<p>1) Does financial need money provided by a college, once they determine you are a candidate, generally go towards covering room and board expenses too, or is it merely for tuition costs only?</p>
<p>2) Also, as far as scholarships go, are there many out there that can be used towards room and board? Or can the vast majority of scholarships out there only be used for tuition?</p>
<p>3)And lastly, it seems that many states have some form of merit scholarships set up so that a high school senior who gets above a certain score automatically qualifies to receive the scholarship money provided they go to an in-state college. Florida is one example of this type of program. Is there any chance that such a merit scholarship also applies to a student who is coming from out-of-state, say Missouri, to attend a college in that state, say, Florida? I figure no, but I want to make sure.</p>
<p>At my S's school (large state u) all of the financial aid/merit scholarship money is put into an account at the cashier's office. When the semester bills come due, the money in the account is applied. Tuition is paid first and then if there is more money in the account, room and board are also paid. If there is an excess (say you live off campus so there's no bill for room and board) then the excess funds are deposited in your checking account. Don't know if all schools work like this. We are in NC.</p>
<p>PackMom's situation is the norm. Your Financial Aid Letter should have laid out the cost of attendance (which should include a line referencing room and board). You should be able to tell if the package covers room and board (typically on-campus housing and meal plans).</p>
<p>Packmom: "then the excess funds are deposited in your checking account. " Once the money is in the account, can the student use it for his/her own purposes ? Like spend it on whatever they want/need ? Or is this money somehow "guarded" by the bursar's office, in case more fees arise ?</p>
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3)And lastly, it seems that many states have some form of merit scholarships set up so that a high school senior who gets above a certain score automatically qualifies to receive the scholarship money provided they go to an in-state college. Florida is one example of this type of program. Is there any chance that such a merit scholarship also applies to a student who is coming from out-of-state, say Missouri, to attend a college in that state, say, Florida? I figure no, but I want to make sure
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<p>I don't know about other states, but Florida's Bright Futures program applies only to Florida residents.</p>
<p>1) Depends on the school, but I know my school used to offer full tuition scholarships as well as a few full tuition + room and board scholarships. They recently cut the scholarships that include room and board also because they found it wasn't a big factor in whether students chose to attend or not. Since IIT tends to fall into the mainstream of things, I would suspect this is fairly normal. However, this isn't to say you can't find scholarships to cover room and board, but these are usually private scholarships that you stack on top of the ones you get from the school.</p>
<p>This isn't to say that room and board is any easier to pay for, however. I find that, at my school, tuition goes up about 5% a year, but the increases in room and board are 15-20%/year. And our costs are about average for a private university.</p>
<p>Indeed, I remember back when my parents were considering saving up some money to help me get through college, they expected that the entire cost would probably be around $10k. But now, just room and board alone in some colleges costs that much.</p>
<p>dont forget that if you receive a scholarship that covers room and board, that amount is to be claimed as income on your federal taxes.
And if you don't even the tinest amount will have inerest and penalties attached :(</p>