<p>I'm not sure if there was already a thread that was posted, but I was wondering... what happens if you have too many scholarships where your tuition along with room and board is covered, but they're all for this coming academic school year? </p>
<p>Is there a way you can keep the money or will it automatically be sent back to the scholarship foundation? All of the scholarships are being sent/credited to my college's financial aid office. </p>
<p>People have suggested that if they do take the money back, then I should just spend the extra money on extra books, laptops/pc's, and other "academic necessities" and then just take the receipts and get the money back and return the item and put the money in the bank for next year's tuition. </p>
<p>Would doing that be bad? My mom said they wouldn't care considering that it's scholarship money and no longer any more financial aid from the school itself. Thanks for your help. =]</p>
<p>it depends, if you're still getting need-based grants from the school, that extra money will be used to displace some of those grants. If you don't have any grants from the school, then yes, you get to keep some of the scholarship money. It all depends on the school, so basically, you may not have any excess funds at all.</p>
<p>May I ask ... what kind of need based aid do you have FROM THE SCHOOL? If you do have some, it will probably be reduced dollar for dollar (not always ... my D's school last year did NOT reduce her need based grant due to scholarships). If you do not have any, your scholarships will be applied to your bill & the amount over and above what you owe will be returned to you (according to your school's policy). It is true that whatever you receive in grants and scholarships OVER & ABOVE TUITION will be taxable. If the scholarships do not exceed tuition, they are not taxable. However, every penny in excess of the cost of tuition and mandatory fees is taxable (YOUR taxes). You can stick the extra in the bank for next year's costs ... but be aware that your need based aid (if you have any) will be negatively impacted by money in the bank that is in your name. If you do qualify for need based aid, it might not be a bad idea for your parents to hang onto your money in their account, if you trust them ... it will be treated better in the need based formula if it is there, instead of in your account.</p>
<p>by mandatory fees, what do you mean? like room, board, and books? Simply put, if you got scholarships that just cover for the cost of attendance, what part is taxable?</p>
<p>You are supposed to tell your school about all outside scholarships (including those sent directly to you, in your name only). The school will send you a form for your taxes after the first of the year, listing the amount you need to claim on your taxes.</p>
<p>Tough being an adult. Git unconfused. S had to unconfused our Tax accountant/CPA, and will pay another $1K on 2006 taxes, plus interest, plus penalty. S has a really detailed tax situation that is atypical, but be aware that scholarships, fellowships, loans, in excess of tuition an/or other cost of attendence items are taxable for federal, state, social security.</p>
<p>One of my best friends said she isn't going to report a local scholarships she won because she wants to save the money for next year's student contribution rather than have her school absorb it this year. She's kind of in the same position as OP because this one scholarship put her over COA. I told her that wasn't a good idea...I mean, if her school found out she'd be in really big trouble right? I didn't know what specifically could happen, so my argument didn't have much clout. </p>
<p>Personally, I'm reporting all my scholarships even though that means I'll probably have some grant money reduced. It kind of sucks since I could really use some of my scholarship money in the later years of college, but rules are rules...and I don't want to break any. Anyone know what the consequences of failing to report a scholarship are? I don't want to see my friend get in trouble and she kept being like "how will they find out? People probably do it all the time." To which, I didn't have an answer...but it just seems like a BAD idea to me. Maybe I'm a worry-wart?</p>
<p>I suppose the answer to your question is: How do you feel about cheating? If you do not report a scholarship, you are cheating. It doesn't matter whether or not you get caught ... it's still cheating. I know how I would answer the question. I also know that many people would not & do not answer as I do. In my mind, that doesn't make it right.</p>
<p>The long & short of it is ... you are required to report all outside scholarships. Different schools have different rules. D went to a school that allowed outside scholarships & did not reduce institutional grants unless the scholarships exceeded COA. Next year, she will attend a school that reduces grants dollar for dollar if there are outside scholarships. You need to report the funds & let the chips fall where they may.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, I've gotten enough money in scholarships to cover tuition, along with the estimated room and board, books, personal expenses, transportation, basically the whole estimated cost of college for this coming year. At the moment, I'm a few grand over, and I did have a pretty nice financial aid package from my college.</p>
<p>It's VERY useful knowing that anything over cost of attendance and whatnot is taxable. </p>
<p>Oh, and I was planning to report all of my scholarships anyhow because they were all going to be sent to my financial aid office and just credited to my account. =]</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help, it was all really confusing stuff... Do you think I could still get a laptop with the extra money..?</p>
<p>when you say that you got a financial aid package from the school, that meant you got some need-based grants from your school, right? Well, if that's the case, your grant is going to be displaced by the couple of extra thousands you have left over. However, a lot of schools let you use a certain amount of money (usually 2500 dollars) for a one time purchase of a laptop. Check with your school on this to see if they allow this. If they don't, that extra money might not really be extra, since some of your grant might be taken back</p>
<p>Read Pub 970 carefully. You seem to be confusing Cost of Attendance with tuition + required fees and materials. Only the scholarship money applied to the above items are tax-free under the right circumstances. Scholarship money applied to other COA items such as room, board, travel and miscellaneous are all taxable, per Pub 970.</p>
<p>Back to your original post: you can ask your FA office to adjust your Cost Of Attendance. If you can claim that it will cost you more than the average student to attend the school (e.g. because you're buying a computer, or you live far away and plan to fly home several times a year, or whatever) the FA office can adjust your COA. This would allow you to keep the portion of your scholarship which you might otherwise lose. I'm not sure how different schools handle disbursement of FA funds to students, but at my son's school they just make a deposit to his bank account, which he then uses for expenses not billed by the school (such as off-campus housing, travel, etc.) If he decided e.g. to live under a bridge instead of renting an apartment, the school would have no mechanism for finding out that he's not using his money for housing.</p>
<p>As to the morality of what you propose: These are free funds that multiple organizations are giving you for your education. Make sure you honor the spirit of their gift when you decide what to do with the additional funds. If you truly don't need the money, the moral thing to do would be to return it.</p>
<p>S has scholarships (merit...not need based) that exceed the cost of attendance. They all go through the FA office at his school and the excess is deposited to his checking acct. ( lives off campus..no sch room/board ). We have paid taxes on the overage every year but still come out on the positive side since the scholarship money is a higher amt. than the taxes we have to pay.</p>