Off campus and 529 questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
1

I have XXX dollars in my college fund. I qualify for the Presidential scholarship plus engineering scholarship.

If I graduate from UA in 4 years in engineering college, I will get 10k (total engineering scholarship) cash and be able to use the remainder of my fund for grad school.

So my questions…

  1. How many students stay on campus after their first year?
  2. What does the off campus housing situation look like? More expensive? Less?
  3. So the 529 will work for Room & Board. Does that mean I can expense FOOD PRICING and off campus housing up to the cost of R&B?
  4. What does 529 value the room and board cost? The cheapest room? Most expensive? Advertised?
  5. What happens to my engineering scholarship if I go off campus? What do I use the 2500 a year on?
2

I can only help answer #1. Practically no one besides RAs or students with disabilities stay on campus after the first year.

3

Let’s see if I can help a little.

  1. Not many students stay on campus after first year. There just aren't enough beds for everyone. Priority given to freshmen, RA's, and medicals. Then what ever beds are left are given out. Not sure of that priority.
  2. Some much more, some less. Depends on proximity to campus, amenities, newness of construction.

3 and 4. Don’t know, someone else will surely add to my answers and answer this as well.

  1. Whatever expenses you have. I know that sounds simplistic, but any scholarship funds you have left over will be direst deposited to the account you set up with UA. Things such as books, parking pass, football tickets, class and lab fees will come out of the Engineering Scholarship.
4

I’ll give it a shot.

  1. Practically no one except RAs, there just isn't enough space, UA has even had to lease privately-owned apartments to fill space in the past.
  2. Less expensive overall. There are a variety of different options (apartments, condos, houses, etc) in different locations all with their own pros and cons.
  3. As I understand it you can expense up to what the maximum equivalent you would pay for on-campus housing/food.
  4. 529 covers the "equivalent" which can be interpreted as the maximum. Seeing as the majority of UA housing is the suite-style which are the maximum, that would seem fair, but go by the official costs of attendance.
  5. It depends. If they just give you a check, you can use it for whatever you want, the assumption being it would be school related.
5

For all the 529 questions, it is up to my bank provider (Fidelity).

The off campus housing depends on the average cost of housing at Alabama on campus.

How does Alabama afford to give out all these scholarships??? I can understand “just one more student in the class room” ideology for the presidential. But the engineering scholarship? If I am not staying on campus, I can pocket the 2500$… They’re paying me to attend there?

I don’t have a degree in finance or an MBA, but the numbers don’t add up right

6

Jpgranier: The $2500/yr goes to your class/lab fees and any other charges made to your UA account (such as football tickets). Then the remainder is refunded to you, and you can use that towards your rent and your books. It works well and is very helpful!