No, @kayak24, if the student reported taxable scholarships as part of their AGI on the tax return, then the FAFSA asks for that amount in question 44d. It then gets subtracted from student income.
I don’t know how the CSS profile deals with it.
And the income used on FAFSA and CSS profile is not the prior year income, rather prior, prior (so two years ago).
While I do not agree that scholarships for room and board should be taxed, at least in cases where the student can’t go to an affordable school in commuting distance for that major, the tax impact is somewhat lessened by the standard deduction. So not all if the scholarship gets taxed.
And if you compare the amount of tax you have to pay to the total amount of the $12,000 scholarship, you are still better off than not having it.
My D reports about $4,000 in state grant as taxable because she uses it for room and board. She also has work income so she pays about $150 in tax.
Her tuition scholarship is tax free, and we get to claim an education credit on books and some fees.
I do not agree with the kiddie tax concept either.
If a student has a $15,000 scholarship that pays for other than tuition, fees or books, about $8,700 would be taxed (assuming a $6,300 standard deduction). So if parents have a 25% tax rate, that would be around $2,000.
And then possibly state taxes in home state and school state.
Yikes, I did not know that health insurance could be yet another additional cost. I had assumed that the student is still covered under the parents regardless of the state where he/she attends school.
For those who have experience with SAT, can we reasonably expect to be able to view the score on the release date or is it common that it may take a few days?
@Kayak24 Insurance depends on your current plan. We have a plan similar to an HMO and we don’t have coverage OOS except in border areas of neighboring states. (Actually, I think we technically have out of network benefits but the deductible if much higher than the cost of a college insurance policy.)
If your family has a personal choice plan, you would probably be fine.
And some of it might depend on what services are available on campus.
My oldest had a history of medical problems and almost no medical services available at her campus, which was 100 miles from us. Since D18 doesn’t have her medical history, I might not bother getting the extra insurance if she’s at the same distance or if there were a doctor who could prescribe at the health center on campus.
There are also a lot more urgent care walk-in places around than just a few years ago.
I still wonder if I wasted the money getting the college insurance for my oldest D, but it seemed to come in handy when she needed regular MRIs and extensive blood work at labs not in our network.
@glido , I saw that the scores are released Oct 20th, then I read somewhere that they are released from Oct 20-26. Just wondering if any of you had experiences where you couldn’t access the scores on the first day. (Patience is a virtue I guess).
@Kayak24 Our experience has been the scores have been released on that 1st day that the scores are available. And I believe that’s the case for nearly everyone, except for scoring issues, either individually or by test center. The scores from the 8/26 test date were released on 9/18. But starting with the October test date of 10/7, the CB is trying to release scores faster, “starting” the release on 10/20. I’m thinking that the CB is giving themselves a “margin or error” by stating 10/20 to 10/26.
I’ve read that the CB is attempting to keep pace with the ACT score releases, but my D never took the ACT. So I’m unable to confirm.
For SAT scores if they are released on Oct 20 that is MUCH faster than for the May session. That would be great. I just wasn’t expecting them that fast.
As for insurance it is crazy because we are signing up now for plan for 2018 but obviously we don’t have a clue where D will be come fall. She is applying to 2 schools that are in our state but if I were to place a bet I’d say she ends up out of state. How can we know at this point if school she attends has their own student insurance? D has asthma and until talking to a friend I never even knew ‘perfect attendance’ was a thing. D used to dance around max number of sick days per year in elementary school. So I need her covered one way or another.
Poor D18. She and her friends have been editing each others’ CA/supplemental essays and now she is freaking out hers “aren’t good enough”. How much pressure can these kids handle?
You guys are making my head hurt. b-( Taxes on scholarships?! Health insurance? I don’t even know what country D will be in next fall. I’m going to stick my head in the sand for now and hope all of these ugly issues magically get resolved on their own. 8-}
So, while I’m living in La La Land, I’ll update odds, given D’s last report from SoCal:
USC 33%
UBC 33%
McGill 30%
Someplace else 4%
I know that’s bold giving USC such high odds with their 16% acceptance rate, but if she’s accepted, I think it will be hard for her to say No. And BF is touring USC tomorrow.
D sat in on a Computational Linguistics class at USC yesterday and she is sold. She says it’s what she wants to do. USC has the major; her other schools don’t. Cognitive Science (at UBC and McGill) is close, but broader.
D and H toured SDSU today, just for fun. It’s my alma mater. :x Senior pictures tomorrow, less than a mile from her birthplace. Good thing I’m not there or the tears would be flowing big time.
@ShrimpBurrito - I wish USC had SOMETHING (ED, EA). Basically it’s the only top tier school that offers NMF money. So, everyone and their brother (or in your case, BF) is applying. D18 has a ton of kids from her school applying, too. Back in the day, USC was kind of a joke school. No more. Now competition is fierce.
@ShrimpBurrito Woohoo! Although admittedly, I’m not a big fan of USC sports. But just for your D, I hope she be high fiving her classmates with “fight on” next Fall. My D will be attending her local CC, since SHE CAN’T FINISH AN APPLICATION. Again :!!
Just remember, it’s only money. You can’t take with you. :))
@amominaz I remember reading something about how USC doesn’t label their early merit application deadline as EA because of Stanford’s REA. With no offical EA at USC, kids can apply “early” to both.
I am admittedly hoping that the geographical diversity angle will help D with USC admissions. I’m guessing that they don’t get a glut of qualified Oklahoma applicants, especially those aiming for Computational Linguistics.
@amominaz Think Google Translate, Siri, Rosetta Stone. CS people have historically developed these, but from what I understand, lately people with more specialized training in linguistics have been able to help improve the technology. D would study linguistics, and basic programming, then how to apply the linguistic knowledge to said programming. I think.
