Michigan disburses aid within a few days after the beginning of the semester. You can’t charge supplies to your account here.
This works out fine- don’t buy books until after the start of the semester. Professors don’t expect you to have the book the first day because they know that people are still adjusting their schedules.
Umich also offers interest-free short term loans (interest free if paid back within 90 days) that can help students in a pinch and then can be repaid once excess financial aid is received.
@romanigypsyeyes thank you! Yeah, I figured I wouldn’t be able to use the money right away.
My main question still hasn’t been quite answered: how do I report any grant money not used for tuition, books, and other education-related fees? Do I have to file taxes and when asked about source of income, say “grants and work study”? Again, I don’t want to lose any aid because I took advantage of left over money given to me by the school.
You don’t have to report what the grant money was used for, just that you received $500 from the local Elks club or DAR. The school will add that to any aid you received through them, including Pell, scholarships, any scholarships sent to the offjce. In January, you may receive a form 1098T which will show how much was billed for Qualified educational expenses and how much you received in FA. You use that to complete your taxes. If you don’t get this form, you can add it all up off your billing statement. I just did this for my daughter last night.
The information is used to determine in you have received too much in aid, too much in loans and whether loans should be subbed or unsubbed.
Echoing: U of M issues you a tax form that lays out direct, billable costs and how much in aid you received. If you work a job (work study or not), you’ll receive a tax form for that too.
Keep track of your receipts for books and all that, too. I take a screen shot every time I purchase a book (because I do all my book shopping online) and put it in a file on my computer. I also keep a running list in Excel. Easy to keep track that way and serves as a double check to make sure I haven’t missed anything.
You report any outside scholarships you earn to your college. They might reduce your FA, they might reduce your loans, they might reduce your work-study, they might not reduce anything.
NEXT year, when you do taxes, you'll file and report how much you got in scholarships and how much your qualified education costs were (tuition, necessary fees, books etc - not room and board or optional items). The difference will need to be reported on your taxes and is taxable. But you get a standard deduction, probably around $6300, and you won't pay taxes on that part. You will owe taxes on anything above that. I'm over simplifying but that's the gist - come back next year when you file and we can help.
You will do FAFSA and maybe the CSS Profile FA forms, but only for your own school.
Your college knows that is scholarship money and will not reduce your financial aid because you received it.
When you fill out the FAFSA , you will report the scholarship that is taxable as income. Then at some point, the FAFSA will ask you what part of the income was from scholarships. The same thing will be asked when report your cash assets. In this manner, if you fill the FAFSA form out correctly, the scholarship income and cash assets from FA this year should not effect your FA next year.
Read IRS PUB 970 for details about what is taxable. If filed correctly, your tax return will have the scholarship amount listed to the left of the income amount with the letters SCH. Most tax preparation software will handle this for you. There are many threads here that have been posted that will help you understand this. It is relatively straight forward as long as you understand how to properly treat the 1089T (a form sent by the schools that list scholarships and expenses that qualify for QEE).
Oh I see the misunderstanding. All grants have been received from the state of Michigan and the college, nothing from anywhere else. They are all grants except one scholarship from the university itself.