Any scholarships not used for Qualified Educational Expenses (tuition and fees) are reported as taxable income on the tax return.
It does not matter if it was spent on room and board, car payments, or going on vacation. Any scholarship not used for tuition is taxable. So for determining if a scholarship is taxable, it does not matter if those things are considered as room and board or not.
As
@xmasbaby0 pointed out, if you had a college savings plan (such as a "529 plan"), then "room and board" expenses can be applied to that. If you are referring to a college savings plan (such as a "529 plan"), then the answer is "sort-of". Yes, that is counted as "room and board", but ONLY UP TO the amount of amount of "room and board" the college would charge for on-campus "room and board".
