<p>I can’t technically whine, since I am in the aid business & know full well how it all works. But #1 got such amazing aid from a top 20 school … and #2 got aid that met need. He will be at a medium size state school (good school for his program), but it will actually cost us more than his sister’s expensive private school. I wish we could send him to the private school he likes … but it’s just not going to happen. We could probably handle the first 4 years, but he is doing a 6 year program. Those last two years will be really expensive without any grants (no grants for professional phase) … the state school will be half the price, with a good opportunity for scholarships for professional phase. So I’ll feel free to whine. Wish I could give him what he wants, but he will be fine. In the end, he’ll be a pharmacist who can live near a mountain & he’ll have enough money to snowboard to his heart’s content. That will be success for him.</p>
<p>mommusic, I haven’t followed this whole thread, but I think you are focused on need-based aid. The word “scholarship” generally refers to merit-based money, and of course a student can accept a scholarship that is excess of costs. Back when my son was applying to colleges, we got a lot of mail from schools which were offering National Merit finalists just that: a full ride plus some sort of extra “stipend”. My son wasn’t interested in that at the time… but years later he applied for a merit scholarship and a fellowship for his senior year… ended up getting more money than he anticipated and ended up with more money than overall COA. He did try to report the situation to the agency that awarded the first merit scholarship – but they didn’t want the money back. (They had already done their awards and distributions for the year)</p>
<p>And of course he had to pay taxes on the excess. </p>
<p>Obviously, organizations that give scholarships would prefer that their money go to individuals who badly need the money – but many private scholarships are administered more like prizes or awards. Once they have designated the recipient, they want to close their books for that year, not see a full accounting.</p>
<p>If a student has a combination of need based aid and scholarships, they do need to report the scholarships to the school, and the school will not give “need” money that exceeds COA. But it is possible for a student to end up with a combination of private scholarships and school-awarded merit money that exceeds the COA. </p>
<p>I don’t think you see this much at colleges with a very high COA because of the amount of money needed to meet that. I mean – if the COA is $55K per year… you need a lot of scholarships to get that. The year my son ended up with a surplus he was enrolled in a public college with an annual tuition of around $3600 - so it was a pretty low COA overall.</p>
<p>Calmom–all I know is U.C. says if you get scholarships from outside sources, you have to let them know, and they may reduce their MERIT aid IF it exceeds direct and indirect costs. My son only has merit aid, not need-based.</p>
<p>Once you are assured of a free ride from NMF status, it is easy to get “excess” money. Of course, you have to be looking at a school that gives free rides.</p>
<p>I am grateful to have smart kids that have always gotten lots of merit aid; they didn’t always accept it cause sometimes there was a school they decided was better for them. I didn’t mind paying SOME money for what was best for them.</p>
<p>I realize I’m not whining. sorry. ;)</p>
<p>But I don’t think you should have to pay taxes on scholarship money you never see because it goes to pay expenses!</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure you can’t accept scholarships in excess of costs. The maximum you can get would be to cover tuition, room, board, and indirect costs such as books. (You can’t bank the excess!)>></p>
<p>Sure you can. The school just holds it and applies it to the next year. This is in regards to outside scholarships, not institutional grants, etc.</p>
<p>It is difficult to be on full need-based aid and yet be expected to pay taxes on it in excess of $1000! >></p>
<p>The money may be taxable, but that doesn’t mean that you actually have to pay the tax. It depends on other income, etc and what your actual tax liability is. It might very well be $0.</p>
<p>Mommusic, you are just looking at one school’s policy in terms of reducing the aid it gives. Any donor can set their own policies.</p>
<p>That’s not the same as “can’t”. </p>
<p>As I’ve noted, given the cost of private colleges, it would be pretty hard for someone to cobble together enough merit aid to exceed the COA, so it probably is very infrequent. But if a scholarship is not based on need, then the outside sources may not even inquire as to COA. </p>
<p>Again, we all agree the excess would be taxable. The scholarship is proceeds are reported to IRS, and there is a 1098-T that pretty much states what the allowable educational costs are – so you do the math and subtract one from the other.</p>
<p>Another package in, another whine!<br>
Cost of Attendance $43500 (up from under $40,00 last year!!! - that’s quite a jump!)
Merit $15000
Grant $2900
Work Study $2000</p>
<p>Perkins $2000
Staff $3500
Unsub Staff $2000</p>
<p>S’s portion of our EFC $9500</p>
<p>Gap: $4600 + the $9500 in 1st year loans above! </p>
<p>It’s the loans that are the worst to me - I know they would likely increase year after year. We’d be looking at loans likely to equal one year of attendance at the school. He wasn’t hugely attached to this school - it was the last one he applied to - but I’d say it’s probably comfortably off the list now. I also want to whine about the big increase in COA - bummer!</p>
<p>Whine over, moving on now to wait for the next package to come. :)</p>
<p>OK I have to whine about having no FA packages in yet. I have checked websites and D checks the mailbox every day - nothing! She has been offered a $16,500 scholarship at one school but haven’t gotten the official FA package. Haven’t heard much from the other schools except to ask for more forms. We’re getting concerned about housing at the one big university since they don’t guarantee freshman housing. They go by the date that you pay your housing deposit. We can’t pay the housing deposit until we are sure that’s where D wants to go and we can’t do that until we see the FA package and they say that won’t be until mid-April - major UGH!</p>
<p>abasket–wow, that’s lousy!</p>
<p>I checked OSU’s web site and saw the sentence I have seen many other places–to the effect that awards may not exceed the cost of an OSU education. You have to tell the university about outside awards, and they may reduce your scholarships accordingly.</p>
<p>That said, there is a generous allowance for “personal expenses”-- it’s $4,572 on the OSU site–which means above and beyond books, R & B, & tuition.</p>
<p>I remember one of my sons got a generous scholarship from the engineering dept. at one school which was also awarding him full ride due to NMF. It was just a case of the right hand not knowing what the left was doing, I think, but he could not have accepted all of that award. (Or rather they would not have awarded it when it went thru the Finaid office and they saw what was going on!)</p>
<p>Whine on…</p>
<p>At one school that my dd considered, her scholarships would have exceeded COA if she had received the top award. The school told us that the money could not exceed the COA - but there were ways to raise the COA to use up all the money. For example, some of the funds could be shifted to the summer and used for study abroad. Some could be used to purchase a computer. The school would help figure out ways to do this.</p>
<p>I had the impression that the COA limit on scholarships was a government rule, which kicked in because some of the funds came from a state-funded scholarship. The state, not the school, would reduce its award if COA were exceeded - even though all of the money, including the state-funded part, was merit-based.</p>
<p>If all of the funds had been from the school itself or from private scholarships, I don’t know if the rule would have applied. However, dd did not get the top award and did not attend that school, so we never looked further into the issue.</p>
<p>AB (#287) $43,500 CoA, sounds like a OOS public to me.</p>
<p>I have seen so many similar loan packages this year
may be this is a new trend in FA. </p>
<p>In any case, I would still think it is o.k. to take only those subsidized loans. They will go up so the total loan amount for 4 years may be in the $25,000 - 35,000 range. Should be manageable.</p>
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<p>Well, my mom has never actually paid taxes (but we usually get a $4000 refund), so I don’t know anything about taxes. How do I know what my tax liability is?</p>
<p>DadII , actually is it NOT a OOS public, it is an OOS private. Even if we took the subs loans, we would have to come up with $2000 extra for the unsub along with the gap $$$ - not likely happening nor a good idea for us.</p>
<p>A private cost less than $45K a year. That is like such a bargin for any FP family. </p>
<p>The CoA for all the private schools I have seen are >$55K now.</p>
<p>^^^ Not true at all - at least not in the midwest. There are LOADS of private schools out there!</p>
<p>Merit aid is somewhat null because both schools meet 100% of need without loans and my EFC is 0. The difference is that Stanford, as of the financial aid estimate, required $1000 toward the CoA whereas WashU us offering me $3900 a year in a refund check - with no work study.</p>
<p>So, are you saying that Stanford put W/S in the package and didn’t pad the COA as much as WashU?</p>
<p>Is the WashU refund check to cover incidentals and travel?</p>
<p>*I have no idea. If they are taxed, I certainly can’t pay the taxes. *</p>
<p>Some may be taxed, but your income is low, so perhaps you won’t owe much. If some is taxed and you will owe, then you’ll have to set aside some of that WashU money for taxes (If you go to WashU). You need to find out. Scholarships for housing and meals are taxed.</p>
<p>Applicanot…you would file the taxes (if needed) on any taxable aid, not your mom. You’re receiving the money, not your mom.</p>
<p>Another financial aid offer. This one had a 10K gap in addition to the 7K in loans for the student…I am unhappy that these colleges expect us to pay $40k - $60k for undergrad (since for us it will be all loans).</p>
<p>Scholarship monies would be taxable to YOU, not your mom. To get a very rough idea, you can fill out an online tax form with estimated earnings and taxable scholarship monies (use the room/board costs for a guide). It will tell you tax owed after exemptions, deductions, etc. Just don’t submit it!</p>
<p>*Another financial aid offer. This one had a 10K gap in addition to the 7K in loans for the student…I am unhappy that these colleges expect us to pay $40k - $60k for undergrad (since for us it will be all loans). *</p>
<p>I know that it’s frustrating when EFC and gap must be borrowed, but in reality, it’s not unreasonable for a school to expect families to pay $10-15k per year for a private education. Private high school costs that much each year. For a private college, that’s a bargain. </p>
<p>However, if that’s not affordable, then perhaps cheaper options must be considered. :)</p>