The Hope Scholarship Credit program covers tuition and other required college fees (including lab fees, student government fees, and others levied by the school that must be paid to enroll) within specified limits and limitations. Some otherwise legitimate expenses, however, aren't allowable.

For example, even though just about every college across the U.S. requires students to have separate health insurance coverage to attend school, these insurance expenses don't qualify under the Hope Scholarship Credit program.

Besides health insurance costs, other expenses specifically excluded include the following:

• Medical expenses (including student health fees). The rationale behind this exclusion is that even if students weren't going to school, they would still pay for medical expenses in the normal course of life.
• Room and board. Although several federal loans programs include room and board as allowable expenses, the Hope Scholarship Credits does not.
• Transportation. Despite the fact that students might have to commute to college, Hope Scholarship Credits don't cover any travel expenses. Some students may find this exclusion particularly weird because they might have to stay home with their parents because college residence expenses are also not covered.
• Personal or family living expenses. These expenses are difficult to quantify and it's almost impossible to verify that students aren't "overpaying" their parents for room or board — so the government simply excludes the entire category.