I attended Community College exclusively on Pell Grants. My tuition was paid directly to the school. But we received a "textbook advance" of funds directly to our personal accounts, and whatever funds we didn't use for tuition could be used for any educational expense. Furthermore, I worked through the Honors program for additional scholarship money, and so there was more to be gained beyond covering basic tuition and textbooks. (Many classes used no textbooks at all, or free resources, so this was a pretty good deal.)

I had enough surplus to pay for a good APC UPS system as well as a 2018 Lenovo Thinkpad notebook. These were invaluable for my education, but they served me for years afterwards, personally as well as for employment.

And a fairly common refrain I've heard was "I can't afford another semester of college because all my financial aid only applies to tuition."

It was always a huge relief to a student if they managed to get a scholarship in cash.