One of my kids has a ‘full scholarship’ which covers tuition, fees, room, board and provides a books voucher.
Note:
Room is for a standard double. Moving to a single means we pay the difference
Meals is for a standard, generous meal plan. If she gets a lesser meal plan it is still covered but they DO NOT refund the cost difference to her.
Books is a book voucher for $450 per semester at the campus book store for books and school supplies (including printer ink and paper, etc.). Some kids have been able to buy things like umbrellas, clothes etc. at the book store with it as well. Again, the money not used on the voucher is not refunded.
Tuition and fees is her full tuition and all mandatory fees
It covers 8 semesters.
The FASFA still must be filed (seems ridiculous, but it allows for the student to get the federal loan if needed, at anytime in the year. We have to file anyway for our older one not on a scholarship so it is not too much of a burden)
There is a GPA requirement that must be met (tallied for the year, at the end of the spring semester–important to note as if you slip up, you cannot use the summer to get the GPA up to keep the scholarship)
There are minimum credit hours that must be taken each semester
A friend at another university has a full cost of attendance scholarship. His tuition, fees, room and board are paid for and he gets a couple of thousand+ back a year to cover books, estimated travel expenses, etc. If he chooses not to use the meal plan or not to live on campus, they give him that money to use as he pleases for room and board wherever.
His GPA requirement is higher
He has a service requirement as well to keep his scholarship
Make sure you FULLY know what you must do to keep your scholarship and are aware of implications of dropping meal plan, moving off campus, etc. @redandblack
(and as @Mom2aphysicsgeek said, there are tax implications to consider)
Finally, it provides a lot of freedom to have a full ride, congratulations. Yes, there is the GPA stress,but usually scholarship kids would put the stress on themselves to get those grades anyway