Thank you for your message. The $7000 was taken from my normal checking account where my wages are deposited - definitely not tax-advantaged!
Of course, I understand and completely agree with your presumption that the $1524 represents a return of personal funds. But since it corresponds exactly to the amount of the Pell Grant and was refunded shortly after it was posted, I wonder if the IRS would agree with it? In other words, is the notion of the Pell Grant amount “taking the place” of the equivalent amount of personal funds within the same account a construct that the IRS would recognize as legitimate? (Sorry if this seems too hair-splitting – I don’t know anything about accounting rules pertaining to attribution or apportionment of account funds to their respective sources.)