To My Scholarship Class

Please be sure to be in class today. We will be viewing and discussing the COD scholarship which is now available.

Also, remember that the Pathways to Success Scholarship deadline is this Wednesday, March 17, 2010.

Deadline for Pathways Scholarship

Wednesday, March 17th (St. Patricks Day),is the deadline for the Pathways to Success Scholarship. If you are computer savvy, you may submit your application electronically but, everything must be submitted at the same time. Otherwise, your application will be disqualified.

You may drop off your paper version at the Career/Transfer Center if you haven't had a chance to mail it to the UCR Graduate Center on Cook Street. You can also drop it off at the UCR Graduate Center.

REMEMBER, you must have your application complete!! You cannot submit a missing document apart from the packet.

Follow the checklist to be sure that you have included everything. Although I am happy to review your application, this is a very busy week with the Career & Job Fair on Tuesday.

Make your application stand out--it should be neat and organized and show that you have given your scholarship essay a lot of thought. Your essay is the MOST important document.

Good Luck! This is the most exciting scholarship for our students--it is limited to students who live in Coachella Valley.

NOW (National Organization of Women) Scholarship Deadline

If you haven't mailed your application to NOW, you may drop it off at the Career/Transfer Center by 5:00 today.

Yesterday I spoke with Lori Adler, who initiated this scholarship, and she agreed to allowing us to receive the applications. Today is the deadline and the last chance.

Applying for FAFSA Before Attending College

Through the years, I have advised students to start applying for scholarships in their junior year of high school but, the question of FAFSA has never come up.

In response to an email I received from the parent of a high school student, I contacted the experts at FAFSA and received a positive response.

You may be aware of the fact that most scholarship applications require that you apply for FAFSA and have a student aid report (SAR). Since students don't apply for FAFSA until January 1st of the year that they will be transferring to a college, they wouldn't have a SAR for the scholarship application.

Well, the official word is that you can apply for FAFSA at any time. You are allowed to enter a maximum of ten colleges that you are considering. So, the good news is that high school students can apply for scholarships now--the junior year is a good time to start.

With that said, I do want to note that there are many scholarships and contests for younger students and even little children. (My grandson received a $1000 scholarship when he was nine years old. He wrote an essay on Father Junipero Serra.)

Please do not wait until you are in college to start applying. Even though it is never too late to start, it is a good idea to start as early as possible.

Exclusions from Income

You may exclude certain educational assistance benefits from your income. That means you won't have to pay any tax on them. However, it also means that you can't use any of the tax-free education expenses as the basis for any other deduction or credit, including the Hope and the Lifetime Learning Credit.

Qualified Education Expenses

For the purposes of tax-free scholarships and fellowships, these are expenses for:

Tuition and fees required to enroll at or attend an eligible educational institution.

Course related expenses, such as fees, books, supplies, and equipment that are required for the courses at the eligible educational institution. These items must be required of all students in your course of instruction.

However, in order for these to be qualified education expenses, the terms of the scholarship or fellowship cannot require that it be used for other purposes, such as room and board, or specify that it cannot be used for tuition or course-related expenses.

EXPENSES THAT DON'T QUALIFY

Qualified education expenses do not include the cost of:
Room and board
Travel
Research
Clerical help
Equipment and other expenses that are not required for enrollment in or attendance at an eligible educational institution.

This is true even if the fee must be paid to the institution as a condition of enrollment or attendance. Scholarship or fellowship amounts used to pay these costs are taxable.

Correction on American Opportunity Tax Credit

Upon doing more research, I discovered that the tax credit lets you claim up to $2500 per student and NOT $2000 as I wrote yesterday.

For answers to any other questions that you may have, please Google American Opportunity Tax Credit.