exceed total educational costs, direct and indirect.
• Tennessee State: A student can receive only ONE institutional merit scholarship from TSU's Office of Institutional Merit Scholarships — these awards do not stack on each other. The merit award CAN be combined with scholarships from the TSU Foundation, outside organizations, and TSU colleges/departments. Critically, TSU merit scholarships are described as LAST-DOLLAR awards, so other aid can reduce or adjust a student's total cost (i.e., outside aid can effectively displace institutional value when total aid would otherwise exceed cost).
• Tennessee Wesleyan: Institutional aid plus listed federal and state grants may not exceed the direct cost of education (tuition, fees, books, plus food and housing for residents); outside aid counts toward that cap only when the donor restricts it to direct costs.
• TAMU-Corpus Christi: the published policy only explains that if a student's loans or other grants are reduced after reporting a private scholarship, the student may file a Cost of Attendance Change Request Form to seek an increase in their COA or maximum aid limit. It does not state the trigger condition or order for reductions. Confirm the actual displacement policy with the financial aid office.
• Texas Lutheran: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Texas Tech: Outside scholarships at TTU can reduce federal/state need-based aid (subsidized loans, work-study, state aid, institutional grants), but TTU explicitly protects UNIVERSITY scholarships — meaning the Presidential Merit award is not reduced by outside aid.
• Texas Wesleyan: Smarter U+ money explicitly stacks on top of the academic scholarship. The one-time summer scholarship may NOT be combined with any other merit or institutional aid. COA is the cap on total aid. No published policy on outside/private scholarship displacement.
• The Citadel: Total aid from all sources (federal, state, institutional, and private) may not exceed the student's Cost of Attendance as defined by Title IV regulations. State scholarships (SC HOPE, LIFE, Palmetto Fellows) combined with all other aid are subject to this COA cap; a student's actual award may be reduced if it would cause an over-award. No explicit statement was found on official pages about institutional merit scholarships displacing loans first or grants first.
• UTEP: UTEP uses a COA-cap displacement model. Scholarships and other gift aid reduce a student's calculated financial need. Receiving a UTEP scholarship explicitly disqualifies a student from the Miner Success Grant. The Paydirt Promise covers only the portion of tuition not already covered by exemptions, military benefits, or other tuition-specific awards. Total aid cannot exceed cost of attendance.
• Thomas More (KY): The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Towson: Total combined aid from ALL sources (government, TU, and private/outside) cannot exceed the TU Cost of Attendance budget; if it does, TU reduces loans, these awards, and/or other aid. Awards apply only to full-time fall/spring enrollment, are split evenly across fall and spring, and cannot pay the non-refundable $300 enrollment fee.
• Trinity (TX): Trinity publishes one of the clearest external-scholarship policies in higher ed: non-need families can stack outside scholarships on top of merit up to cost of attendance; need-based families have outside awards capped at financial need, with self-help (loans and work-study) reduced before any institutional gift aid.
• Troy: Scholarships, unless otherwise specified, are for one academic year and applied for through the TROY Scholarship Portal. Transfer scholarships explicitly cannot be stacked with other TROY transfer scholarships; the freshman page does not state whether the freshman academic awards stack with one another. Outside/private scholarship displacement is not addressed.
• Truett McConnell: Each student receives exactly ONE academic scholarship from the GPA grid, but TMU's other institutional scholarships (Christian school, home school, dual enrollment, Georgia Baptist, minister dependent, sibling discount, cross-cultural, music, athletic) are explicitly 'stackable with all other student financial aid.' Outside/private scholarship displacement is not addressed in the documents opened.
• Truman State: Automatic awards are generally stackable and renewable, and a student may receive multiple automatic and/or competitive awards. BUT: (1) Truman-funded scholarships apply only to tuition and on-campus room and meal plans — never to fees; (2) competitive awards (Pershing, Kirk, Harry S. Truman) supersede all other Truman-funded awards, except the Bulldog Legacy Award (which can combine with everything except Pershing); (3) out-of-state-portion awards (Out-of-State TruMerit, Non-Resident Tuition Waiver, Non-Resident Tuition Grant, MSEP) cannot be combined — only the greatest-value one is given; (4) NEMO does not stack with Top Scholar or TruPlus; (5) some larger awards replace/supersede smaller ones.
• Tufts: Tufts is explicitly need-based only — no merit aid. The published outside-scholarship rule is one of the clearest loan-first policies in higher ed: outside aid first reduces the Tufts Loan, then the Direct Loan and work-study, and only after self-help is exhausted does the Tufts Grant decrease. Family contribution is not reduced by outside aid.
• Tuskegee: Tuskegee enforces a cost-of-attendance cap: institutional scholarships and grants, once combined with federal student aid and any external (outside) awards, cannot exceed the total cost of attendance. The page does not state which award is reduced first if the cap is hit, so the displacement order is unclear.
• UC Davis: UC Davis publishes one of the clearest displacement orders in higher education: incoming scholarships (UC Davis or outside) first cover unmet need, then reduce self-help (loans and work-study), and only reduce grants and other gift aid as a last resort. That makes outside scholarships unusually safe to layer on.
• UC Irvine: When outside scholarships arrive, UCI reduces loans and work-study first before touching grants. This is a student-favorable order — outside aid functions as loan-replacement rather than grant-replacement up to the loan/work-study cap.
• UCSB: UCSB's UC system rule is explicit: nonresident undergraduates are ineligible for UC need-based aid and not typically awarded institutional scholarships beyond the Regents and Domestic Nonresident programs. The Domestic Nonresident Scholarship is applied as a tuition reduction, not refundable cash. For California residents, UCSB scholarships and need-based aid follow the UC Education Finance Model with self-help (work/loan) plus parent contributions plus grants/scholarships.
• UCF: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• UConn: When total aid (including outside scholarships) exceeds Cost of Attendance or demonstrated need, UConn reduces in this published order: loans first, then work-study, then need-based grants and scholarships. Institutional grant aid is protected until self-help aid is fully removed.
• Union University: Union's freshman academic grid award is a 'base award.' A set of named 'Stackable Scholarship Awards' (Alumni Legacy, Ministry Dependent, TBC/SBC) stack on top of it but are capped at a $2,000 annual limit combined. Scholars of Excellence Awards 'may be combined with all other institutional aid.' BUT the Founders' Scholarship and several others (INAMB, certain endowed/other awards) are 'Merit Replacement' awards that replace — not stack with — the grid award. Outside scholarships are governed by a reduction policy: if total gift aid from all sources exceeds Union billed charges, Union reduces its own institutional aid first, and total aid can never exceed the cost of attendance.
• UAB: the published policy states only that loans may be reduced if the total of all funding sources exceeds cost of attendance; it does not establish that loans or work-study are reduced ahead of institutional grants, and it never mentions institutional grants being reduced or protected. Confirm the actual reduction order with the aid office.
• UAH: UAH publishes no displacement or over-award rule for how an OUTSIDE (third-party) scholarship affects institutional merit aid. The Outside Scholarships page is only a curated resource list plus a mailing address for donor checks, and the Scholarship FAQ's outside-scholarship entry only explains where the donor should send the check. How outside awards interact with the UAH merit grid or with need-based/federal aid is not stated on these pages.
• UAF: Merit awards can stack (UA Scholars explicitly combines with Nanook Pledge and APS), but the Nanook Pledge cannot exceed your cost to attend and is not refunded if gift aid exceeds your bill; receiving outside aid can trigger amendment of your award.
• Alaska Southeast: UAS publishes no general institutional stacking grid, but it does publish one hard displacement rule: the Chancellor's Award is REMOVED if your on-campus housing is covered by third-party funding. The statewide UA Scholars and Alaska Performance awards are commonly used together with in-state UAS tuition, but UAS does not publish a formal rule for how an outside scholarship reduces other UAS aid.
• UAFS: UAFS applies aid in a set order: non-institutional funds, including outside designated scholarships, are applied before institutional 'University Aid' merit scholarships, which are applied last. A student's final university scholarship disbursement may be reduced so that university aid never pays more than the total owed to the university, which can reduce the refund a student receives after charges are paid; the published policy does not state whether outside scholarships or loans specifically remain refundable.
• Central Arkansas: UCA caps total scholarships at the student's cost of attendance per Arkansas Code 6-80-105. If awards exceed COA, the Arkansas Academic Challenge is reduced first, then (in order) UCA academic, departmental/performance, other ADHE scholarships/grants, and other public funds. Private/outside scholarships are counted in the package but are NOT reduced by the University.
• UCM: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• UDallas: All UDallas non-need scholarships and grants are tuition-directed: they may be combined (stacked) up to but not over full tuition. A full-tuition scholarship recipient is therefore ineligible for any additional non-need scholarship or grant, including the Family Grant; departmental awards cannot sit on top of a full-tuition scholarship.
• Dayton: Dayton requires students to report outside scholarships through the Porches student portal but does not publish a displacement formula. Families cannot tell from the public site whether an outside award will offset institutional merit aid, loans, or work-study — call Flyer Student Services before banking on stacking on top of a Trustees' or President's award.
• Evansville (UE): All UE institutional scholarships/gift aid combined are capped at the equivalency of full-time tuition (12-18 credit hours/semester). Total gift aid from all sources (including outside scholarships) is capped at directly billed charges (tuition, fees, housing, meal plan) plus a $2,500 book/expense allowance for residents — tuition + fees + $2,500 for commuters. Gift aid above the cap causes UE to reduce its own gift aid. When federal aid is in the package and need would be exceeded, reductions happen in this order: loans, work, Federal SEOG, then UE grants. 'Special Scholarships' (TASL, Moore, Nursing, etc.) do not stack with the Academic Merit Scholarship — students get whichever is higher.
• UF Online: UF Online's own language only says an outside scholarship that pushes total aid above what the federal processor deems you eligible for 'may' cause a reduction, that the effect 'depends on the type of other aid you are receiving,' and tells students to check with a OneStop financial aid advisor to find out how or if it will affect their package. The school does not publish a defined displacement mechanism or ceiling; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• UHart: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• UH Mānoa: Two distinct rules: (1) among the Office of Admissions merit awards themselves, a student offered more than one may only accept ONE; (2) all aid plus scholarships/additional assistance (including private, Kamehameha, UH Foundation, and departmental scholarships) cannot exceed the Cost of Attendance — when it does, the financial aid package is reduced dollar-for-dollar, and students must notify Financial Aid Services of any outside assistance immediately.
• Houston: UH caps total aid at the student's cost of attendance except for Pell Grant recipients, who may stack aid up to COA + the Pell amount. Awards are subject to change as the entire package is finalized.
• University of Idaho: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• ULM: ULM publishes its displacement order directly on the freshman scholarships page: if total aid plus scholarships exceeds the federally mandated COA, aid is reduced in this order — federal loan aid first, then institutional and other aid per institutional practice, then State Scholarships and Grants (including TOPS). ULM Foundation scholarships explicitly stack ON TOP of academic scholarships. Students may hold only ONE freshman academic scholarship.
• Lynchburg: The University of Lynchburg's excerpt only says outside scholarships 'may lead to adjustments in your overall aid package, such as loans or work-study amounts' -- it does not state that loans/work-study are reduced before institutional grants, nor that grants are protected except to prevent an over-award. The school does not publish a specific displacement mechanism; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• University of Maine: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• UMaine Presque Isle: UMPI's official Financial Aid Policy uses self-help-first displacement for outside scholarships: an outside award is first applied to unmet need, then replaces loan and/or Work-Study BEFORE it reduces a University grant or scholarship. Total aid (including outside resources) may not exceed the Cost of Attendance; if it does, the aid office reduces self-help (loans and work) before reducing scholarship or grant aid. Separately, the Level Up / certain tuition-waiver awards cannot be combined with any other UMS or UMPI waiver/merit award.
• University of Maryland: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• UMass Amherst: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• University of Memphis: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• UMN Duluth: A student may hold only ONE admissions scholarship from the Office of Admissions. Outside (non-UMD) scholarships may be combined with the admissions scholarship, but total aid (all scholarships and grants) cannot exceed UMD's cost of attendance; an outside award may reduce loans, work-study, or institutional aid.
• UMN Morris: The Prairie Scholars Award, Morris Scholars Award, and National Merit Scholarship replace previous scholarship package offers, and National Merit Scholarships cannot be combined with the Prairie or Morris Scholars Award.
• University of Montana: UMAAS is tuition-designated: it can only be applied to tuition and cannot be combined with any other full-tuition waiver. If a student holds multiple tuition-designated awards, the total of all tuition waivers cannot exceed the cost of tuition; UMAAS is reduced or canceled if the student receives another tuition waiver or third-party tuition coverage. Out-of-state UMAAS is forfeited entirely if the student is awarded the WUE or establishes Montana residency.
• Mount Olive (UMO): UMO publishes no general stacking or outside-scholarship displacement policy for its academic scholarships. Individual awards carry their own combination rules: the TAP 10% tuition scholarship cannot be combined with any other institutional aid, and the Ministerial Benefit Grant is capped so that all 'free aid' combined covers at most 90% of tuition. The Resident Scholarship explicitly stacks on top of an academic scholarship. Treatment of private outside scholarships is not addressed on any page fetched.
• Mount Union: Students eligible for multiple Mount Union awards receive at least the value of the highest single award — not the sum. Any portion of a second award is based on financial need and requires the FAFSA. The maximum total award equals full tuition; full-tuition recipients get nothing additional. For ROTC full-tuition recipients, all other Mount Union awards become honorary, and private outside scholarships that exceed direct costs reduce the ROTC room-and-board benefit.
• Nebraska–Kearney (UNK): Institutional awards stack with each other (the non-resident New Nebraskan tuition waiver can be held alongside a UNK Academic Merit Scholarship). For OUTSIDE/private scholarships, UNK is required by law to adjust FEDERAL aid first if outside awards create an excess (over-award) — implying outside money displaces federal aid before institutional merit, though the page does not spell out an explicit order beyond 'federal aid.'
• UNLV: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Nevada (Reno): Resident awards: a student receives only ONE four-year award; the test-optional one-year award does not stack with the four-year grid or National Merit. Non-resident: WUE/PEP tuition reductions stack with Presidential OR National Merit, but Presidential and National Merit cannot combine; the Tahoe/Dean's Pack/Honors stack cannot combine with either Presidential or National Merit. National Merit Scholars forfeit need-based grants.
• UNE (Maine): UNE lets outside scholarships fill unmet financial need first; if an aid adjustment is required, UNE reduces loans and/or work-study before touching grants or merit aid (loan-first displacement). All outside awards must be reported to Student Financial Services. For the Tuition-Free Program, UNE states outside scholarships in most instances will not affect eligibility.
• University of New Mexico: UNM stacking is MIXED. Resident institutional merit awards (Regents', Presidential, Woodward, UNM Achievers) are explicitly designed to combine with the state NM Legislative Lottery and Opportunity scholarships. But a student CANNOT hold two UNM Freshman Scholarships at once — if awarded multiple, 'the higher dollar award will supersede the lower dollar award' and the lower is canceled. For non-residents, the Lobo Housing Scholarship explicitly layers on top of a tuition-waiver scholarship (WUE/LUE/reciprocal). For third-party OUTSIDE scholarships, UNM's Financial Aid terms state that 'Receipt of additional financial aid may result in an adjustment of the financial aid offered by UNM' — i.e., over-award adjustment is possible; the exact displacement order (loan-first vs. grant-first) is not published on these pages.
• UNO: UNO caps all aid at the cost of attendance per federal and UL System policy. Any scholarship, tuition waiver, fee exemption, or stipend processed after the initial package is built can create an 'Overaward,' which is fixed by reducing other awards (scholarships, SEOG, Perkins, Direct loans, PLUS) — and if funds were already disbursed, the student must repay the overaward portion.
• North Alabama (UNA): The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• North Dakota: UND lets you keep your institutional scholarships when you win an outside award — 'You may accept non-UND scholarships without affecting your UND scholarships' — but external awards still have to be reported and are accounted for in the federal financial-aid package. National Merit and other UND awards stack up to the full cost of attendance.
• University of North Georgia: UNG does not publish an outside-scholarship displacement policy on its public scholarship pages. The only outside-scholarship mechanic stated is administrative: privately-awarded scholarships are automatically split half/half across fall and spring unless the donor letter says otherwise. How an outside award interacts with HOPE/Zell Miller or other UNG aid is NOT documented publicly and must be confirmed with the Financial Aid office.
• Oregon: UO's Apex Scholarship policy is explicit no-displacement: outside scholarships do not reduce the Apex amount. The Summit cannot combine with Apex or UO Excellence (one or the other), but combines with Presidential, Duck Excellence, and General University Scholarships. Residency change downstream reduces non-resident awards to resident-equivalent amounts.
• UPIKE: Some UPIKE institutional scholarships cannot be combined with other awards. Institutional awards (except Athletic and Activity) are applied to tuition only and may be reduced based on other aid received. Students are limited in how many awards of each category they may hold: one Dual Credit/Other Activity award, up to two athletic and/or Organizational scholarships, and up to two Supplemental scholarships. The treatment of private outside scholarships is not spelled out — the Offer page says only that outside scholarships 'could change your aid eligibility and awards.'
• Pitt: Pitt applies a cost-of-attendance over-award cap. Outside scholarships and grants are reported through the Financial Aid Welcome Center; once the total package would exceed COA (or financial need, for need-based aid), Pitt reduces previously offered institutional, state, federal, or private funding to bring the package back under the cap.
• Portland: Only ONE named merit scholarship is awarded and they cannot be combined. For OUTSIDE/private scholarships, UP will reduce loans and/or work-study first whenever possible (favorable, loan-first). Awards under $1,000 generally apply to the semester received; larger ones split evenly fall/spring.
• UProvidence: Athletic aid is applied after academic merit and the two can stack, but Pell + institutional scholarships/grants + athletic aid cannot exceed direct costs (tuition, fees, and on-campus housing/food). Students at 100% institutional tuition scholarships may not get additional athletic aid. Employee/healthcare tuition discounts do not stack with merit — students receive the higher of the two. The Community Impact commuter rate cannot be combined with other institutional scholarships. Outside (private) scholarship treatment is not addressed on the pages opened.
• Puget Sound: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Redlands: When an outside scholarship is restricted to tuition and fees, Redlands grant and merit awards may be adjusted so that institutional aid plus other need-based funding does not exceed the cost of tuition.
• URI: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Rochester: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• USF (San Francisco): USF says private scholarships should supplement, not replace, university-funded aid, but only states that a reduction of aid 'may be required' to remain compliant with federal or state financial aid regulations — the published policy names no specific dollar threshold, cost-of-attendance cap, or trigger point; confirm the actual mechanism with the financial aid office.
• USAO: The Momentum Scholarship is last-dollar funding that can be stacked with other aid as long as total aid does not exceed the cost of tuition.
• South Alabama: South Alabama says an external scholarship is 'most likely to affect' campus-based aid — the FSEOG Grant, Perkins Loan, Federal Work-Study, and Federal Stafford Loan — but the published policy lists these together without specifying any reduction order or stating that loans/work-study are cut before grants; confirm the actual sequence with the financial aid office.
• USC Upstate: Students receiving other general USC Upstate scholarships may also receive a Merit Scholarship, but the total general USC Upstate scholarship package may not exceed the resident, on-campus cost-of-attendance figure.
• USF: USF caps total aid at the estimated cost of attendance per federal regulations. Out-of-state waivers cannot combine with one another (same tuition portion), and the OOS waiver tier is canceled outright if a student updates to Florida residency. The waiver does NOT convert to an in-state equivalent.
• Southern Miss: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• St. Thomas (MN): Favorable but qualified: outside aid does NOT reduce the St. Thomas scholarship for most students, and the merit award is protected for up to eight semesters — unless total St. Thomas plus outside aid exceeds the cost of attendance (a COA cap).
• University of Tampa: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• UT Austin: UT Austin applies a federal/state COA cap with a loan-first reduction ordering. Outside scholarships first fill unmet need; once total aid hits cost of attendance or financial need, UT reduces loans before any other aid type. Outside scholarship displacement is documented on the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid policy page.
• University of the Ozarks: University of the Ozarks explicitly labels its discipline scholarships (Graphic Design, Computer Science) as 'stackable' on top of the automatic GPA-based institutional merit scholarship, and the TEACH award 'can be combined with other loan or scholarship programs up to the total cost of attendance.' No published policy was found stating how third-party OUTSIDE/private scholarships displace institutional merit aid.
• Pacific: Federal COA cap: total aid (scholarships + grants + loans + work-study + outside awards) cannot exceed the cost of attendance. When the cap is hit, the Office of Financial Aid reduces self-help (loans and work-study) first 'whenever possible' before adjusting scholarships and grants — but scholarships/grants CAN be reduced once self-help is exhausted. (A separate rule found via search but not confirmable on an opened page states a Pacific grant/scholarship plus any other tuition award cannot exceed actual tuition — see Section C.)
• USW: Strict one-institutional-award rule: USW institutional awards (university grants, university discounts, athletic awards) cannot be combined with one another, and athletic awards cannot be combined with any other institutional award. The only published exception is donor-funded scholarships, which can stack on top of an institutional award. Separately, total financial aid from all sources (including loans) cannot exceed the cost of attendance. The pages say nothing about whether private outside scholarships displace institutional aid.
• UW Seattle: UW applies federal cost-of-attendance over-award rules. Outside scholarships must be reported to the Office of Financial Aid; private scholarship checks of $2,000+ are split across remaining quarters, and smaller checks are applied to the current quarter. The policy does not specify whether loans or grants are reduced first when displacement occurs.
• UWA: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• UWF: UWF merit awards stack with Bright Futures, private scholarships, and federal funds. The Admissions Merit Scholarship is applied first to direct costs (tuition/fees, on-campus housing, meal plans); Bright Futures applies to tuition and fees; private/federal funds cover any remaining balance and excess is disbursed to the student. The need-based UWF Financial Aid Scholarship, however, cannot be stacked with Admissions scholarships, and the Pace Presidential award is capped at direct costs.
• Wyoming: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Ursuline: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Utah State: USU academic scholarships are tuition-capped: tuition can only be covered once. If a student is offered tuition-based academic scholarships or waivers totaling more than 100% of tuition, USU caps it at 100% and any remaining balance is NOT refunded as cash. A newer academic offer also REPLACES a prior academic award rather than stacking with it. The Nonresident Scholar may not be combined with any USU nonresident waiver (including the Legacy Waiver). No published rule was found describing how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships displace institutional aid specifically.
• Utah Valley University: UVU counts outside scholarships as a resource for federal aid. Per Policy 512, a student's total aid package should not exceed cost of attendance; when additional aid arrives after the package is calculated, need-based aid is reduced and LOANS are reduced first before any other aid source. Institutional Honors awards are explicitly capped so a student receives only up to full tuition.
• Valpo: Valpo does not publish a general policy on whether outside (private) scholarships reduce institutional aid — the Outside Scholarships page only explains how to report them in DataVU and how funds are applied to the student account. Several specific awards have explicit anti-stacking or last-dollar rules: Phi Theta Kappa cannot be combined with the Associate's Degree Completion Scholarship, a student cannot receive both the Alumni Heritage Scholarship and the Legacy Award, and the Ivy-Beacon and Indiana Latino Institute full-tuition awards only fill the gap left after state/federal (and for ILI, university) grant assistance.
• Vermont State: Vermont State requires students to REPORT outside (third-party) scholarships, but no public page states HOW an outside award is applied — whether it reduces institutional merit, need-based aid, or self-help/loans. The Free Tuition Guarantee is explicitly a last-dollar tuition gap-closer ('after all federal, state, institutional, and employer-supported aid is applied'), so additional tuition-directed aid can reduce the guarantee's own contribution. Displacement behavior for outside awards against institutional merit is not published.
• Villa Maria: Villa Maria publishes no general policy on how its merit awards combine with each other or whether private outside scholarships displace institutional aid. The only published interaction rule is for the Say Yes Buffalo Scholarship, which is last-dollar: it pays only the tuition balance remaining AFTER state, federal, and institutional grants/scholarships are applied, and covers tuition only. The NYS Enhanced Tuition Award ($6,000) is described as a combination of TAP + ETA + a match from the college.
• Wabash: Wabash reduces need-based aid only when total awards exceed direct costs of tuition, on-campus housing, the 15-meal plan, and books — fees are not part of that cap; merit-only awards are separately protected below a direct-cost cap of tuition, fees, on-campus housing, and the 15-meal plan, which does not include books.
• Walla Walla: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• Warner Pacific: Treatment of outside scholarships explicitly differs by aid type or program; see the sourced policy excerpt for the split.
• Washington College: Honors Fellowships ($1,500-$5,000/yr) are stackable with other merit aid. The full-tuition George Washington Signature Scholarship, however, REPLACES other merit offers. For private/outside scholarships, the office reduces loan and work-study first, but an over-award can still affect grant aid.
• Wayne State College: WSC's automatic admission-based scholarships apply to TUITION CHARGES ONLY and cannot be combined or stacked with other tuition awards. If a student earns a separate merit, talent, or program scholarship later, WSC honors only the single scholarship of the largest value per year — awards do not add together. The page does not state how third-party OUTSIDE scholarships displace institutional aid; the separate Tuition Guarantee explicitly says private/community scholarships will NOT be counted against the tuition support it provides.
• Weber State: The RaiseMe Scholarship cannot be combined with academic awards.
• West Texas A&M: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• WVU: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Western Carolina: WCU caps total aid (scholarships + grants + work-study + loans) at the student's cost of attendance, and a new scholarship 'may necessitate a reduction in other financial aid.' This is a COA-cap rule. The ENGAGE award is explicitly stackable 'up to the cost of attendance.' Outside scholarships must be reported to the Financial Aid Office; no separate rule states whether they reduce institutional merit specifically vs. need-based/self-help aid.
• Western Connecticut State: Institutional funds combined with other grants and scholarships may not exceed direct billed costs (tuition and fees, housing and food for residents, plus a books allocation) - a cap below full cost of attendance.
• WGU: WGU's federal-aid-inclusive award package is capped at cost of attendance, but WGU's own scholarship specifically may have future disbursements reduced whenever outside scholarships, grants, or state/federal aid exceed tuition and fees costs — a narrower cap than COA — and WGU states it may reduce future disbursement amounts at any time at its sole discretion.
• Western Kentucky: Academic Scholarships and Supplemental Scholarships can stack together, up to Cost of Attendance. University scholarships cannot be received simultaneously with a full-tuition waiver. Outside/private scholarships are used to replace loans first rather than grants at WKU. Total aid (grants + loans + scholarships) cannot exceed Cost of Attendance budget. Border State, TIP, and WKU Family Scholarships cannot be received simultaneously with each other.
• Western New Mexico (WNMU): WNMU's catalog states total financial assistance may not exceed a student's demonstrated need (a need-based cap). Many merit awards are tuition-only waivers. The pages reviewed do not state an explicit anti-stacking rule between named awards, nor a specific outside/private scholarship displacement rule.
• Western Oregon: WOU does not publish a rule that outside scholarships first reduce loans/work-study. The stated policy is a Cost-of-Attendance / financial-need cap: if a private scholarship pushes a student over their Cost of Attendance or financial need, the Financial Aid Office adjusts the aid package. Which aid is reduced first is not specified.
• Westmont: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Wheaton (IL): Wheaton applies a hard cap on institutional scholarship and grant aid at the cost of tuition for the year. When outside scholarships plus Wheaton institutional aid exceed tuition, the Wheaton-funded portion is reduced first to bring the total to or below the tuition line — not cost of attendance, just tuition.
• Colorado State: Total aid (scholarships, grants, work-study, loans) may not exceed CSU's one-year cost of attendance. When a scholarship causes an over-award, CSU reduces loans first where possible, but may also reduce work-study, non-Pell grants, and/or scholarships if needed.
• Elon: Elon states that in most cases an outside scholarship will not reduce your Elon award. When a reduction is required, Elon cuts student loans and/or work first, and only reduces a scholarship or grant where absolutely necessary — a genuinely student-friendly, loan-first displacement order.
• Cincinnati: UC treats all scholarships, regardless of source, as need-based funding for federal aid purposes, and outside awards can reduce eligibility for other need-based aid. Reductions most often hit loans or work-study first, but scholarship adjustments are possible under the scholarship-limit policy when total aid exceeds the cost-of-attendance budget.
• Delaware: Delaware is unusually explicit that an outside scholarship can REDUCE or CANCEL your institutional award. UD's institutional funding is designed to offset tuition and mandatory fees, so if an outside award is also meant to cover tuition, UD may pull back its own scholarship dollars rather than let you keep both — this is institutional-aid displacement, not loan-first.
• Louisville: Louisville publishes a clear overaward/stacking policy. When you bring an outside scholarship, the office reduces self-help aid (loans and work-study) FIRST before touching any grant or scholarship — so an outside award generally replaces your loans rather than displacing your institutional merit, up to the cost-of-attendance ceiling.
• Richmond: For students receiving need-based aid, outside scholarships hit self-help (loans and work-study) first, then reduce need-based grants once they exceed the self-help amount — because Richmond meets 100% of need, outside money cannot grow the total package beyond demonstrated need. For students without a need-based award, outside scholarships can be brought in up to the full cost of attendance.
• Washington and Lee: Washington and Lee runs a no-loan financial aid model and meets 100% of demonstrated need. All outside awards must be reported to the Office of Financial Aid, but the public pages do not publish a dollar-for-dollar displacement formula for how an outside scholarship interacts with institutional grant aid — call the aid office before assuming an outside award lowers the family bill rather than replacing existing grant.
• Washington State: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Chapman: Chapman states it will make every attempt to reduce loans and work-study before decreasing grants or scholarships when outside funds affect the aid offer, but the published policy does not guarantee grants are touched only to prevent an over-award — that specific condition is not established.
• Denison: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• DePaul: DePaul requires students to report all outside scholarships and other external resources, and those resources are factored into eligibility for federal, state, and institutional aid — including tuition-restricted and need-based aid. DePaul's public compliance page does not publish a fixed order of reduction (loans first vs. institutional aid first), so families should confirm whether an outside award offsets institutional aid before counting on stacking.
• Stevens: Stevens requires students to report outside scholarships to the Office of Financial Aid but does not publish a displacement formula stating whether outside awards reduce institutional aid, loans, or unmet need first. Because Stevens merit scholarships cannot exceed the cost of tuition, an outside award could push a near-full-tuition package over that cap and trigger an adjustment. Confirm the treatment with the aid office before counting on it.
• Texas State: Texas State caps total aid at your cost of attendance and financial need. If an outside scholarship creates an over-award, the school reduces loans first, then work-study — it does not reach into your assured merit scholarship first. That makes Texas State friendlier to stacking outside money than schools that cut institutional aid first.
• North Texas (UNT): UNT lets outside scholarships stack on top of institutional merit up to your Cost of Attendance — it only reduces aid if an outside award pushes you over COA or over your FAFSA-calculated need. You must report any external scholarship to Financial Aid and Scholarships so it can be posted.
• Vermont (UVM): UVM caps total gift aid at the cost of attendance — your scholarship can be reduced or cancelled if grants, scholarships, employer benefits, and VA benefits together exceed COA. UVM's policy page documents this COA ceiling but does not publish a specific reduction order for outside private scholarships, so confirm with Student Financial Services before assuming an outside award stacks on top of a Presidential or Trustees scholarship.
• Whittier College: Outside aid that can only be applied to tuition (e.g., Cal Grant A, Tuition Remission, Tuition Exchange, outside scholarships, Yellow Ribbon) is capped, in combination with the John Greenleaf Whittier scholarship, at the cost of tuition for the academic year — not full cost of attendance.
• Whitworth: Whitworth states that scholarships from local, regional, or national organizations can usually be stacked on top of Whitworth scholarships and grants; the rare exceptions are not specified, so confirm your case with the aid office.
• Wichita State: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Widener: Widener's own add-on awards stack explicitly (Phi Theta Kappa adds to all other merit; #YouAreWelcomeHere adds to merit; Presidential Service Corps adds to need-based aid and academic scholarships up to the amount of full tuition). For outside/private scholarships, students must report them; once financial need has been met, the loan and work-study portions of the aid offer are adjusted before any university need-based aid is reduced (loan-first displacement). If a student declines or fails to apply on time for a need-based aid program they're eligible for (e.g., a state grant), Widener will not replace those funds with institutional aid.
• Wiley: Institutional aid is capped at direct costs (tuition, fees, room and board). Pell, SEOG, and institutional AND non-institutional (outside) scholarships together cannot exceed direct costs; if they would, the school reduces institutional aid. Outside scholarships are packaged before institutional scholarships, so an outside award can shrink Wiley's own aid. Loans and work-study can stack up to the full cost of attendance.
• Willamette: The school does not publish a specific outside-scholarship displacement policy; confirm treatment with the aid office before counting on stacking.
• William Carey: Major institutional scholarships do not stack with each other unless explicitly noted; only designated 'Add-On' scholarships (and certain awards like Endowed, cheerleading, RA, and most talent scholarships) stack with a major award. Institutional aid is also capped at the student's actual charges — it can never generate a refund — and certain awards (Carey Scholar, Educator Preparation, Teacher Assistant) are reduced by 50% of any qualifying Pell Grant.
• William Jewell: Stacking at Jewell is category-gated, with a full-tuition cap on several awards. Academic awards cannot be combined with athletic grants/scholarships. The test-score Achiever award stacks on the GPA-based Academic Scholarship. The Hispanic Development Fund (HDF) match is applied after academic merit awards but cannot combine with athletic or performing-arts scholarships. Christian Fellows (Faith & Culture) awards cannot stack with another Faith & Culture, talent, or athletic scholarship, but may combine with need-based grants or merit scholarships 'not in excess of full tuition.' Phi Theta Kappa transfer ($5,000) may not be combined with a merit scholarship. No published policy was found describing how third-party OUTSIDE/private scholarships displace institutional aid (the Private Scholarships page only lists outside entities).
• William Peace: Outside scholarships must be reported and are applied loan-first: they first replace self-help aid (Federal Work-Study or need-based loans); once self-help is fully replaced, Peace scholarships and grants may be reduced dollar for dollar. Separately, the school caps its non-merit awards at tuition.
• Winston-Salem State (WSSU): WSSU states an outside scholarship generally reduces the loan amount a student is eligible to receive, and notes that in some cases grants may be reduced as well; the published policy does not specify a strict order, a protective over-award gate, or any effect on work-study.
• Winthrop: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Wofford: Comprehensive-fee cap: for a boarding student, gift aid (federal/state/institutional grants and scholarships) may not exceed the total comprehensive fee (tuition, fees, food and housing) plus a book allowance; for a day student, scholarships/grants may not exceed tuition + fees + a book allowance — unless the student uses student/parent loans. Outside scholarships must be reported and the package recalculated; when the cap would be exceeded, the Wofford scholarship/grant is reduced. Scholarships are available for a total of eight semesters.
• WPI: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Xavier (OH): Previously awarded federal or institutional aid (or the outside scholarship itself) is reduced only when adding the new scholarship would cause total aid to exceed cost of attendance, or when accepting it would violate the outside provider's own award terms; the published policy does not describe different treatment by aid type or program at Xavier.
• Dartmouth: Outside scholarships first replace a student's leave-term earnings, employment expectation, and any optional loan. Only amounts that exceed those reduce the Dartmouth Scholarship dollar-for-dollar; they never reduce the calculated Parent Contribution.
• Drake: Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
• Kenyon: Outside scholarships can reduce institutional grant or scholarship dollars; see the sourced policy for the exact mechanism.
• Oberlin: Oberlin requires students to report all outside scholarships. Favorably, outside scholarships first replace self-help — student loans and student employment — in the original aid package, so a typical outside award retires loans rather than cutting Oberlin grant money. Note that other need-based grants and entitlements do replace Oberlin grants/scholarships dollar for dollar.
• Saint Joseph's: In most cases outside scholarships are simply added to the existing SJU aid package, or first reduce loans/work-study, and total aid cannot exceed the University's cost of attendance under federal overaward rules. But because SJU grants and scholarships can only be applied toward tuition, if the outside scholarship is also tuition-restricted, the combined SJU-plus-outside tuition-designated aid cannot exceed the cost of tuition alone — narrower than full COA.
• Denver: DU applies outside (private) scholarships to unmet need first. If the outside award pushes total aid above demonstrated need or the cost of attendance, DU reduces student loans first, then work-study, and only then institutional scholarships or grants — a favorable loan-first order that protects merit money in most cases.
• New Hampshire: Outside scholarships reduce loans and/or work-study first; institutional grants are only reduced if required to prevent an over-award.
• Tulsa: Tulsa's headline National Merit package explicitly cannot be combined with other UTulsa scholarships — it replaces them. For general outside/private scholarships, Tulsa does not publish a displacement formula on the pages reviewed, so families should confirm with the Office of Admission/Financial Aid before assuming an outside award adds to an institutional one.
• Williams: Outside scholarships can first be used to buy a new computer; any leftover amount then reduces the student's Williams grant. Because Williams packages no loans or work-study, there is no self-help cushion for outside awards to replace before they reach the institutional grant.
• Xavier (Louisiana): All institutional aid is capped at the Direct cost of attendance (tuition, room and board, and mandatory university fees). Scholarship amounts may be reduced when federal and state grant aid is received, so federal/state grants and outside aid can displace XULA scholarship dollars once the Direct-cost ceiling is reached.
• York College of PA: York publishes award-by-award stacking rules rather than one global policy. Tuition Exchange replaces all other merit and need-based institutional aid; the WellSpan ($10,000) and Commonwealth of PA ($6,000) employee-dependent programs are 'minimum offer' floors that absorb existing institutional aid rather than stacking on top; by contrast, the Alumni Association and Vincent Risley scholarships are explicitly 'in addition to' merit awards. No policy on how OUTSIDE/private scholarships affect institutional aid was found on the pages reviewed.

When this tool is wrong

This tool produces estimates based on published policies. It can be wrong in several specific ways:

• Internal policies differ from published ones. Some schools have unpublished internal guidelines that handle edge cases differently from the public-facing policy.
• Professional judgment overrides. Financial aid officers can use professional judgment to override standard displacement rules in individual cases, particularly when a family’s circumstances have changed.
• Scholarship-specific terms. Some outside scholarships have their own terms that interact with institutional aid in ways this calculator doesn’t model.
• Mid-year policy changes. Schools can change their stacking policies between academic years. Our database is updated quarterly, but there may be a lag.

The bottom line: use this tool to get a directional answer and to understand the mechanics. Then confirm with the school in writing before making financial decisions based on the estimate.

Frequently asked questions