<p>Twinmom - I know that for my son his 1098-T has tuition only for Fall, 2009 and Spring, 2010. Last year it was the same. But the 1098-T for 2008 showed only the scholarship for the first semester. I don’t know why, but I assume it has something to do with the change of end of semester this year as compared to last. In any event, this year’s 1098-T shows scholarship income for the second semester last year as well as both semesters this year. Theoretically, it could push a student who has a substantial, but not full, scholarship into an income position this year. The other question I have not asked is whether the scholarship could be income averaged.</p>
<p>After two years of headache trying to get their stuff out of storage in their house in the fall, son and roommate want to do this a little differently. Plus both have to be at their internships almost immediately following their last finals so it may make sense to get some professional packers/movers, which we understand Harvard students often do. They have accumulated quite a lot of stuff . . .</p>
<p>Has anyone here got any advice on this?</p>
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<p>We did not attend the official prefrosh weekend due to some schedule conflict. So we did an ad hoc overnight stay with a student on campus at both MIT and Harvard - on back to back nights. At both schools she followed her host student around to classes during the day and slept on the dorms overnight. Both schools’ admissions departments were very helpful in lining up a willing host student.</p>
<p>While she was doing this I stayed in a nearby hotel and did my own independent tour of the colleges and sat in on a few classes myself.</p>
<p>When I picked her up after all this I asked if she was ready to make a choice (MIT had been her top choice for months, and she was reluctant to let go of it). She pondered for a while longer and said “Harvard!” So we went back to the Coop to buy Harvard mugs to fill with candy and give to the teachers who had written recs for her. And that was that.</p>
<p>Hat: Thanks again. I’m going to call them in the morning.</p>
<p>Regarding Pre-frosh weekend: I stayed in a hotel and my daughter stayed on campus. Her host was an upperclassman and had no interest in being with her. My daughter was “quadded” yet managed to find her way around and meet lots of people. We met up once or twice during the weekend when she texted me that she had some down time. That’s when we went to the Coop to buy a sweatshirt since they had already given her a free Harvard 2010 shirt. She is still friends with some of the people that she met at pre-frosh today!</p>
<p>Parents of incoming students: I strongly recommend the pre-orientation programs and suggest that your kids sign up if they accept Harvard’s offer. Almost all of my daughter’s closest friends are from her pre-orientation program. It was great for her to get there a week early and get the lay of the land. FUP, FOP, FAP … they all have great reputations but close out early.</p>
<p>Here’s last year’s link: <a href=“http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~fop/Documents/09%20Pre-O%20Brochure.pdf[/url]”>http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~fop/Documents/09%20Pre-O%20Brochure.pdf</a></p>
<p>^^Amen. My daughter spent two years as a FOP leader and thought it was a fantastic program.</p>
<p>Ditto for FUP.</p>
<p>Hat, I am in the same boat as you regarding the 1098-T. Please let us know what you find out when you call.</p>
<p>I think the problem is due to the change in the semesters, as has been suggested, and maybe also when they actually received and credited the tuition and scholarship payments, which would be related to that issue.</p>
<p>One thing I noticed that is different between my two kids’ (at different schools) 1098-T forms is that on the H one, box 7 is checked to indicate the the amount in “box 2 includes amounts for an academic period beginning January - March 2010,” and on the one from the other college, it is not. </p>
<p>That doesn’t answer anyone’s question, but maybe it will make sense after someone calls the FA office.</p>
<p>I called the service that Harvard uses to generate the 1098 - T via the number generated on the web site that was given. They had no record of one being generated this year.</p>
<p>I then called Financial Aid who directed me to Student Receivables.</p>
<p>The posters who spoke to this dilemma above were correct. They did not generate a 1098 - T if the scholarship received exceeded the amount of qualified tuition.</p>
<p>The catch is that this is related to the calendar change: Any scholarship given in 12/09 was for the spring term of 2010. In the past, this was posted in January, February or March. When I suggested that this would be confusing to many taxpayers, I was pleasantly told that it would “even out in the future.” Being that I am not an accountant (by any means) this was not all that clear to me, so if you have questions about this, you’d need to call.</p>
<p>At any rate, she did give me the numbers of the amount paid in 2009, the amount of qualified tuition and fees, and scholarships for 2009. I only wish the number she gave me for scholarship was truly what we received for 2009! ;)</p>
<p>One would think that they would have sent out a note of explanation after the calendar change, but it wasn’t so.</p>
<p>I hope this helps someone with the same questions that I had. If not, call Student Receivables and they’ll go through it with you again.</p>
<p>Thanks, Twinmom, I just called the Student Receivables Office (SRO) and received the same explanation as you did regarding the calendar change. SRO did, however, give me the following information:</p>
<ol>
<li> Qualified Tuition and Fees: $XX,XXX.00</li>
<li> Scholarships and Grants: $XX,XXX.00</li>
<li> Payments and Loans: $XX,XXX.00</li>
</ol>
<p>I think, as indicated by a previous poster, that this is potentially problematic for tax purposes because if 2 is greater than 1, the difference may be taxable.</p>
<p>MSMDAD: As I indicated, they gave me that information too. It may indeed be problematic, depending on the individual’s tax situation.</p>
<p>Will it even out? Yes (assuming there are no further changes in how they compute 1098-Ts). Had they not changed, your son or daughter would have gotten a 1098-T for their final semester which would have been for one semester of scholarship and zero semesters of tuition. BTW, I gave the 1098-T to our accountant and they did not pick up on the excess of scholarship over tuition. I had to point it out to them.</p>
<p>Please, please, please someone on here give me advice on off-campus storage for summer!</p>
<p>Can’t comment on 1098 issue - we just close our eyes and give them all our money every six months.</p>
<p>sewhappy - There is an outfit that will drop off boxes for the kids to pack, then picks them up and I believe delivers them the next year to their house. They should be advertising heavily (probably in the Crimson and other places) about now. Sorry, but I don’t know the name (and sorry you don’t have the 1098-T problem).</p>
<p>I remember there were problems with one of those companies a few years back; it might be a good idea to ask around. (IYou might find something about it here if you search.)</p>
<p>[Collegeboxes</a> To Return | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2007/5/4/collegeboxes-to-return-harvard-college-has/]Collegeboxes”>Collegeboxes To Return | News | The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>I used Collegeboxes last year and they were fabulous! They were exactly on time and nothing was damaged. Perfect! I just signed up again with them. My son’s roommate also used them and had the same experience. I would highly recommend them. They book up fast, so I would hurry.</p>
<p>MSMDad and Hat: Is it reasonable to look at the billing and use the numbers for the without the 2010 semester being added in? This just doesn’t seem fair.</p>