ROTC scholarship + other scholarships

andzgrl

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My son has an NROTC scholarship, which is very, very generous.
He was fully intending on applying for any other scholarships that he would be qualified for. As I am reading through the Eligibility Requirements for some of these scholarships, I am finding that quite a few are NEEDS-BASED and awarded not only by academic qualification, but FAFSA calculations also.

Since he has an NROTC scholarship, does that negate any NEEDS-BASED scholarships?

I don't mean to sound greedy, but even with the NROTC scholarship, he will be responsible for his housing and meals expense. Any additional scholarship money could be quite beneficial in offsetting these costs. (I know that some scholarship money can only be used for direct expense.)

Thanks so any help or insight!
 
Is the NROTC scholarship for this current school year (2013-14) or for next school year (2014-15)? When you fill out the FAFSA, it will ask for income from 2013, both of the parent(s) and student. It won't ask about any future scholarships he may use in 2014, so no worries there until next year.
 
The NROTC scholarship is for the academic year that will begin in September, 2014. (He is a High School Senior)
 
Also, the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) calculated after submitting the FAFSA determines eligibility for need-based financial aid.

"Colleges use the EFC to determine how much financial aid you are eligible for and to develop your financial aid package." http://www.collegedata.com/cs/promo/promo_efc_tmpl.jhtml

In other words, the lower the EFC number the more need-based aid (or options) you are eligible for (ie grants, college/alumni scholarships, subsidized student loans, etc).
 
The NROTC scholarship is for the academic year that will begin in September, 2014. (He is a High School Senior)

In this case you won't include it on the FAFSA until you fill out the FAFSA in 2015 (for income/scholarships earned in 2014).
 
Also check your college's website to see if they give a room and board scholarship to ROTC scholarship recipients. Many colleges do.

About the tax form - I never got any tax form for my stipend, just the bi-monthly Leave and Earnings Statements.
 
May or may not. I don't recall, but in any case, as Pima points out, it's not taxable income.

The stipend will need to be reported on next year's FAFSA. There is a block on it for "Student's Other Untaxed Income or Benefits."

The reality is that FAFSA doesn't determine if your child gets needs-based aid; the school does. FAFSA determines what your expected family contribution is. While the FAFSA form that you are filling out now will not ask for the scholarships your child will get next year, the school will. So if your EFC is $35,000 and your child is going to a school that' has a total cost of attendance is $55,000, but only $15,000 of that is Room and Board, then the ROTC scholarship will cover the tuition and you will need to come up with the cost for room and board. If your EFC were less than $15,000, then, depending on the school, you could get some financial aid to cover a portion of the room and board.

Like you, my DD has been looking for outside scholarships to help with the room and board element after NROTC pays tuition. We will not qualify for any financial aid. We are finding many scholarships, even if they are merit-based and not needs-based, have rules that it can't be used for room and board, or cannot be combined with full-tuition scholarships. If DD gets an AROTC Scholarship, she may be tempted to take that over her NROTC scholarship, as she either has merit scholarships that cover all of the tuition and she would use the AROTC scholarship for room and board or her top private school gives free room and board to AROTC (unfortunately they don't have NROTC at that school) scholarship recipients.
 
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Also check your college's website to see if they give a room and board scholarship to ROTC scholarship recipients. Many colleges do.

Thanks for pointing this out. I just spoke with the CO at the college, and YES, this is a true statement! WOW! In fact, it's not even a scholarship, it is just that the school chooses to do this for their ROTC students.
And, they also offer 50% board too!

What a blessing!!!
 
Pima,
Do those receiving the stipend get any kind of 1099 form at the end of the year?

Cadet Delahanty is on AROTC scholarship, and his school provides room & board as an additional benefit. He receives from the school Form 1098-T with an amount for tuition in Box #2 ("Amounts billed for qualified tuition and related expenses")and a larger amount in Box #5 ("Scholarships or grants") which appears to consist of the abovementioned tuition plus R&B, as well as some minor kitchen sink items I am unable to identify. When I did his taxes (making me a helicopter parent?) I included the R&B portion of Box #5 as Other Income on Line 21 of his 1040.

His stipend is not included in the 1098-T, and he does not receive a 1099 for it. In the past he received a W-2 for his CULP activity.
 
Cadet Delahanty is on AROTC scholarship, and his school provides room & board as an additional benefit. He receives from the school Form 1098-T with an amount for tuition in Box #2 ("Amounts billed for qualified tuition and related expenses")and a larger amount in Box #5 ("Scholarships or grants") which appears to consist of the abovementioned tuition plus R&B, as well as some minor kitchen sink items I am unable to identify. When I did his taxes (making me a helicopter parent?) I included the R&B portion of Box #5 as Other Income on Line 21 of his 1040.

His stipend is not included in the 1098-T, and he does not receive a 1099 for it. In the past he received a W-2 for his CULP activity.

Thanks -- I meant Form 1098 for the stipend. (I was originally thinking about pre-tax health insurance premiums, how they are not included on the W-2 totals but instead are listed off to the side as a deduction. Just was curious if stipends were listed the same way on any form.)
 
Haha! We have a helicopter tax lady - she does our kids taxes! OK, so the stipend is not considered taxable income, what about the book allowance? So stipend is not put down for taxes, but has to be included as income on the FAFSA, correct? I hate finances and taxes...at least I have another year to wait for this part!
 
My son got into his school that matched his four year AROTC scholarship. We told him since he worked hard to get the scholarship we would pay outright his dorm/board fee. In the mail came the finance package for the room and board. it sat on the dinning room table unopened -because i just didnt want to look at it. I was extremely happy that the tuition was waved, but I knew that this school's dorms/board are among the most expensive in the nation, so I kept putting it off and putting it off. I didnt want to pay $14,000 PER YEAR in room and board fees. doable for sure but but not totally pleasant. So after a couple wks of it sitting there I reluctantly opened the envelope....right on the front page was a letter saying all room and board expenses are picked up by the university. no request, no paperwork, nothing. Talk about a pleasant surprise.

Thanks for posting the information on the taxes, I wouldn't have thought of it.
 
My son got into his school that matched his four year AROTC scholarship. We told him since he worked hard to get the scholarship we would pay outright his dorm/board fee. In the mail came the finance package for the room and board. it sat on the dinning room table unopened -because i just didnt want to look at it. I was extremely happy that the tuition was waved, but I knew that this school's dorms/board are among the most expensive in the nation, so I kept putting it off and putting it off. I didnt want to pay $14,000 PER YEAR in room and board fees. doable for sure but but not totally pleasant. So after a couple wks of it sitting there I reluctantly opened the envelope....right on the front page was a letter saying all room and board expenses are picked up by the university. no request, no paperwork, nothing. Talk about a pleasant surprise.

Thanks for posting the information on the taxes, I wouldn't have thought of it.

My son's room and board is $14,415…equally unpleasant.

Did that information regarding the school picking up those expenses come directly from the university or was it in his ROTC letter?

My son's CO for the NROTC unit has indicated that the Room will be paid in full by the university, with a 50% reduction for Board. I certainly can't be upset about that! I just would like to see all of this in writing. I'm anxious….
 
Andz - we had to send DS's college (Norwich) a copy of the letter offering him the 4 year scholarship to there. Before he accepted the scholarship there, I had called admissions to set up a visit and asked about the room and board (they pay it for scholarship winners), and she said yes they do, but that we would need to send a copy of that letter and they would send a new letter for financial aid (he had already gotten one for merit aid with his acceptance to the university letter).
We received that a few weeks after we sent them the letter. I would contact whoever his admissions counselor is, tell them about the scholarship, ask for a letter stating that they pay room and board.
Good luck!
 
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