Policies on Outside Scholarships

Eligibility for Other Aid

Undergraduates

Your outside awards will be used to reduce or eliminate your student loan or employment awards before any adjustment in your Georgetown scholarship award is made. Entitlement payments such as Federal Pell Grants, Georgetown tuition benefits or veteran benefits replace Georgetown scholarships on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

Students can contact their counselors in the OSFS to discuss how outside or entitlement awards might impact their financial aid package.
 

Graduate Students

Your total aid, loan and outside resources may not exceed your total cost of attendance. You may not accept multiple awards that duplicate coverage of your tuition or fees or other educational expenses.  

Payment of Outside Sponsored Awards

If your outside awards are sent directly to you, you must report the amount to OSFS and you must use the funds to meet your educational expenses. If your outside awards are sent directly to Georgetown, then you must report the amount you expect to receive to OSFS.

One-half of the total annual outside award will be applied each semester to your student billing account unless otherwise directed by either you or your sponsor's written instructions. For example, if your outside award is for $1,000 we will apply $500 to the fall and $500 to your spring semester bills, even if the entire $1,000 award is sent to us in the fall. We follow this procedure because most sponsors ask us to handle their funds this way and because federal regulations require us to do so for students who receive need-based financial aid. 

On occasion scholarship checks get sent directly to the Student Accounts lockbox. In this situation, our office doesn't get the chance to review the scholarship payment before it gets deposited so we do not have the option to pay just the fall portion of your scholarship and to hold onto the spring portion until the following semester. Often when checks go straight to the lockbox it is the full amount of the scholarship for the entire year. Federal regulations for students who receive need-based financial aid stipulate that you are not allowed to receive more than 1/2 your total financial aid amount for the year during the fall semester. Consequently when the full amount of your outside scholarship gets deposited all in the fall semester, we will most likely need to change the disbursement amounts of your Georgetown aid. Please note that the total amount of aid you receive from Georgetown will not change, we will just unevenly disburse it so that you are receiving slightly less in the fall and slightly more in the spring to make up for the fact that you received more aid from your outside scholarship in the fall semester.

It can be difficult for us to tell whether a payment that was made to the Student Accounts lockbox was simply a payment that you made or if it was actually an outside scholarship payment. If you see that you still have a memo on your bill for a payment that was sent directly to the lockbox, please contact us so we may remove the memo.

Verification of Need, Enrollment or Cost of Attendance

OSFS can provide information if your outside sponsor can't disburse your award without first verifying your financial need, enrollment or the average cost of attendance. Requests for verification of need, enrollment or cost of attendance can be sent to the attention of the assistant director for External Scholarship Programs in the OSFS, Room G-19 Healy Hall, Georgetown Box 571252 or faxed to the assistant director's attention at (202) 687.6542. 

Third Party Billings and Contracts

If your outside sponsor can't disburse your award without first having an official invoice from the university, then you must send a written request for an invoice to the Office of Student Accounts, and they will bill your sponsor. That office also handles payments made under a contract with a third party. Phone: (202) 687.7100.

Please also contact your counselor to let them know that you are receiving an outside scholarship that will be set up as a contract through the office of student accounts.