Merit Scholarships and HPSP

[predental224]

I am in the process of applying for HPSP for the Army and I was awarded a 10k merit scholarship for each year of dental school. Has anyone been in the situation where they received a merit scholarship as well as HPSP? Does the scholarship get sent to my student account and the Army pays for the remaining balance or does the Army pay for the tuition in its entirety and I get to keep the 10k?

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[axiumgod]

School will probably rescind the 10k and give it to someone else

 

[MagicDentist]

If you're 4 year Army HPSP, Penn will rescind the 10k and give it to someone else. If you're 3 year, you'll get the 10k merit for year 1 and then they will rescind it for year 2/3/4.

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

It depends if the scholarship is “fenced” or “non-fenced.” Essentially, fenced scholarships must be applied to tuition. In this case the school will just bill the military less. Non-fenced scholarships can be applied to any educational expense, even living costs. If it’s a non-fenced scholarship, you may be able to keep it.

I received scholarships from my school that were non-fenced. They applied the scholarship to my account and billed the military for full tuition. This resulted in overages on my account that were refunded to me as “cash.” This “income” was considered taxable income and I had to pay taxes on it.

But, as others have pointed out, your school may just rescind it to free up funds for someone else. Long story short, if you get to keep it great, if you don’t that’s too bad.

Big Hoss