Scholarships vs Financial Aid

Scholarships

Awarded based upon merit (most of the time it's SAT scores). Scholarships are renewable for all 4 years (for most universties at least) given you are able to keep above a certain GPA during your undergraduate studies. Students who are willing to take two majors may face some issues because most of the time scholarships are only given based on certain amounts of college credit, going beyond that will not be paid for by the scholarship money.

Financial Aid

Awarded based upon a full review of your parents' financial profile. This includes money in their savings accounts, current value of all the assets they own, money that comes from investments in stocks or bonds, etc. This is not limited to any amount of college credit.