<p>Fortunately, my son received a large grant at the Little Ivy of his choice, as well as several outside scholarships, which will be applied at that college. Typically, these specifiy that the award is to be used for tuition, fees, books and supplies. My first question (to give me a little background before seeking clarification from the school & scholarship agencies) is: What generally constitutes "supplies"? As it stands now, excess portions of his outside scholarships will simply reduce his college grant--and that's fine. But I'm wondering, e.g., whether a laptop purchased at the campus bookstore would qualify under "supplies"? Thanks for any insights on this and any other expenses which might be covered.</p>
<p>According to the FAFSA rules a college can include the cost of purchasing a computer in the total COA. I would call and ask the FA department to increase the COA to buy a computer. I did this for D1 due to “extra” outside scholarships so we could use more of the scholarships before reducing grant aid. On the "Student Aid on the Web (sub page of FAFSA):</p>
<p>Cost of Attendance (COA) It is the total amount it will cost
you to go to school—usually expressed as a yearly figure. It’s
determined using rules established by law. The COA includes
tuition and fees; on-campus room and board (or a housing
and food allowance for off-campus students); and allowances
for books, supplies, transportation, loan fees, and, if applicable,
dependent care. It also includes miscellaneous and personal
expenses, including an allowance for the rental or purchase of a
personal computer.</p>
<p>PS - I did not buy the computer at the bookstore.</p>
<p>Sethcollege: we were in a similar situation last year, that’s what we did: we called every scholarship sponsor, for the renewable scholarship we asked if the scholarship could be used towards the cost of summer term or summer study abroad. For the one time scholarships we asked the same plus if it could be postponed for another academic year.</p>
<p>We ended up having 2 one time scholarships covering her summer earning and term job, and had the coa increased to cover the purchase of a computer. Her renewable scholarship is covering the cost of her summer abroad program, and another one time scholarship will be disbursed next fall.</p>
<p>We sent to the Financial aid office all the emails from the sponsors that approved the change so that the grants wouldn’t be reduced. It took us some time to decide the best way to apply each scholarship and get the emails from the sponsors, and the FA office did get a little confused with all the emails.</p>
<p>My advice: every time you call the scholarship organization get the name and email of the person that is authorized to make the decision, don’t take a no from the person that answer the phone. If you get it postponed for summer ask when it will be disburse and contact them as soon as your son is register for summer.</p>