<p>How much of a semester abroad can be paid for with 529 funds? My daughter's desired program has a tuition component, which I assume is 529-eligible the same as her on-campus tuition would be. But other costs include:
* program fee
* transportation
* housing
* food
* field trip
* incidentals, insurance, books</p>
<p>Any insight would be appreciated.</p>
<p>The following is NOT investment advice: ANY bona fide college expense can be paid for with 529 funds, including college visits. Save all receipts. </p>
<p>Please keep in mind that giving out unlicensed investment advice is a BIG federal AND state law no-no,hence the disclaimer. Call your financial and/or tax advisor for specifics. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Page 55 in the IRS Publication 970 details what a 529 Plan can be used to pay for:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf[/url]”>http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf</a></p>
<p>Please note that this would not include the college visits, transportation, incidentals, insurance mentioned above.</p>
<p>We used 529 funds for things directly billed through the university - tuition, fees, room & board. If student is paying for own housing/food, I would use a reasonable amount, as I do for my students in the US living off-campus. Transportation, incidentals, field trips - NO (including the plane tickets there & back). Same disclaimer as nugraddad. (I would never have used them for college visits.)</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone. That was very helpful. I’ve seen that page from the IRS Publication before, and I thought it said “expenses required by the institution,” which is more restrictive than “expenses related to enrollment,” which is more broad. Has this document been revised in the last year or two?</p>
<p>In any case, I will follow mamabear’s plan as I believe it’s got to be air-tight.</p>
<p>I used 529 funds for my son’s 8-credit China Business class a couple of years ago. I did not include any travel expenses…air fare/bus while in China. The school had an exact breakdown of the costs and I was able to exactly determine program fees, tuition, lodging & meals. I would give the school a call…maybe your school could do the same for you…it couldn’t hurt.</p>
<p>The program fees mentioned by the OP are usually expensed by the bursar of the home university and are included in a semester bill; that way, the 529 funds can be directly disbursed to the school; no harm, no foul, no IRS red flags…</p>
<p>Our 529 payment went right to the college, as usual. No problem. The college was sponsoring the trip. They had about 4 or 5 meetings about the trip and she had to apply, etc. There were students from 2 or 3 other colleges on the same trip. By the way, her tuition bill was about $100 LESS to study abroad. This is because there were no of the regular college/campus “fees” involved since she wasn’t going to be there. Crazy good.</p>
<p>nugraddad-actually, unlicensed people can give out all the advice they want, it’s those with a license that have to be careful about giving advice :D.</p>
<p>Also, if your child has a merit award, it might apply as well. For example, at baylor I found out that if your child is looking to graduate in 3 1/2 years, then they could use the extra scholarship money on a summer study abroad program. In my son’s case, theat would be 7,500 which would be a great way to pay for most of it!!</p>
<p>I was wondering if a child could use the 529 for summer study abroad (which she is getting some aid for also) I hadn’t thought of it before but it would be a help.</p>
<p>Can you or can’t you use 529 for room and board? The 1098-T from the college that gets reported to the IRS does not include room and board. So I assume also from the IRS bulletin that room and board (if staying at the home campus anyway) is not a qualified expense.</p>
<p>[Publication</a> 970 (2011), Tax Benefits for Education](<a href=“Publication 970 (2022), Tax Benefits for Education | Internal Revenue Service”>Publication 970 (2022), Tax Benefits for Education | Internal Revenue Service)</p>
<p>Yes, room and board is a qualified expense</p>
<p>LBowie, that is why it is important to keep good records. Room and board are qualified expenses, as are off campus living expenses. (For those I use the schools COA estimates for students living off campus as a guide.)</p>
<p>Debruns, my S is hoping to go abroad on a program with his school, so the payments go directly to his school, so I am planning to use 529 funds for that. I haven’t looked at it in depth yet though.</p>
<p>Well, I will have a certain amount sent to the school, whether it’s specific to study abroad, it will still be a credit.
I know there is a lot of information out there but I wish they would put it in more black and white explanations, “Talk to me like I’m in Kindergarten” : )</p>
<p>OK, thank you – I always thought room and board was a qualified expense…until I started looking at the wrong IRS publication! (for American Opportunity Credit it does not count.) I was also concerned because room and board does not show up on the 1098-T from the university, just tuition and fees.</p>
<p>Room & board is a qualified education expense for College 529. However, for American Opportunity credit, only tuition and fee is counted toward the $4000 ($2500 max credit) limit.</p>