Does Room And Board Qualify For 529

The student must be enrolled as a regular student on at least a half time basis.

Does room and board qualify for 529. While investors can use 529 funds to pay for a college s room and board fees housing arrangements off campus also count. The computer related items qualify as long as they are used primarily by the 529 beneficiary while enrolled at the eligible institution. While funds from a 529 account can be used to pay for expenses required for college not all expenses qualify. Room and board.

That means that you cannot use more than 9 800 per year from your 529 plan to be qualified. Room and board costs may be treated as qualified education expenses for 529 plan distribution purposes if the student is enrolled at least half time by the standards of the school. To use 529 withdrawals for room and board however the. A student does not have live on campus or in college approved housing for room and board to qualify as an education expense.

Whether you live on campus or off you can use your 529 plan spending for your room and board expenses. Paying for off campus housing with a 529 plan your student s room and board could be covered tax free for an entire 12 month lease even if he or she only takes classes for nine months of the year. To be considered a qualified expense your child must be enrolled at least half time. Room and board costs make up a large portion of a student s total college bill second only to tuition you can use a 529 plan to pay for room and board but only if certain requirements are met.

If a 529 plan distribution is used to pay for room and board it is a tax free qualified distribution in certain circumstances and a taxable non qualified distribution in other circumstances. Room and board includes the cost of housing and the cost of a meal plan. The caveat here is that your off campus housing costs can t be higher than you d pay to live on campus if you want to use 529 funds. Off campus housing and rentals are qualified up to the cost of room and.

For example using our ucla estimated cost above it s estimated that it will cost 9 800 for room and board off campus.