DD has been accepted to a combined undergraduate/graduate program, such that she will take all masters level classes her senior year in college and graduate with a BA/MA. She will pay tuition at the graduate level rate. The off-campus room and board costs estimated by the college are higher for graduate students than undergraduate students, even though they attend classes on the same campus. She will use 529 money for room and board. Can the 529 money be used up to the higher (graduate) level for room and board?
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@BelknapPoint can likely answer this.
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The 529 statutes and rules are ambiguous enough that stuff a lot simpler than this is not addressed. Based on your brief description of your daughter’s program, my advice is to use the school’s undergraduate COA for her first three years, and then use the school’s graduate COA for her senior year when she is taking graduate level courses. In any event, if by “room and board” you mean living in college housing and eating on a college meal plan, you can use 529 money to pay for these qualified expenses up to whatever the school charges.
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Regardless if she decides to live off-campus for personal reasons, one conservative way to look at it is: Are undergraduate housing and meal plans available to her in senior year, or will they “kick her out” because they consider her a graduate student now?
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