Students on financial aid at Brown who receive outside scholarships can use the money to reduce some, but not all, of their student contributions. But students who receive outside support will also have their financial aid package re-evaluated, possibly leading to a reduced contribution from the University.
Some students consider this policy unfair and choose not to report their outside scholarships, but the Office of Financial Aid maintains it cannot alter its procedure as it must comply with federal regulations.
"Brown is a need-based institution. We distribute both our resources as well as state and federal resources. As a need-based institution, in order to be fair and equitable and in order to comply with federal regulations, we need to know all the sources of students' financial aid," said Director of Financial Aid Michael Bartini.
One first-year student, who asked not to be named, said he did not declare an outside scholarship that was addressed directly to him to prevent Brown from reducing his University financial aid.
"My outside scholarship is greater than my loans ... and Financial Aid unfairly uses the money I was granted to fund other students" by redistributing aid he would otherwise have been granted, he said.
"We meet 100 percent of students' need. Since we meet 100 percent of their need, we are not going to give them 110 percent of what they need. Rather than subtract from their scholarship, we say students can reduce their loan, work or make a one-time purchase of a computer," Bartini said.
"My guess is 99.9 percent of the students at Brown report their outside scholarships," he said.
The Office of Financial Aid reports that the average University scholarship is approximately $20,000 and the average financial aid package is around $28,000.
"On average, students graduate $15,000 in debt, but a student who gets an outside scholarship can conceivably graduate debt-free," Bartini said.
An outside scholarship cannot reduce a student's parents' contribution. It also cannot entirely eliminate what Brown calls "student effort," composed of loans, work-study and a student's contribution from personal income. Minimum annual "student effort" is $2,100 for first-years and $2,550 for upperclassmen.
"Brown's outside scholarship policy doesn't reward the students for their hard work," said Brandon Markey '07, who receives an outside scholarship.
"What I try to tell students is that we don't have an infinite number of resources. It's not like we're not going to spend that money, we are just going to redistribute those resources to somebody else," Bartini said.
"There is not a penalty (to the student), but the outside organization has a tax obligation. They have an obligation to send the money to the institution either made out to the student or to the student and the institution, so if the student neglects to tell us we double check our records with the Bursar's Office, and sometimes we pick it up there," he said.
Shirley Lo '06, who said she receives a $1,500 Robert C. Byrd Scholarship each year from the State of New Jersey, said, "Brown gives me less money from their own personal scholarship."
"For parents, it's nice having their kid to receive a scholarship, even if the financial benefits are not present," she said.
Brown's financial aid policy is similar to other policies across the Ivy League, Bartini said.
The Yale financial aid Web site states, "If the total of your outside awards exceeds your student effort the remainder will replace your Yale Scholarship."
Similarly, the Harvard financial aid Web site states, "Outside scholarships are first used to replace the loan and/or job expectations in the financial aid package. Only if the amount of outside scholarships exceeds the combined loan and job expectations will the Harvard Scholarship be reduced."
Kevin Thomas '07, who receives a $2,500 Service Employees International Union Jesse Jackson Scholarship Award each semester, said that Brown initially set up his scholarship so that it would reduce his University scholarship, but he went to the Office of Financial Aid and switched it to reduce his University loan.
"If all my scholarship did was to reduce my University scholarship, then I would definitely want to get it in cash instead," Thomas said.
"I think that our policy is competitive, and it encourages students to go out and get outside scholarships," Bartini said.
Not all students agree, however. Itiah Thomas '07 recently applied for an outside scholarship and has an outside loan. When she heard about Brown's financial aid policy she said, "It makes me not want to apply for outside scholarships because I won't be able apply it to my personal expenses."
The Brown financial aid Web site states, "students can ask the scholarship agency to defer the scholarship in excess of your loan award until a later year. This will allow you to use the scholarship to replace the academic year work expectation you will likely have as a sophomore, junior and senior."
Despite students' complaints, the current policy allows more flexibility to students than in the past. "Several years ago we revised our policy to let outside scholarships reduce loan and work - we used to reduce half of your loan or work and half of your scholarship," Bartini said.
