Grants and Scholarships

As a college student, are grants/scholarships considered income?

I'm trying to get a second loan and don't have a cosigner. In order to not need a cosigner I need to make 12000 plus dollars annually. If I include grants/scholarships the answer is yes, if not the answer is no.

Public Comments

1. No, they aren't.
2. for some purposes, they are considered income. however in this instance i would think not. for example, when trying to qualify for lower rents in cities that have rent programs for people who make under a certain income (such as $30,000 or less a year), then they do tend to count your financial aid as income in some places. which is actually quite odd because it all goes directly to your school, you never see it.
3. The answer is not as simple as has been suggested to you. Grants and scholarships are NOT considered income as long as they are used for "qualified educational expenses". Any portion of a grant or scholarships that is spent for things that are not qualified educational expenses IS considered taxable income. According to the IRS, these are the only forms of qualified educational expenses: 1> Tuition 2> School fees 3> Books and equipment that are REQUIRED of all student in your program of study Common college expenses that are NOT qualified educational expenses: 1> Room 2> Board 3> Computer (unless required by your school) If your grants and scholarships are going towards your room and board, then that's income, and you are supposed to be declaring that income on your tax return each year. If ALL of your grant and scholarship money is paying tuition, books and fees, then the entire amount is non-reportable, and is not income. For more information on the complicated treatment of grants and scholarships, you would need to refer to IRS Publication 970, which can be found here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf Whether you have been properly accounting for your scholarships and grants or not, I'm guessing that you haven't been reporting them as income on your annual tax returns. If you haven't been reporting any income to the IRS, you're not going to be able to report it now (because it would be beneficial) to the lender - they'll want to see your tax returns as part of your application for the loan. Good luck to you - I'm sorry for the disappointing news.