Interdisciplinarity

This is probably more information than you're looking for right now, but maybe it will help somebody else. Like what the CUNY website says, my school doesn't give any tax advice, so I had to figure it out on my own. I had about $17k in taxable stipend this year, and it was my only income, so I only pay around $800 in federal taxes. My state taxes are weird because I moved in the middle of the year, so can't help you there except to say that you should definitely check their tax laws for any information about scholarship treatment. I was planning to remain a resident of State A (home state) until I realized that State B (grad school state) taxes any income made in that state, including scholarships, and State A doesn't give residents a break for tax paid on scholarships to another state. State C (undergrad state), however, doesn't tax non-residents on scholarship income made in the state. Also, you can't necessarily rely on the 1098-T for calculating the amount of income that you report to the IRS. My university, for example, does not include my stipend in the total of the scholarship money that I received, and also omits certain non-taxable fees from the tuition total. So calculating the difference would not give me an accurate number for my income. As far as I've been able to figure out, the point of this form is to document your eligibility for education credits, which give you a tax break for amounts that you pay in tuition and fees. But if you're already having your tuition and (required education-related) fees paid for you through a scholarship, they count as non-taxable income, which you don't report in the first place (as other people have said), so you don't need an education credit. Look on the IRS website for publication 970 - "Tax Benefits for Higher Education." The first section explains what portion of scholarship income you report in the first place. The second section explain the various education credits. I also discovered that you can get TurboTax and other preparation software for free through the IRS website if you make less than a certain amount per year. I can't remember the amount, but it was well above $20k.

Thanks for all the information, everybody. My parents live within a couple hundred miles of DC, and school there was cancelled for something like 10 days, I'm not surprised that the DoE is behind. They should just post something on the Javits website, or email applicants, so that they don't get so many phone calls. I can see how that could be annoying!

I got mine earlier this week as well. Thanks for the solidarity during limbo. Now let the waiting begin!

Ah, the joy of the Javits instructions! I was so frustrated by the 2 copies / 3 copies thing. Have you heard from them yet? I haven't, and have been meaning to call, since it is well past 15 days by both definitions.