When You Have a Full Ride...

<p>Okay, look. I am expecting to get a full ride to a school in Oklahoma. Call me cocky, but I'm pretty confident that I will get it. :P</p>

<p>The problem is that with the full ride, I think they will use any outside scholarships I have to pay for it. Is there any way I can use an outside scholarship or something to pay for things like laptops? Parking space? Etc? Go to college with a REAL full ride?</p>

<p>I am entering a scholarship for 500 dollars.They said I can actually use the money for anything. So I'm assuming if I put down my scholarships on that form, I won't have to put this down. Are there any more scholarships like this? Its like free money just for being in highschool.</p>

<p>I don't entirely know, but my guess would be that it depends on how the scholarship is awarded. In my case, the groups that offered me scholarship money all wanted to make the checks out to the school registrar anyway -- I actually had to send them proof of enrollment, and they sent the check directly to the office.</p>

<p>Some will award cash or checks directly to you, in which case the money is really yours to do with as you please -- just remember that it's probably considered "gift money" when it comes time for taxes.</p>

<p>Also, even the checks that come to you (that you think are gift money and thus must start using your tax evasion skills for) may be considered as scholarship/EFC money. See, by law, scholarships hafta inform the college that they are awarding you this money. So, if it's a sizeable scholarship, your school will know...</p>

<p>It depends on if the scholarship is awarded directly to you, or in name of the university. I had several outside scholarships, including a full-ride. The university then pulled back some of its aid after learning of my outside scholarships. Therefore, it was practically useless for me to apply for these scholarships if I had received it from the university in the first place. However, if your university only matches your financial need as listed on your financial aid award letter, any money after that is left to account for your expected family contribution. So if you have over your EFC, they can give you positive credit in your account, and therefore, cash. It just depends on the school and your financial aid award letter.</p>

<p>I think it depends on how your full ride is granted to you. I have a 10K scholarship from a school where tuition is about 11K. I had a loan and a couple of grants to cover the rest. I had about 5K in outside scholarships. They took away my loans and all but one of my grants. I submitted the scholarship money directly to the school and after making my bill they gave me the remainder. If you talk to other people, this isn't possible, but it did happen to me and other people I know :) So yeah, I have a real full ride.</p>