I plan to use it on buying a new laptop. From what I just learned, my school no longer has grants for computers, only loan increases which is different from what I was told earlier. But, apparently the policy just changed.
Anyway, I have grants and I’m thinking that they will just replace the grant money with the scholarship money which leaves me in the same situation. I have to ask around first, but I’m 80% sure this is how it will work out.
Will I be breaking rules or is it just a technicality? One of my teachers said the very reason the check is to us is because of situations like mine.
@thumper1 Okay. So you’re saying I “need” to report it. As in, if I don’t I will be neglecting my responsibility and hence will be breaking the rules. Interesting. I’m getting a lot of different answers so that’s why I’m trying to "field " them.
Stop using quotation marks. It makes it appear that you think this is a big joke. You can not report it and take your chances but you may suffer the consequences.
@mommdc The increase won’t help and it’ll be counterproductive. It’ll be in the form of a loan. I’m not paying interset on a laptop. That’s crazy. You take out loans for cars (maybe ) houses and an education. I will rather just take my old laptop with me until I can find the money for a new one if that’s my only option.
@TomSrOfBoston I literally raised the point with one of my teachers who encouraged me to apply for the scholarship and her response was "how will they find out? " Looking back, she was definitely being morally grey.
@TomSrOfBoston Lol, if you knew my teacher. Any who, she was married to a lawyer and I’m thinking they rubbed off on each other. But, I do suppose in my case it will only take calling my school and asking if I won that scholarship.
Anyway, as I meant to say before, while I seem like I’m taking this as a joke, you seem combative. It is very easy to confirm our biases through a computer screen.
Did they ask for your Social Security number to get the scholarship? If so, you have to report it not only to the school but also when you do your taxes since you’ll be using it toward a laptop.
@3scoutsmom wow, I didn’t think of taxes. Thanks for bringing it up. But, no. I just looked it up to make sure. They did not ask for our number. They may ask for it when claiming, but I’m not sure because I lost the other paper, so I’m calling tomorrow. I do suppose that will count as income. Hm.
A scholarship is usually transferred directly to the school and can only be used for certain expenses. You may have won a prize if you got money to spend however you want. That would be income you report on your taxes. A scholarship paid directly to the school would be tax free.
Looking at all the answers, I plan on calling my school either tomorrow or Monday and ask for specifics. If what I just said was the case (replacing money ) then I won’t bother getting the scholarship ( I’ll save them the hassle of having to input it). There will be zero point. I’ll just call my hs and forfeit my scholarship. It’s the reason why I didn’t want to waste time applying in the first place. But, coming off my soapbox, thanks for answering my question.
@AroundHere Are those definite definitions? A "scholarship " vs a “gift?”
And my taxes just got that much more complicated. But, yeah. I’m guessing my school is trusting us to spend the money wisely? It is payable to us.
That’s what I was trying to get at. If it comes to us, how is the school involved? Is it any different than getting a gift from an uncle? But, that’s tricky because the name of it says scholarship and it is for educational purposes.
Too many variables. Better not to pay with so much at stake. I’m just going have to get a definite answer from my school.
@HRSMom That’s part of the problem. Much like the computer grant thing, it is simply hard to get clear answers. I’m in a specific program and I’m having a feeling that the students are just glossing over that part and just giving me general advice. I sometimes got two to three different answers for the same question. How do I make sure I get a rep that is knowledgeable about students in my grant’s program?
One of the faculty I met earlier said that sometimes you can ask what you want excess money to go towards. Like, you can replace work study with a loan. But, in the same breath, he said that my program has different rules.
I’m going to check to see if my grant has a specific advisor or office, because it is honestly getting a bit too late to still have questions like this.
This is not true! 99% of my D’s scholarships were paid directly to the school, you still have to pay taxes on scholarships used for room and board and materials, it doesn’t mater who the scholarship is paid to, it maters what the funds are used for.
Yes, your high school would be the one to ask about whether it’s a scholarship for tax purposes. (Depending on the amount, you may not owe taxes on a prize due to your standard deduction.) If it is a scholarship, the college financial aid office would be the one to ask if it would change your financial aid package in any way.