<prompt> Human: --Edit please read--Its been brought to my attention that because I speak pretty directly when responding to commentsquestions, I can sometimes come across as a bit of an argumentative jackass in purely text-based communication. Let me just say for the record that I am very grateful for everyones time spent offering advice, asking questions, etc. If I did come across as an asshole, please accept my sincere apology, and please know that was not what I was trying to do. Hi everyone, happy tax season!This may infringe a bit upon the legal advice rule in this sub, and if the mods feel I should post there, I will do that insteadbut please just PM me so that I can copy the text instead of having to re-type it. However, Im not directly seeking legal advice as I have no intention of making a legal battle out of this, I just need to know the facts before I have a conversation with a family member, and I want to have and prepare for that conversation in a financial frame, not a legal one. Exactly as the title says. I had a full tuition scholarship in college that only covered four years. My mother works at the University I attended great financial move for parents worried about college for their kids!, so I also received a half tuition scholarship from that for the full duration of my college career. Said college career ended up lasting five years due to a change of major and not wanting to take 22 credit hours, along with working part time and college marching band three BCS national championship trips for free? Please and thank you. When it came time to pony up the tuition, I asked my mother for the money so that I could pay it. She told me that I could not get the money, as I got it because of her in the first place, and that I would have to take out a loan to pay for the tuition. At the time, I didnt have the willpower and confidence to stand up and say that was bullshit, so I blew my entire considerable savings on tuition, and covered the rest with a student loan. When I graduated, I asked my mother for the rest of the money to try and pay off that loan in full, or at least close to it. I got the same argument - that moneys not mine, because I only got it due to her working at the University. So instead of having a beefy savings account, I have 7500 in college loan debt left. I know Im well off compared to most student loans, but frankly, Im pretty sure thats my money and I want to get rid of this stupid debt.I wont go to court with my mother. Im eternally grateful that she set me up for success, because now I make a really good salary, so Im okay with or without this scholarship sum to pay off the debt. I just want to talk to her one last time about it, and be prepared when I do so. Honestly, the moneys probably gone anyway, but either way I want to know so that I dont have this hanging over me any time I go visit her.So... who legally owns scholarship money?The other side of the questionedit - the more important for me now since the first has been soundly answered - how do I handle a situation like this? Finances are delicate with anyone, especially when Im going to basically imply that my mother is stealing money from me. Obviously I wont frame the conversation that way, its going to be about me wanting to pay off the loan and thats it, but we all know how emotions run high with financial topics.If I need to provide clarification on anything, please let me know.Thanks in advance--Edit--Im trying to respond to everyone as quickly as I can, but Im at work. Here are a few clarifications since there are some common questions from your responses.1. The money never came by check. Because it all came from the university, it all went into a student account. This account is how you would pay tuition, by simply depositing into the account, or withdrawing it if you had access. Being my mother, she of course did.2. I was never told what the money was used for by her, or if it had been used. Every time I ask that, I always get the its not your money response. There arent really rules that I know of for spending it - I asked the university, and they said it could be used for whatever I wanted, that was the freedom of the account from the first point.  <response>: May need to check out rraisedbynarcissists cause it is your money, and a crappy thing for your mother to do. 