Ex-Miss Delaware Gets to Keep Scholarship Money After Losing Crown for Being Too Old

By K.C. Blumm

06/28/2014 at 03:30 PM EDT

Former Miss Delaware Amanda Longacre

NBC10

Amanda Longacre, who was stripped of the title of Miss Delaware 2014 on Tuesday after pageant officials determined that she was too old, has received some good news – she's getting to keep the scholarship money she won along with the title.

Longacre, 24, won't lose out on the $9,000 prize, Miss America chairman and CEO Sam Haskell told ABC News on Saturday.

The Bear, Delaware, native had been planning to use the money to pursue a master's degree in social work at the University of Pennsylvania, but worried that those plans were in jeopardy.

She lost her title after officials reviewing her paperwork determined that she would age out – according to the Miss America pageant's rules, contestants can't turn 25 before the end of the year, but Longacre's birthday is Oct. 22.

Runner-up Brittany Lewis, the new Miss Delaware, and Longacre will each receive the $9,000 in scholarship money, Haskell told ABC News.

"Because we are a scholarship organization, we're going to make sure Amanda gets that scholarship and the new Miss Delaware gets the same scholarship," he said.