- Would my fiance be able to live with me off campus if I'm using my 529 to pay for living expenses? He would be a non-student living full time.
- I have a GED and I'd like to go to a culinary school and live off campus each year. What schools would be best for me?
Ok. You can use your 529 plan for housing (tax free and no penalties) if you are a student for at least half the time. But only up to the amount that school would charge for the room and board.
You can have anyone you’d like in your apartment. There’s no 529 housing police. Lol.
But just be careful to get into the school first and know what the room and board numbers are before you sign a lease.
Not sure where you live. But an absolutely great culinary school, that would consider you with a ged I believe, in a great city. is Johnson and Wales University in Providence, RI. But you have to look into the requirements and costs.
There are others across the country. But you want to make sure the are accredited and grant a degree of some sort. Not for profit.
Thank you for answering my first question and giving me the suggestion! My mother told me I can’t go to a university since I only have a GED.? I would like to go to one where I won’t have to take the extra classes just focus on culinary and probably baking or restaurant management.
Not sure. But running a restaurant or being a chef requires good interpersonal skills and writing. Marketing and other things are important too.
Google is your friend. Go on the different schools websites. The culinary institute of America. Johnson and Wales. And many others. But I would start with those two.
Some of the community colleges also offer Culinary Arts programs and degrees. I was just showing the list of programs offered by Santa Rosa Junior College in Sonoma County, California to my daughter and noticed this was on the list (as well as viticulture and wine studies!) Maybe take a look website as an example of the kinds of programs that may be available. I don’t have any personal knowledge of the SRJC program, but it looks interesting (and is in an interesting area). There may be many others.
This is totally not true. Many colleges accept GEDs. However, given your interests, a dedicated culinary school seems a better option.