<p>I couldn't word the question right, but I'm asking how do you spend money sent to your college from a scholarship reward? Say I won one for $5,000 and wanted to use it to buy a Mac Book and the books I need for school, how do I spend the scholarship money? Will I go out and buy it then show the school a receipt and get reimbursed? Also supplies for the dorm and/or food. Does all that money come out of my pocket? Also how does room and board factor in to all this and will using scholarships on boarding fees affect financial aid? I'm really confused about this and I cannot find the right answer anywhere.</p>
<p>In general, after a certain date, the college will refund to you any overpayment in your account.</p>
<p>You can also call the financial aid office to get some answers and ask when is the date that refunds are issued to students.</p>
<p>Scholarships and awards first go to pay for tuition, room, board, fees, etc. If there is anything leftover, then they’ll give you remaining money.</p>
<p>How are those costs getting covered?</p>
<p>The college will pay all billable costs FIRST. If there is any money leftover, you can get a refund of that extra money. Most schools give refunds after the drop/add period ends…so at least several weeks into the term.</p>
<p>Are all of your other costs fully paid? If not, you may not see any of that scholarship money?</p>
<p>Do you have a financial aid award already from the college? And do they know about this award, or are you just making up a possible scholarship that you haven’t got?</p>
<p>You definitely do not just buy something and give a receipt and get reimbursed --it does not work that way at all. If you want to explain more, or show the numbers in you award letter, we can explain more. Working out a laptop purchase is tricky. I don’t want to get into details without knowing more and be confusing, but you may or may not have those funds available. Likely not. You might have to get more creative about getting one you can afford. (My daughter bought a certified refurbished one from the Dell Outlet Store. She bought a mac later when she could afford it.)</p>
<p>We have one outside scholarship that will be paid directly to student, so she can do what she likes with that money (in my daughter’s case, hand it to me because I’m paying tuition). If the money is paid directly to the school, then you will have to wait until the refund day. My daughter’s friend earned a number of small awards and those were paid to her directly, and I know she also has tuition covered through a scholarship, so yes, she can spend the money she received directly (after reporting it to the school and keeping track of it for tax purposes).</p>
<p>Many schools will allow a student to ‘charge’ books, computers, and supply at their bookstore and that bill will be paid from any overage before the refund is made.</p>
<p>^^that’s fine and good info, but if the money need to be spent on book and expenses for the whole year it may not go far enough to buy new ‘most expensive’ computer. @Somethingwithin you need to plan a budget for the year.</p>
<p>Everyone here has given you good info. Here is how it usually works, in my experience: Your college will be billing you for tution, fees, dorm costs, meal plan, maybe health insurance. The Bursar’s Office will list those direct bill items for the semester. You will get credits towards that bill in terms any awards the college has given you, federal aid (PELL, SEOG, Perkins and Direct Loans) split by semester. If you get an outside award, many school will have some way that it integrates into the financial aid you have received, so make sure you understand how much you will be netting out. Some students end up with NOTHING extra if their college’s policy has a dollar for dollar reduction of aid from the outside scholarships. Whatever is left after all of your direct bill items have been addressed, will be a credit on your account if anything is left. Otherwise, you have to pay the school the remainder and get nothing back. The school gets its direct bill paid FIRST. </p>
<p>If you do have an excess, the balance is paid out to you in accordance to how the Bursar’s office handles this. You have to call or visit them. It usually takes a couple of weeks minimum before you get back any excess, and at some schools, they make you wait until after the drop date. If there is an excess that is visible to the Bursar’s office, some schools will give you some sort of voucher for purchase of books or some other such allowance might be made for campus book store purchases. Again, it varies from school to school.</p>
<p>Be aware that if you get an scholarship that is applied entirely to your first term bill, that you might have money you will have to pay out of pocket second term. Though your financial aid and federal awards are cut in half and allocated by term when you go to school first semester, an outside award might not be so allocated. Don’t run out and spend the money only to find your self short the second semester. </p>
<p>Even with an anticipated excess in your account, you will likely have to come up with “seed money” from your own accounts or from your parents for school supplies, getting to school, transportation and other things before the school releases those funds If you do definitely have an excess, and you need that money to get to the school, you can appeal to the Bursar’s office about getting some money released early for those purposes. NO guarantee that they will let you have it, but you can ask. </p>
<p>Just a a head’s up, even scholarships that go to the student must be declared to the school and generally aid will be adjusted accordingly. </p>
<p>@cptofthehouse Thank you! One of the few who wasn’t rude… And I apply to colleges this year, so I should get my EFC within the first months of 2015. Looks like I have to buy a basic laptop and if I get a refund check then I can spring for the Mac Book. And I didn’t say I would get the most expensive, I was actually going to get the cheapest one. This still doesn’t answer my question. I know I look really stupid but I need a bit more explanation. So… How do I pay for books in college? (Assuming I get enough grant money and scholarships to cover the COA, meal plans, and dorms). Will I pay for them out of pocket? </p>
<p>@twoinanddone Oh! Okay! Thank you! I think I’ll look for the ones that get paid directly to the students because then I can cover expenses. And I won’t waste it. I’ll buy things like snacks and bed comforters from my own money. I’m mainly just worried about the computer and books. </p>
<p>I’m trying to avoid taking out loans completely. I’m from the low income bracket and mock ACT tests show I’ll get around a 30 which already gets me two scholarships in my state. I’m hoping financial aid can pay for a majority of college expenses. And I’m also applying to a lot of outside scholarships which I hope will be enough for me to avoid taking out loans. I’m trying to save a lot now because I think I want to go to med school later. </p>
<p>OP, as I said in my post, some colleges, not all, but some, will give you vouchers for the college bookstore, if they have your award money on the books and they can see that it exceeds what the direct bill costs are. Some won’t. In such cases, you have to pay for them out of pocket, and wait for the reimbursement from the Bursar’s office according to college rules.</p>
<p>My one cousin’s son gets a book stipend from his NROTC scholarship, but he has to buy his books out of pocket and get the reimbursement. </p>
<p>Since you are NOT starting college this fall, and have not gone through the whole financial aid process yet, please start reading some threads here that give you some general info on how it works. Your EFC is just a number generated by FAFSA that is usually the MINIMUM you will have to pay before getting any federal awards including subsidized loans, work study, etc. No school guarantees to meet need as defined by the FAFSA EFC. The vast majority of students who go away to school are gapped and have to pay more than the aid including self help like loans and work study, out of pocket. Getting a full ride is no easy thing. </p>
<p>Many outside awards are paid directly to the school, as others have noted, and getting a lot of award money is tough. My one son had nearly perfect SATs and he only got one outside award that was for $1500 (that did parlay into more, but still under $3K. Most of my kids’s awards were under $5K total. So getting big awards is a challenge.</p>
<p>Some colleges that cover the full tuition/room/board/fees with need based aid still require a student contribution. This can be paid using money earned at jobs, or by taking out loans.</p>
<p>Re: books. Are you working now, and during your HS senior year? And next summer prior to going to college? If so, this should give you enough money to purchase your first semester books, and have some spending money as well. If you get a job for 10 hours a week during college, you will likely have enough money for books the following semester, and spending money as well.</p>
<p>If you can purchase your fall books using your job earnings AND get a refund from the bursar during the fall term, you can use that money to pay for spring books.</p>
<p>As noted by someone…if you get outside scholarships, these MUST be reported to your college. This will reduce your financial need, and usually this results in a reduction of institutional need based aid beginning with work study, and loans. If you don’t have work study and loans, grants are reduced by most schools.</p>
<p>ETA, I don’t think anyone here was rude. </p>
<p>@cptofthehouse I’ll work hard to get them! And I’ve done my fair research of EFC. It took me a while to comprehend how sometimes a college uses outside scholarships to replace grants. 
</p>
<p>@thumper1 I actually have a job interview for Sears next week so I’m hoping I get the job! I’ll work around 20 hours a week and full time during the summer (if I get the job and I’m allowed to). I’ll definitely save money for college. I already have a container with all my spare change and every $5 I get goes in. But I think that’s going to pay the deposit fee. I’m going to save as much money as I can but I have a lot of senior fees this year but it shouldn’t total over $300 which shouldn’t dig too deep into my college fund. My mom doesn’t have much money saved up so I’m pretty much on my own. </p>
<p>Sorry if I called anyone rude. I read the responses when I was walking through the store. :-S </p>
<p>Yeah, great way to get continued help, nice one</p>
<p>The way the hypothetical scholarship would work is if all my fees for the school were already paid off. But it looks like different scholarships and colleges work different ways so I’ll have to investigate and ask my colleges.</p>
<p>@BrownParent Okay? If you don’t want to help then don’t.</p>