529 plans and meals

BelknapPoint
Tue, 08 Nov 2016 01:41:27 +0000

Room and board includes dorm rooms, off-campus apartments, college meal plans, food from a grocery store, etc. Basically, any expense for housing and sustenance.

What twoinanddone wrote is not quite accurate. This is from IRS Pub 970:

*Expenses for room and board must be incurred by students who are enrolled at least half-time. The expense for room and board qualifies only to the extent that it isn’t more than the greater of the following two amounts.

a. The allowance for room and board, as determined by the eligible educational institution, that was included in the cost of attendance (for federal financial aid purposes) for a particular academic period and living arrangement of the student.

b. The actual amount charged if the student is residing in housing owned or operated by the eligible educational institution.*

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf (see pg. 59)