Reporting External Scholarships

Students must notify our office of all external awards received, including awards paid directly to you. Please report your external scholarships to our office via email and include a copy of any correspondence (e.g., letter or email) from the scholarship donor. It is highly recommended that you do not have scholarships directly deposited into your personal bank account. Students will want to request a check that can be sent to our office.

Receiving External Scholarship Funds

• Scholarship agencies should send students’ external scholarship payment directly to our office: 
  • Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, 1 Campus Drive, 100 Arend & Nancy Lubbers Student Services Center, Allendale, MI 49401
• The scholarship check(s) should be made payable to Grand Valley State University so that funds may credited directly to the student's university bill. The student's full name and Student ID number should be included in the memo section of the check.  
• Checks made payable to the student or co-payable to the student and Grand Valley State University must be signed by the student prior to submitting the scholarship check to our office. 
• Scholarship checks received will be divided equally between fall and winter semesters, unless otherwise indicated in writing by the donor.
  • • If the student is graduating after fall semester, the full scholarship amount will be applied to fall.
• Once the check is received, please allow 2-3 business days for processing. 

Impact of External Scholarships on Financial Aid Awards

Your total financial aid award and external resources may not exceed your total cost of attendance. 

If you are awarded up to the cost of attendance, your external scholarship award(s) will be used to reduce or eliminate your student loan awards before any adjustments to other awards are made. 

Please contact our office to discuss how external scholarships might impact your financial aid package.