Do you also have Pre-paid?
No, just bright futures
Well mine is a sophomore so the total COA is actually less than for new students. Her records show the total COA for her is $20,384. That is for 15 credits.
Has anyone seen the Benacquisto Disbursement at UF yet?
No not yet that I can tell. Last year it was a few days after the Bright Futures disbursement.
Thank you for the quick response. 
only bright futures and presidential scholarship disbursement here
My daughter’s financial Aid package includes the FSU Freshman Scholarship, Bright Futures, National Merit and Benacquisto (Formerly FIS). I understand that Benacquisto (FIS) is COA - BR-NM, Does she get to keep the disbursement from the Freshman scholarship (refunded to her account) or does she lose that amount because of Benacquisto?
The Benacquisto is an ACADEMIC scholarship and is not based on financial need so your daughter should be able to keep all of it. Now if she is ALSO receiving aid based on NEED, then the school MAY reduce her need based aid since she is receiving the Benacquisto.
@FSUnolesMOM when we were looking at FSU they told us we would keep the whole freshman scholarship too So enjoy!!!
Just remember the Tax Man will get his share too!!! Good teaching tool for kids. We spent a few hours during spring break with the tax software and all the retained receipts etc…Good lesson and an important one for keeping records straight and learning how to do their own taxes.
So they get to keep the freshman scholarship and it does not reduce the Benacquisto, so therefore she will receive a refund if her scholarships exceed her charges, right?
Yes, she had received a financial need grant from the University and a federal subsidized loan, but those went away already, she does however get to keep the Federal Pell grant, so they told me.
Do you mean the university removed them from her package? She did not actually receive those funds, correct? The Benacquisto would not be subject to “removal” since it is strictly academic based but since it increases her ability to pay, she will no longer need grants and loans or at least will have a much reduced need anyhow.
@FSUnolesMOM yes that is what they told me when my daughter was going to get that package - that her package can exceed her cost so that she is actually getting paid lol. I’m sure that your daughter will find ways to spend it on extra food for weekends and supplies for her dorm etc. I checked and double checked several times with them when we were considering their presidential scholars program.
@FSUnolesMOM I don’t know about the Pell grant only the freshman scholarship
Correct, the Federal Loan was removed (Debt Free College ~ YAY!) and since she received the Benacquisto (COA-BF-NM) she didn’t need the needs-based grant that FSU had originally given… However, they said they cannot touch a Pell Grant because that comes from the Federal Government, which is great. So she will get the Pell Grant refunded, the Freshman Scholarship refunded, and the balance of the Benacquisto refunded after all charges are paid. Now we have to figure out how to handle the taxes this year, whether it is better to let her claim herself as a dependent or if we should still claim her as a dependent. Yikes!
@FSUnolesMOM we are dealing with the same, but she should pay the taxes since she’s likely in a much lower tax bracket
Hello everyone. I’m in need of some advice on taxes. I’m a freshman at UCF on the Benacquisto scholarship, and I just got my refund this past Saturday. UCF has transportation listed as part of the cost of attendance; I was wondering if this meant I could use my refund to make payments on a car and buy gas for it. The car would be used to get to and from school.
If you received the refund, that is your money to keep and to use on ANYTHING you want. You may also simply keep it and allow it to accrue interest. You do not have any limitations on what you may use it for.The reason UCF and all Florida universities /colleges list “transportation” is because that is considered in part of the total estimated Cost of attendance or “COA”. It does not mean you must spend your scholarship on transportation. The only part of the scholarship that is not taxable is specifically tuition, required books and fees that are required for attendance. When it comes to taxes, if you are not familiar with how to handle this scholarship, I highly recommend you ask your parents ( if they are familiar with tax preparation) or you take the opportunity to educate yourself about it. Publication 970 from the IRS can help. Also you will receive form 1098-T from your school and that will outline how much tuition you paid and how much you received in scholarships. You will use this form as a guide to fill out your taxes.Keep all your receipts for expenses specific to college. The books that are required can be considered a deductible expense as can a laptop computer if your school requires it. Unless you have some other sources of income that exceed $62,000 you can free e file and even use free tax prep software. Here is a helpful link to the IRS. https://www.irs.gov/individuals/students