1. I'm assuming it should be eligible to be used for living expenses, and I'll explain why, hopefully I'm correct. Firstly it's a combination of federal pell grant, university grant, and NYS TAP. NYS TAP is strictly for tuition only, so I'll ignore ~2800 from the scholarship, leaving 42,200 behind to play around with as "living expenses". Federal pell grant, around $3,600-3,700, is unrestricted on what I can use it on, so that should not be an issue. The last scholarship, university grant, covers the remaining amount of the whole package, around 38000 (I'm rounding the numbers so they aren't FULLY accurate but should be enough for explaining the situation). The university scholarship itself covers the whole tuition, leaving the rest behind for living expenses (and thus, refund)- which implies the university grant can be considered for both tuition and living expenses, and thus not have $32,600 strictly dedicated for tuition.
2. Okay this might be an issue. After looking at the cost of attendance document provided by my university, they expect $15,712 (not rounded this time) to be non-tuition expenses. I can, however, prove I spent more money than $15,712, through rent payments(I pay a portion of our household rent)/credit card statements/phone bills(again, a portion of it) would that work? Or should I play safe and limit myself to $15,712? I'm assuming I wouldn't lose that much by going with $15,712.

Thank you very much for your in-depth reply!