If a student receives the full BK and gets outside scholarships as well, UMD says the BK may be reduced. What does that mean…do they give the difference to the student as in a personal check or deposit into a umd account?
I may be wrong and suggest you call the BK office. But I THINK that the school allows full BK recipients to keep up to $3,650 per year starting next year in outside scholarships as being up to “cost of attendance.” Above that amount the BK scholarship would be reduced dollar for dollar. As to how the funds are disbursed I just don’t know. If you find out please post.
No
Let me use the 2014-2015 cost of attendance as an example:
Total COA is $24352
B/K scholarship for 2014-2015 is $21190 (full, 2015-2016 amount is higher ~22K)
The difference is Personal expense ($1680) plus Transportation expense ($1476)=$3162 which is not covered by B/F.
If the outside scholarship is < or = $3162. You will keep all the money to cover personal expense and transportation charges.
If the outside scholarship is >$3162, You will keep $3162. The excess will go to UMD (not your wallet). In doing so, they will reduce the B/F amount so that the total B/F + outside scholarship=COA.
No
Let me use the 2014-2015 cost of attendance as an example:
Total COA is $24352
B/K scholarship for 2014-2015 is $21190 (full, 2015-2016 amount is higher ~22K)
The difference is Personal expense ($1680) plus Transportation expense ($1476)=$3162 which is not covered by B/F.
If the outside scholarship is < or = $3162. You will keep all the money to cover personal expense and transportation charges.
If the outside scholarship is >$3162, You will keep $3162. The excess will go to UMD (not your wallet). In doing so, they will reduce the B/F amount so that the total B/F + outside scholarship=COA.
I called and they said you could apply any outside scholarship to the BK is excess of $2490 which apparently is the difference in fees for the total cost and the BK award. Any outside scholarships over that amount would either have to be forfeited or if accepted would reduce the amount UMD would give you for the BK. They didn’t sound too sure about that and I’m still confused. I was told by someone that any if outside scholarship money was used that the deduction from the school’s BK would either be reimbursed to the student’s personal account or at worse used in a UMD Terp Express account or for future semesters. Anyone been in this situation or can shed some light?
Thanks for the clarification. I actually responded before I saw the post from Ireadcc. That makes sense. UMD says that you must report all outside scholarships…I was wondering if ALL outside scholarships have to be used on Tuition, Room/Board and other school related fees from said chosen University or do they allow you to use the funds for outside personal expenses that will surely come up…ie laptop, software, printer. I guess that’s the same as personal account money. 
I know it may seem like a silly question…just curious and all of you guys are SO VERY knowledgeable and helpful…THANKS!
My son who was not a BK student, but did had the Presidential and several departmental and outside scholarships, frequently would receive a check in the mail from UMD for the difference in funds that were in excess of what he owed. For him at least they did not put it on Terp Express account - again, this could be different though for BK students. This was just his experience.
That’s welcome information. Don’t get me wrong my son was awarded the Full BK and we are beyond grateful to the University! He has worked extremely and deserves everything as I’m sure all of these hard working kids do. My son has already applied to 30+ outside scholarships, none of which has been awarded yet, some of which we hope he may get. He’s still in the process of applying to others…that being said I think it’s a shame if he must forfeit some of his outside scholarships or not be awarded his FULL BK because of an excess in tuition money on academic merits he’s earned. It’s on merit…not complaining in any way, shape or form…BLESSED! Just didn’t understand the process. It really does make sense and as far as the outside scholarships go, I would much rather have that money go to someone else who needs it to pay for school rather than just taking it when the full tuition is already taken care of.
@sbhamm, students can receive up to the Cost of Attendance (COA) which is adjusted annually and can be found here:
http://www.admissions.umd.edu/costs/
If a student has more than this amount in scholarships/grants then the BK will be reduced to bring the total back to COA. Any overages after your tuition, fees, dorm, meal plan, can be deposited electronically to the student’s bank account if you wish. (that’s what I did). If you want more than COA, then you must find a paying position (I was a TA) and you will be paid as a state employee, separate from your scholarships.
Scholarships/grants are to attend college. That’s why they are limited to COA. Anything beyond that would be a stipend.
Wait till you see how many thousands your son must return to federal/state/county in income taxes since any part of your scholarships that go beyond your tuition, fees, books, etc. is fully taxable. :-?
Thanks I am now getting the picture…I think. If the excess amount of the total (COA) if fully taxable then it would probably be best to not have it deposited into the student’s bank account? So as an example if the total COA is 25K and the BK is worth 21K and I have an outside scholarship worth 5k, I would have an excess in funds of 1k which would reduce the BK funds by 1k which I could then put into a student account which possibly would be taxed? In a nutshell is it worth it to continue applying for outside scholarships if you have the Full BK and possibly will have an excess of money in outside scholarships? You essentially won’t benefit in any way if you have more than the total COA?
I don’t quite understand. So, say COA is 25,000 and I got full 21,000 along with a 5,000 dollar external scholarship. That means 1000$ is taken off from BK so I get 20,000$ BK and 5,000 scholarship, adding up to perfectly pay off the COA. … so where is this taxable money coming into play?
Does the taxable money only apply if I were to get, say, a 40,000$ external scholarship and 15,000 would go to my bank account for free spending but is taxed?
Exactly…still confused. Let’s say I have 10k in outside scholarship money and use all of it towards UMD COA and that reduces the BK amount to from 21k to 11k. Will Maryland automatically reimburse me the portion of the BK not used or will it just go back to UMD? If so why couldn’t it be used for future expenses in the following semesters. The BK will cover the yearly price increase but each year the student will still have his or her personal/trasportation etc fees not covered in the BK. Why can’t it be used for that or as I stated previously in like a Terp Express account but as @plumazul stated it would be taxable. This is a good problem and not really a problem compared to those kids and their parents who are trying to figure out how to pay the cost of tuition itself. I just want to understand how the process works. Really would like all the scholarship money earned to be given to the student and inevitably used at the University but don’t want to have to pay a heavy tax if it exceeds the COA for that school year. 
@eding97 and @sbhamm, Each scholarship sponsor has a fine print or policy which recipients have to follow if they accept the scholarship. If you accept B/K scholarship, you have to adhere to its policy about outside scholarship. Whether there is any arrangement for excess scholarship money, I believe it will be determined between UMD and your scholarship sponsor.
I am not an tax expert but I learn by experience. Just talking about B/K (no outside scholarship), the money which covers room and meals is considered as taxable incomes. Look out for the 1099T from UMD next tax season and you will learn more then.
Thanks @Ireadcc, I appreciate the simplistic breakdown and response. I guess next year after the 1099T comes and I have a year under my belt I’ll chuckle at my lack of knowledge regarding this subject and I hope that by asking these questions someone a year from now can reread this thread and have a better understanding of a WONDERFUL situation. Maybe I’ll be an expert and can assist someone else.
If people are reading this next year it is quite simple. Up to cost of attendance (let’s assume $25,000) the money is deposited into the students UMD account and the student’s expenses are drawn against that account. About a month into the semester any money left in that account is sent to the student in the form of a check. That check is meant to cover books etc. that are not directly charged to the students UMD account. If total scholarships total more than $25,000 the amount that UMD puts into the account for the B/K scholarship is reduced to make the total $25,000. That money does not go to the student, UMD holds on to it. So other than prestige it does not make sense to apply for outside scholarships above the COA.
As far as taxes tuition money is not taxed. Any money over tuition is taxable and you will receive a 1099T from UMD stating what that dollar amount is. Still beneficial to receive scholarships up to full COA because obviously after taxes you still have money left over!
For those who receive more scholarship money than COA, this link might be helpful: