529 Room And Board Living Off Campus

Whether you live on campus or off you can use your 529 plan spending for your room and board expenses.

529 room and board living off campus. Yes the cost of off campus room and board may be a qualified education expense for 529 plans if certain criteria are met. However housing is one of many expenses that are subject to a reimbursement limit. As an example let s say that for 2019 2020 the off campus coa is room 10 000 and board 5000. Essentially the school sets a budget or allowance for room and board referred to as the cost of attendance.

A 529 plan does include off campus rent as long as you re going to college half time for that semester but it only includes rent and utilities up to the amount specified by the college as a room and board allowance. His school publishes off campus cost of attendance numbers for room and board separately as opposed to a lump sum number. 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. In general you can use 529 funds to pay for your student s off campus housing costs.

You can pay the bills and then. Room and board includes the cost of housing and the cost of a meal plan. You can choose to pay bills first and then reimburse yourself from the 529 account or you can pull money from the 529 account and then use it to pay bills from your bank or brokerage account. 529 off campus cost of attendance room and board my son is a full time student living off campus.

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. This path also provides flexibility when paying smaller bills like those for books or off campus room and board. Room and board. Colleges typically have a room and board budgets for students who live on campus in college owned or operated housing for.

Does off campus housing count as a 529 plan qualified expense. A student does not have live on campus or in college approved housing for room and board to qualify as an education expense. You can also take tax free withdrawals for room and board whether in an on campus dorm or off campus housing as long as your son is a student at least half time.