Help! Stanford student confused about financial aid policy

Is there anyway that you can get a work study job? Even if you not get a FWS job, there should be quite a few non-FWS jobs at stanford.

Definitely check and see if used copies of books are available before you buy any new ones from the bookstore. I have had good luck purchasing used books from amazon, abebooks, and alibris for my daughters. Also, some books are available in an “international” edition, which is usually far cheaper than the US edition, the international editions are usually paperbacks instead of hardcovers, and are also sometimes available used. I have read that occasionally the page numbers/practice problems can be slightly different, but the 2 international editions I purchased for D1 were identical to the US editions and we saved hundreds of dollars. We have also been able to rent used books from amazon for approx. $25 per semester, saving lots of $$.

It was mentioned previously in this thread, but please be aware that you must pay taxes on the room and board portion of your scholarship(the part exceeding QEE- Qualifying Educational Expenses), since it is considered “income”. Preparing the return can be very tricky, but there is a recent IRS publication which illustrates how best to address this “income”. You may actually be able to qualify for a partial tax credit even though your scholarships exceed your tuition/fees/other QEE and otherwise pay no taxes.

See http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/Pell AOTC 4 pager.pdf
for more information on how to receive the tax credit. Even if you pay no income tax, you may still qualify for a $1000 tax credit by shifting some of your scholarship and allocating it as income so that you can qualify for the tax credit, since the credit would likely exceed any tax you would owe on the additional income.