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Good News for Scholarship Recipients

Governor Wolf Signs Bill Eliminating Scholarship Displacement

This is extraordinary because students will now benefit from the full amount of the scholarship they have earned. Before passage of this new law, scholarship awards would displace other aid the student may have qualified to receive. 

What happened: On Friday July 8, Governor Tom Wolf signed into law HB1642, a sprawling public school system bill which includes a ban on scholarship displacement at public colleges and universities. This makes Pennsylvania the fourth state in the country to eliminate the practice of colleges and universities reducing a student’s financial aid package when the student receives a private scholarship.

A statewide coalition of scholarship providers, including the Lancaster County Community Foundation, initiated the call for elimination of scholarship displacement in 2018. Dave Koser, Director of Programs explains, “As a community foundation, our role is to carry out our donors’ intent. When we award a scholarship to a student on behalf of a donor, and the university then reduces that student’s financial aid package, that essentially eliminates the scholarship’s benefit to the student, and defeats our donor’s purpose in awarding the scholarship.”

The coalition included members of the Pennsylvania Community Foundation Association, the Miss Pennsylvania Scholarship Foundation, the Philadelphia College Prep Roundtable, and Pittsburgh’s Poise Foundation.

The bill goes into effect immediately and will affect awards for the upcoming academic year.

This is a great step four our community...

…however, it only applies to Pennsylvania public schools. Therefore, students should continue to do research on scholarship displacement practices when attending private or out of state schools. Below are some resources:

Scholarship Displacement

Students and their families are often surprised to realize some colleges reduce their financial aid packages when the student earns private scholarship dollars—a practice called financial aid displacement or award displacement.

Learn More

Collegiate Partners

Collegiate Partners are a network of more than 270 schools that protect students from displacement— what happens when students earn private scholarships and find their financial aid packages from their schools reduced.

Collegiate Partner Directory

General Scholarships

Thanks to generous donors with a passion for supporting the future generation, each year we are able to award scholarships to help advance Lancaster County students’ education.

Read More