Welcome to the Scholarship Displacement Action Page!
Thanks to a statewide coalition of higher education advocates, college access organizations, scholarship providers, students, and the support of multiple legislative champions, Assembly Bill 288, the California Ban on Scholarship Displacement Act was passed in 2022. As one of the bill’s co-sponsors, SoCal CAN is continuing to raise awareness about the issue and connect students to resources through this webpage. In this page you will find information about scholarship displacement and actions that you can take to join the fight against scholarship displacement.
Student Toolkit
This toolkit is meant for any college or high school senior that expects to receive a private scholarship.
After you read this guide, you’ll know how to recognize displacement in your own financial aid experiences, how to approach potential scenarios of displacement, and how to communicate with your scholarship providers and financial aid advisers to resolve an issue.
To the right is a 2 page summary, download the full pdf
below or the 2 page flier!
What is scholarship displacement?
Scholarship displacement is a practice where colleges and universities displace previously awarded financial aid when a student is awarded a private scholarship, effectively reducing the amount of financial aid awarded and resulting in a zero net gain for the student. This is a practice that many students are not aware of and don’t realize that it happens to them when they receive an external private scholarship.
Negative Impact of Scholarship Displacement
- It forces low-income students to replace displaced financial aid with loans or work, which directly contradicts the purpose of private scholarships.
- It punishes students who took the time and effort to find private scholarships
- It creates a system where privately funded scholarships could provide more benefit to institutions than students, which is not the intent of private scholarships.
- It diminishes the intention of scholarships to make higher education more affordable to low-income and underrepresented students.
Interested in learning more about scholarship displacement?
Read the articles below to understand how some students dealt with the issue.
