Pity the poor student who dedicated several years of blood, sweat and tears to the Red Cross, YMCA, Kiwanis, Rotary, or any other non-profit organization, only to see all their well deserved scholarship money evaporate into thin air and wind up in the bank account of their alma mater. That’s right! Virtually all organizations that award students private scholarships make a fatal error in having the check made payable to the student and the college. In that way the colleges consider it a resource to help pay for a student’s education.

By the end of the school year most awards banquets are held, and worthy students are honored with these various scholarships. Very often their name appears in the paper as a recipient for all their hard work and dedication. Since the organization is primarily giving this money to be used for a student’s education, they innocently ask the family where the student will be attending, and make out the check to both parties.

Most schools send out their financial aid offers between January and April, with a May 1st decision date. Now, enter the “poor” institutions of higher learning. What a kick in the teeth it is to find out when a revised award letter arrives, that the school’s aid has now been reduced dollar for dollar, based on the amount scholarship received! It’s usually listed as “private scholarship,” “outside aid,” or very often, “other.”

But these greedy schools already laid the groundwork for this theft months earlier. Those students who applied to any of the 225 elite private and state colleges that require the CSS Financial Aid Profile financial aid form may have already indicated they would be scholarship recipients. Section F, Question 26i asks for the dollar amount expected from student resources for the school year such as “grants, scholarships, fellowships, etc,” and they must be listed individually in Section P.

The majority of schools that only require the FAFSA (Free Application For Federal Student Aid) simply send out a questionnaire asking about private scholarships. They’re less devious, but just as deft.

Who in their wildest dreams would have ever thought that colleges would stoop so low and play such a dirty trick? Truth be told; it’s all about the money, and have no doubt about it. Every year there are billions awarded in private scholarships, and who benefits; none other than these “poor” institutions of higher learning enriching their billion dollar endowment funds at the cost of their deserving students.

The best way for a family to avoid this catastrophe is to personally discuss this sordid state of affairs with the scholarship committee either at the time of application or well in advance of their announcing the awards. In that way, the check can be made payable to the parents instead of the student! If that fails, then ask the organization to defer sending the student the check until after they go off to college.