<p>In reading every one's posts it seems that on the 1098T the grants listed in item 5 may include grants or merit aid which is not required to be used for only tuition.</p>
<p>How can you tell? If you look up each award item, where would you find the answer? For example, I am reading websites for a neighbor kid and don't see anything on the Pell grant that requires the $$ to be used only for tuition. Am I right? If not, where have you found that info?</p>
<p>Unless the grant or scholarship is explicitly restricted or dedicated to tuition only or to books only or to room & board only, the assumption is it is fungible.</p>
<p>My daughter has a full tuition waiver scholarship and she also gets the Pell. So her Pell can not be spent on tuition and is spent on other expenses. So pell can definitely be spent on other things.</p>
<p>swimcatsmom: I realize that this question is elementary, but please hang with me. If the scholarship is $10.00, the tuition and fees are $6.00, books are $1.00, then $3.00 is taxable, correct? No other college expenses can be used to reduce the taxable amount (R&B, orientation fees, AP exams, computer)</p>
<p>One other question, if tuition is paid in December of 2009 for a class that takes place in January of 2010, on which tax return is it used?</p>
<p>(There is a method to my madness!)</p>