Paying Taxes on Scholarships

  They say no good deed goes unpunished and students who do very well and earn lots of scholarships might have to take this adage to heart. That’s because the scholarships those students earn could be taxed by the IRS as income.

            There are some caveats to this though and it’s important to note that not all of the scholarships a student receives will be taxed. The IRS does not tax scholarships for degree-seeking students as long as the money is used for tuition and/or required fees, books, supplies, and equipment. Further, it’s worth pointing out that this definition is different and a little bit more restrictive than what we consider “qualified educational expenses” when we are discussing 529 plans. 529 funds can be used for things like housing, meals, and transportation. Those would all fall outside of the scope of tax-free expenses when it comes to scholarships and taxes.

            So, really, you could argue that paying taxes on scholarships is a good problem to have. It is only going to happen if a student earns more scholarship money than their tuition and other required expenses. So, let’s imagine a student is attending a school and is facing a $8,000 tuition bill for the semester. Let’s also imagine they received a total of $10,000 in scholarships. The first $8,000 of those scholarships will be tax free as they wipe out the tuition. The remaining $2000 will count as income for the student and will be taxed. However, what is leftover after the taxes can be used by the student for housing expenses, or perhaps anything they want. The difference in the $2000 and taxes paid on it is going to be more money than the student would have had if they hadn’t earned all those scholarships in the first place. As a friend once told me, “anytime you pay income taxes, you made money.”

            Most scholarship money is going to flow through a student’s college or university. If they earn a state scholarship, maybe one from the school, and perhaps others from somewhere else, all of that will end up going through the financial aid office. The people there should do all the math for you, pay your tuition, and calculate any excess scholarships you’ll need to pay taxes on. When a student earns more money than they owe a college, the college will typically issue the student a check for the difference and 1098-T that is used to report the excess scholarships to the IRS. In instances where the student earns a scholarship that doesn’t flow through a university, as is the case with many “local scholarships” that might originate from an area civic club, foundation, group, etc., the money won’t be reflected in the 1098-T they receive from the school. In those cases, students would likely be responsible for self-reporting those scholarships to the IRS.

How Many Is Too Many Times to Take the SAT

  I was discussing the SAT recently with one of my students and she told me that she didn’t want to take the SAT too many times because she believed that would “look bad” to colleges. This is a rumor I hear from time to time, and I always work to set the record straight as I did with this student.

I’ve heard several versions of this. If you take the test too many times, colleges will average your score. Taking too many tests makes you look desperate. Colleges will penalize you if you take it over X amount of times. I’ve heard them all, but I’ve never had any indication from any college that they care at all how many times a student takes the SAT or ACT. I believe those rumors simply aren’t true. Admission test frequency doesn’t matter, but there are some points to consider that just make sense when deciding how many times to test.

When colleges receive multiple test scores they do one of two things. They either find the highest overall score, even it wasn’t the most recent, and make their decision based on that. Or they combine a student’s best sub-scores from multiple tests to produce what we call a “super score”. Not every school super scores and whether or not they do is a matter of institutional policy that varies from one school to the next.

In both cases, there is an advantage to taking a test more than once. You can’t super score a single test, and a college can’t choose your best score to evaluate you with if there is only one test. What’s more, students who sit for multiple tests almost always improve their scores eventually from their initial attempt. There is pretty clear data that indicates taking the test more than once is beneficial.

However, that data only reflects that benefit to a point. Students do plateau and seem to hit a ceiling at some point. Also, the tests require a fee ($68 for the SAT and as much as $88 for the ACT). They usually begin at 8 am on a Saturday, and it’s just not really what most would call a fun experience. So, there is just kind of a number that’s probably too many, though that can be different from one person to the next. 

I generally recommend that a student take their first college admissions test in the fall of their junior year. Follow that with another in the winter or spring, and another in the summer at the end of the 11th grade. A student might be able to roll with what they have at that point, but if there is a specific target they are trying to reach like a cutoff for a scholarship, or into a middle range of accepted scores at a given school, they can test one or two more times early in the fall of senior year. They might employ this strategy for the SAT and ACT or use those early tests to figure out which one they like more and focus on that test as they try to increase their score. So, that might be as many five attempts at one test, and not including a couple of attempts at the other. Anything more than that, and you’re probably at a point that kind of seems excessive to me. But who cares? Not the colleges, for sure. 

Teach Your Teen the Mundane

            It is back-to-school time, and that means parents have lots of paperwork to fill out for their students. Or do they? A teacher-colleague of mine told me a story this week of how one student in her class asked what “MI” meant in the box between “first name” and “last name” on a form the student was given to fill out. I have to assume that this student probably has not filled out a lot of forms at school, or doctor’s office, or government offices, or whatever. That’s kind of a mundane adult task, but it’s one parents would do well to let their teens practice.

I’m a parent too and I probably do way too much for my kids. It’s so much easier and faster for me to just do something rather than ask them to do it (and then ask again, because they didn’t do it the first time), have to answer a thousand questions (like what “MI” stands for), or risk messing up the task. Most parents do things for their teens because it’s just the easy way to get the job done. Sometimes you’ve got to let your teen try (and maybe fail) at these mundane adult tasks though. After all, wouldn’t you really rather they ask you what “MI” stands for when they are 16, than ask some receptionist at the dentist when they are 20?

There are a million of these things you can let your teen do…return an item at the store, order an Uber, address an envelope, shop for a better car insurance rate, change the air conditioning filter, make a dinner reservation, tip the bellhop at a hotel, write a check, buy a mutual fund, renew their car registration, change a light bulb, DocuSign something, figure out where those ants keep coming from, order cold cuts, check the balance on a gift card, book a flight, get the mustard stain out, vote…I can do this all day, readers. 

We all figured out how to do this stuff at some point. Your child can probably figure it out on their own if they have to, but that experience will probably be smoother for them if you make them do it under your guidance. After all, isn’t that kind of why parents are so prone to do things for their kids in the first place? You want things done well and done right for them. Intentionally teaching them and giving them opportunities to practice these things with your help will mean they are done well and done right when your children has to do them by themselves when you’re not around.

It’s important to wait until your child is age-appropriate to do these things. It’s only awkward if you make your 7-year-old call to make their own dentist appointment. There will be time for that in their teen years. The next time you’re about to do one of these simple things, take the extra few minutes to let your teen try it and show them how. It can be a valuable lifelong lesson for them.

Junior Year is Time to Think

         As I woke the other day, I found myself thinking about what I might write about this month. I started thinking about juniors and what I feel is most important for them to consider and that led me to think about thinking. Indeed, I tell my juniors I have two main objectives for them during the 11th grade. One is to start taking the SAT and ACT, and the second is to think. So, I’ll expound on that second part. 

When I tell juniors that I want them to think, I intentionally use that word to cover a wide swath of intellectual activity. For most young people, the decision about what to do in the few months after they graduate is the biggest decision they’ll make up to this point in their lives. The lifelong influence of the choices they make about what skills or educational opportunities they might pursue and where those pursuits will happen can’t be overstated. It is the first step in the journey down their path of adulthood and the rest of their lives and that first step will lead them in one direction as opposed to another. With so much riding on what direction that first step takes, its decision cannot be taken lightly. 

This is what I mean by thinking. Young people need to invest time and good thought in considering what they might want to do after high school. For many, college is the foregone answer to that question, and, if that is the case, they must next answer the question of where they might want to go to college. Many students will probably have some pre-conceived ideas about this, perhaps from early childhood, but they are now in position where they can begin to consider whether they will have the credentials to actually get into the colleges they’ve long set their sights on, whether its really a viable option due to other factors like finances, or whether it offers the course of study is interested in. Quite often, college-bound students will need to expand the scope of colleges they should consider attending and put some serious thought into many facets of the institutions they might not have considered before. Other students will need to consider whether traditional college is right for them in the first place, and/or what career paths might be of interest to them.

Again, these consequential decisions can’t be made haphazardly. They should be made after careful consideration, research, and consultation with friends, family, and mentors in the young person's life. All of this is exactly what I mean when I use that broad word, “think”. Junior year is the time when the decision about life after high school is close enough to be tangible, yet still far enough away that students can spend their senior year executing a plan to reach whatever goal that decision leads them to. That good thought MUST happen though and students need to commit themselves to time spent researching their next steps and having conversations with the stakeholders in their lives. Including themselves–perhaps when they’re lying in bed after they wake up.

The College Board's Big Future Scholarship

      As the school year draws to a close, it’s time to consider what to do with your final transcript. For most high school graduates, this will mean sending it off to the college or university they plan to attend the following year. This is an important step and you could say, the last step in the college admissions process.

Your final transcript indicates all of your grades from high school. That‘s important because you can make the argument that colleges admit you on a provisional basis. Students typically complete college applications in the fall of senior year, when they are really only three quarters of the way through high school. The final transcript can assure the colleges that you’ve remained the student you appeared to be during your freshmen, sophomore, and junior year. Seniors who have the worst cases of senioritis could receive a letter of rescission when their final transcript shows a terrible senior year. That’s when a college rescinds your admission after you’ve already made plans to attend. That happens rarely, but it does happen.

The final transcript can serve some other purposes. It can show final eligibility for certain programs or scholarship opportunities in a school, It can indicate college-credit baring course work such as dual enrollment credits, and at some institutions, it might even be used for placement. Students would do well to check their final transcript for accuracy.

To procure your final transcript or to send it along, you’ll need to communicate with your high school. Most schools have a firm system in place to notify them of where to send your final transcript, so there’s no need to hound your counselor. However, you do need to be certain you’ve done something formal to tell them what your plans are. If your mom bumped into your counselor at the grocery store back in February and shared that you finally settled on a particular college, that doesn’t count. There’s probably a simple form to fill out close to graduation.

Colleges will usually require receipt of your final transcript before they will let you register for class or activate the classes you are scheduled for. It’s important to have some patience though. Your high school has many to send out, usually with a skeleton summer crew. They might not get them sent out in the five minutes that follow graduation. (Note: This year, I returned to work on Monday morning following a Saturday graduation to find two emails wondering why final transcripts had not yet been sent). Colleges also must review and process all the final transcripts they receive and this also takes time. Don’t be alarmed if your high school is telling you that final transcripts have been sent, but your college is not yet reflecting that. Give both sides a little time to get the job done as both understand the magnitude of the process. 

All About Final Transcripts

  As the school year draws to a close, it’s time to consider what to do with your final transcript. For most high school graduates, this will mean sending it off to the college or university they plan to attend the following year. This is an important step and you could say, the last step in the college admissions process.

Your final transcript indicates all of your grades from high school. That‘s important because you can make the argument that colleges admit you on a provisional basis. Students typically complete college applications in the fall of senior year, when they are really only three quarters of the way through high school. The final transcript can assure the colleges that you’ve remained the student you appeared to be during your freshmen, sophomore, and junior year. Seniors who have the worst cases of senioritis could receive a letter of rescission when their final transcript shows a terrible senior year. That’s when a college rescinds your admission after you’ve already made plans to attend. That happens rarely, but it does happen.

The final transcript can serve some other purposes. It can show final eligibility for certain programs or scholarship opportunities in a school, It can indicate college-credit baring course work such as dual enrollment credits, and at some institutions, it might even be used for placement. Students would do well to check their final transcript for accuracy.

To procure your final transcript or to send it along, you’ll need to communicate with your high school. Most schools have a firm system in place to notify them of where to send your final transcript, so there’s no need to hound your counselor. However, you do need to be certain you’ve done something formal to tell them what your plans are. If your mom bumped into your counselor at the grocery store back in February and shared that you finally settled on a particular college, that doesn’t count. There’s probably a simple form to fill out close to graduation.

Colleges will usually require receipt of your final transcript before they will let you register for class or activate the classes you are scheduled for. It’s important to have some patience though. Your high school has many to send out, usually with a skeleton summer crew. They might not get them sent out in the five minutes that follow graduation. (Note: This year, I returned to work on Monday morning following a Saturday graduation to find two emails wondering why final transcripts had not yet been sent). Colleges also must review and process all the final transcripts they receive and this also takes time. Don’t be alarmed if your high school is telling you that final transcripts have been sent, but your college is not yet reflecting that. Give both sides a little time to get the job done as both understand the magnitude of the process. 

Use Academic Advisors in College

         I recall several years ago hearing a college representative discuss the dangers of “self-advisement”. This talk was brought back to mind recently when I was meeting with a senior I counsel who was discussing her college plan. She had a whole master plan for the courses she would take in college and her pursuit of a double major and was running it all past me for approval. A high school counselor should be an expert in their own school’s curriculum and should be generally knowledgeable about the curriculum and programs of the post-secondary schools they send students to regularly, but they are not experts there. Nor, is any eighteen or nineteen-year-old who has just recently been admitted.

However, many of these young people believe they are. After all, they might be straight-A students who are big academic fish in their little high school ponds. They might have googled information related to their major, visited the program page for their major on their university’s website, and even talked to their friend’s older brother who is majoring in the same thing. This is all a great start, and I encourage it, but it doesn’t make you an expert.

That moniker is reserved for an academic advisor assigned to a college or major within a university. A young college student would be wise to get to know this person well. An academic advisor essentially serves the same capacity as a counselor does in high school. They can help you smooth out issues with a professor, figure out what classes are a good fit for you in your college, and most importantly, chart the course of study you’ll take in your college career. Calculating the timing of when to take specific courses and scheduling them can be a key part of this. 

College programs can be nuanced. Paying close attention to prerequisites that might not be offered every term can be crucial to timing your college experience right. Failing to do so can be an expensive mistake if it delays your graduation. An academic advisor knows all of these things and can help you avoid pitfalls. Advisors can also be particularly helpful for a student who has a specific or multi-faceted goal. Want to double major? Get a minor from a program in a separate college? Spend your summer studying abroad in Southeast Asia? Land an internship with the New York Yankees? Become an engineer who designs roller coasters exclusively? An academic advisor has the experience, knowledgebase, and access to information and resources that can best put you in position to meet whatever your goals are. They are likely to hold some little nuggets of information that might be hard to find on Google or might not be on your friend’s brother’s radar. Form a relationship early on with an academic advisor at your college and let them help you plan your college experience. Accept that you’re not the expert and utilize the person who is.