<p>I’m leaning toward my state school which offers a free ride to national merit finalists. I am also guaranteed college money through another state program. Is there any scholarships that will simply give you the money in cash if all your needs are met through other scholarships? Thanks.</p>
<p>Very few. Most of the time, the scholarship money is given directly to the school. However, you can often get this money in the form of a disbursement from your school’s financial aid department (as if you’d overpaid, essentially), but that’s ONLY if the programs don’t simply agree to meet whatever isn’t met, and no more. </p>
<p>Does “free ride” entail free room and board, too? There are also those personal and travel expenses generally calculated into the ‘cost of attending,’ and some schools consider that a necessary amount (therefore the money would go to the school, and then to you as if you’d overpaid).</p>
<p>Remeber that all scholarship monies over the cost of tutition and books are taxable income to the student. So the free money that you are looking for over the cost of attendance is probably not going to be free.</p>