Scholarships

Scholarships are gift aid, meaning you do not have to repay them or earn the funds by working. They are a form of financial aid awarded to students based on specific criteria that has been determined by the donor or organization providing the funds. The most common scholarships are merit-based, program-specific or demographic-specific.

Scholarship List

How to Apply

Many scholarships have specific instructions, and we recommend that you follow the steps mentioned for each.

In addition, we recommend that you complete our online Scholarship Application. Deadline September 7, 2012.

Scholarship Application

Eligibility

New guidelines from the State of Arizona explicitly state our responsibilities in establishing residency and eligibility requirements for all students seeking admissions, financial aid, and other college services. Download and print those guidelines here. We have also provided the list of acceptable documentation for students seeking to establish residency status.

Read the stated criteria carefully. Each listed scholarship clearly states what is required for the award. Go to the Scholarship List now.

Receiving Your Money

After you have successfully applied and been awarded a scholarship, the information is sent to Financial Aid to be added to your Student Financial Record.

Public Assistance, Transit Subsidies, Federal Financial Aid, Grants, Loans and other stipends can be affected by the amount of scholarship monies you receive. Financial Aid is responsible for coordinating this information.

When your record has been updated you will receive notification that your scholarship money is available as a disbursement (a check) or you will be told in what form the aid will become available. You could receive tuition reimbursement, book vouchers, or cash depending on the type of scholarship.

If there are any additional criteria you must meet before receiving your monies, you will be notified by The Development Office, Financial Aid and/or the Donor group or organization.

Private Scholarships from a Donor Outside of MCC

Please notify the Financial Aid Office that you will be receiving a scholarship to ensure your scholarship is processed in a timely manner and avoid any class cancellations. Please provide a copy of your scholarship award letter to our office.

The scholarship award letter is usually provided to you by the donor and it usually indicates the amount of your scholarship and any specific criteria that your scholarship may require such as fulltime enrollment, program of study, etc. Once a scholarship award letter is submitted to our office, we will extend your tuition due date up to seven weeks after the semester has begun as a courtesy to allow enough time for your scholarship to be processed. If the scholarship funds from the donor are not received by this date, you will be responsible for any balance due to the college. Otherwise, you may be withdrawn from your classes for non-payment and you will incur a debt. If you plan to attend another institution, you must make the necessary arrangements to cancel your classes before your refund deadline date and notify the donor of this change.

If I Receive a Scholarship will it Affect my Financial Aid?

In some instances when you are awarded a scholarship after your financial aid has been awarded an overaward may occur. This means that the total of your awards exceed your cost of attendance.

The example above indicates a total unmet financial need of $1314. If a scholarship is issued after the financial aid has been awarded in excess of the unmet financial need we are required by federal regulations to adjust the non-need based aid (loans). If a $2000 scholarship is issued then we would have to determine the amount of the overaward ($1314 unmet financial need -$2000 scholarship = -$686). Based on the negative amount we would reduce the unsubsidized loan by $686 in order to award the full amount of the scholarship.

In the case of an overaward, federal regulations require MCC to adjust non-need based aid (loans) to correct the overaward. In some cases the adjustment may result in a reduction of a loan or other aid excluding the Pell grant in order to award the scholarship which is the free money in place of the loan.

If your residency status changes from out of state to instate this will change your cost of attendance, therefore, reducing your financial need.