<p>What would happen if I get third-party scholarships on top of a full ride from Macaulay Honors, CUNY? Would those scholarships be voided, or will it go directly into my pocket?</p>
<p>A “full ride” scholarship usually only covers tuition, fees, room, board, and books. It usually does not cover Cost of Attendance…which includes transportation and personal expenses. So, additional scholarships can go towards those costs. The school will refund the money to you to use towards trans and personal expenses.</p>
<p>^But be aware, I’ve heard you have to pay taxes on scholarship money not used towards tuition and books.</p>
<p>That is absolutely true. Students who get big merit awards need to make sure to set aside money for federal and state taxes.</p>
<p>kelsmom would it be needed to do so if it was all spent on expenses?</p>
<p>You will owe taxes on any scholarships/grants in excess of tuition, mandatory fees, and book expenses. Of course, you don’t have to file if you don’t have earnings of more than the requirement to file for federal purposes … so say you don’t have a job & the only thing you have is $4000 more scholarships/grants than qualified expenses. In that case, you don’t have to file, because your exemption is high enough that taxes owed will be 0. (this is assuming you don’t have any other income that requires you to file)</p>
<p>But you can’t use any expenses like room, board, travel, etc to offset the taxable amount. So if the amount + your earnings puts you at the point where you are required to file a return, you must do so (and pay the taxes).</p>
<p>So the extra scholarships will be taxed, and the money thats left after taxes will go in pocket, where I am able to use them for transportation costs, etc?</p>
<p>You can receive scholarships up to the COA (cost of attendance) of the school. The COA will be in your financail aid letter.</p>
<p>If a scholarship is specifically designated as a “tuition” stipend, and covers all tuition, would it then be impossible to accept another scholarship from an outside source that is also specifically desginated as a “tuition” stipend?</p>
<p>Younger D was accepted to Macaulay a couple years ago, and NEVER received a financial aid letter :\ That is one of my beefs with CUNY, how disorganized things like that were. The financial aid office at Brooklyn College looked at us like we were from Mars when we asked when we would be receiving the letter. They looked it up on the computer and I just wrote it down :</p>
<p>Macaulay gives free tuition, less whatever you get from TAP. So if you are talking about TAP, your net gain is ZERO.</p>
<p>If the scholarship is specifically for tuition, you may as well turn it down. But if the terms of the scholarship is that you can use it for any educational expense (books, transportation, etc.), then it goes “into your pocket.” But as kelsmom and others advise, be sure and set some aside to pay taxes, because money not used for tuition is taxable.</p>
<p>So the extra scholarships will be taxed, and the money thats left after taxes will go in pocket, where I am able to use them for transportation costs, etc? </p>
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<p>The extra scholarships won’t actually “be taxed.” No tax is taken out for you. If you do owe tax on them, it’s paid by you when you do your federal tax return at the end of the year. Depending on your state, you may also owe state taxes.</p>