Scholarship - room and board

robincowles

Good afternoon,

I have a few questions related to scholarship payments:

Do you limit scholarship payments to tuition and fees required for enrollment or attendance at the educational institution, or for fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for courses at the educational institution?

Do you allow students to use scholarships for room and board?

If you allow students to use scholarships for room and board, are you letting students know that the amount may be taxable?

Thank you!

Robin Cowles

Fremont Area Community Foundation, MI

LaurieAbildso

We allow students to use scholarships for room and board and include this language in our scholarship award letters:

In certain situations, scholarship funds are considered taxable income for the recipient. The Internal Revenue Service provides information about scholarships on their website at https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc421. For questions about how this scholarship might impact you, please consult with a tax professional.

Hope this is helpful!

CarissaGump

Here is what we have in the Scholarship Follow Up form. We don't police it, but it is lose and open as the check is sent to the recipient, not the school.

NSCA Foundation Scholarships are awarded to students for their benefit at an educational institution, to aid in the pursuit of studies.  The student must be a candidate for a degree at the educational institution.  Under the terms of the NSCA Foundation program, the Scholarship funds must be used for:

 - Tuition and fees to enroll in or to attend an educational institution, or

 - Fees, books, supplies and equipment that are required for the educational courses

MadiSyring

We limit our scholarship payments to tuition and fees that are required for enrollment at an educational institution and do not allow expenses for room and board.

I see that you are MI based and so are we! A conversation that we have been having lately with the introduction of the Michigan Achievement Scholarship is scholarship displacement and where we go from here. With the scholarship being a first-dollar, last-dollar award, it increases the likelihood that our donor-sponsored scholarships will be displaced.

Currently, we do not plan to move toward a model that would include room and board, transportation costs, etc. Instead, we are encouraging state legislators to shift MI Achievement to either cover more of those indirect costs for students or be the first dollars in.

Another source that might be helpful for language and guidelines is this article from the IRS:

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc421

I hope this helps!