As the parent of a child who got more than 100% scholarships a few years, yes this is totally normal. I'm also on the board of directors of a foundation that issues scholarships to college students - the scholarships say very clearly that they are to fund tuition and room and board (on or off campus, as long as it's paid through the University) for the student. It's not meant to go into your pocket, pay off credit card debt or the like. It's an educational scholarship that gets paid to the school in your name, and used by the school via their priority system. Their priority system generally says that if you've brought in outside money, you have LESS NEED of in-house grants. Therefore you'll bump the grants down the priority list for how your tuition will get paid. Just like if your parents were super wealthy, you'd have less need of in-house grants and those grants would go to help a student who did not have wealthy parents or outside scholarships. That's the way it works.

There are some scholarships that are paid directly to you. They will cut you a check and mail it to your house and trust that you will report it on your taxes. The reason they do this is so your grant money at your University will not be reduced. If you find one of these scholarships by all means take advantage of them.

There are some forms of 'extra' money that can get returned to you. Military aid (those who were part of the military or national guard and getting reduced/free tuition or aid) and I'm sure several others as well. It depends on the type of funding. But it sounds as if yours are not that type. So my advice would be - let the University grants help students who need that financial help and be happy with a free ride, which is awesome, or find the kind of scholarships that pay directly to you and use that to fund your credit card debt.