Hello, first-time tax filer here!
I'm a junior in college who pays for school through working and grants directly from my school and FAFSA. For the past 3 years, the grants covered all of my tuition, with some excess that partially paid my on-campus housing and meal plans. I worked to pay the remaining bill off. The thing is, I've never filed a tax return as I only considered my earned income from working (which at 4k is far less than the amount required to file). I've received 1098-Ts for the past 3 years, and for every year my scholarship/grants exceeded my qualified expenses by 10k or more. But I never personally received this money, it went straight to my bill, so I didn't think anything of it.
2020 was the first year I ever got a refund from this, since my school is keeping us off-campus due to COVID (so no money went directly to my meal plan/housing this time), so I was going to file. Now I'm a bit freaked out. Was I supposed to report that income for the past 2 years?! My parents don't know anything about this as I'm a first-generation student, and I definitely don't have the money to pay off taxes for 20+ thousand dollars. What are the next steps I should take? Thank you ahead of time!
