Scholarship Stipend and 529 Plan

BelknapPoint
Thu, 31 Aug 2017 00:16:43 +0000

Now I appear to be confused.

As per my post #6 in this thread, qualified education expenses are defined differently depending on which tax program is at issue. Here’s another quote from IRS pub 970:

Qualified education expenses. These are expenses related to enrollment or attendance at an Eligible educational institution (defined later).
…
Expenses for room and board must be incurred by students who are enrolled at least half-time.

Room and board is a qualified education expense for 529 payments for a student whose status is at least half-time. Room and board is not a qualified education expense for any other purpose. Read chapter 8 of the 970 pub.