My son is planning on attending Community College this summer (between his junior and senior year). Are classes at Community College qualifying expenses? Do the classes have to be related to his eventual major or transferrable to a 4 year college? Any information would help. I can't find a decent WEB site or document that clearly spells out what the rules are for what is covered and what is not.
A plain English read of Sec 529 says its the institution being qualified that counts. So if Harvard wants to run a Head Start program for 3 year olds---at least as far as Sec 529 it fits as to tuition etc.
Some other programs do specifically address post secondary education and if a youngster in HS takes a college program you may need to sort out precise words. And if a college conducts classes on a local HS campus it may boild down to who is the payee.
Drew's correct with his plain read. However, this, like lots of stuff about 529 plans, is gray and I wouldn't trust a plain read.
The problem as I read it, is that although Section 529 defines it the way Drew describes, it also says, "In general". You won't find anything that clearly spells this out because it is not clear.
My GUESS is that community college classes sound fine, but Harvard's Head Start would not fly.
I have a similar question...my daughter will attend CC in the Fall. Since she will need a car to drive to and from school, are the cost of a car, gas, etc. eligible 529 expenses? Or possibly mileage to/from school?
The car is not a qualified expense, nor is the gas. The car would only be a qualified expense if the college required her to buy it. Unless she is majoring in "car buying", I doubt that the school requires a car purchase.
As a matter of economics I fail to see where a car is a requirement and there are other ways to get to college--my kids even found out there that there were things called a bus--and they got all the way thru graduate school w/o a car OK--so a car may be more convenient for parents--but I'd control it tighter than I would a 529---and if you are not carrying a full course load of 15+ credits---find a different way to get there or a job.
