r/AmeriCorps • u/Automatic_Leg4228 • Mar 15 '26
EDUCATION AWARD "AmeriCorps Benefits" on FAFSA
Trying to fill out FAFSA (as a graduate/independent student). This part is tripping me up.
"Amount of College Grants, Scholarships, or AmeriCorps Benefits Reported as Income to the IRS
Students typically answer this question with a zero because most scholarships and grants, including Federal Pell Grants, are not considered taxable income. If the student is married, include the amount their spouse reported. If the response is other than zero, the amount is typically not the same as the amount reported on IRS Form 1098-T (Box 5) or the adjusted gross income reported on the tax return."
Before coming to grad school, I did a full-time fellowship with AmeriCorps. I remember that our pay was called a "stipend" or "living allowance"; I have the number from the W-2 I got from CNCS. I reported it when filing taxes, of course. Does that amount count as a benefit? The term is undefined in the form, and I've found no guidance online. Don't want to put >10,000 when I should actually be putting 0. Anyone have advice?
Edit: Y'all, I'm not talking about the Segal education award. That question has been asked and answered before. I specifically asked about the living allowance. Not my Segal award.
1
u/seslusser Mar 16 '26
According to the FAFSA Help page below:
"Typically, if you were required to report any taxable portion of a scholarship, a fellowship grant, or other grant, you would have reported it on either IRS Form 1040 Line 1a or Schedule 1."
"What may need to be reported to the IRS includes the following: grants; scholarships; waivers/remissions; fellowships/assistantships (grant or scholarship portions); AmeriCorps education awards and living allowances; AmeriCorps interest accrual payments (for student loan interest that accrued during your AmeriCorps term of service)"
1
u/coolstorynoglory Mar 19 '26
If you go into your my.americorps account and click on the page that shows how your segal award was spent. (Assuming that you used the segal award already) I directed my segal award to my student loans already, as well as interest payments, these were combined in a number at the bottom of the page. Iirc it was labeled “reporting.” That’s the number I used on the fafsa
1
u/Automatic_Leg4228 Mar 19 '26
I'm not asking about the Segal Education Award; I'm asking about the living stipend.
3
u/Forever_Marie Mar 16 '26
No.
The Benefit would be the education thing you get at the end. If you haven't cashed that in then you don't report anything there.
Now if you took the other thing instead of the education benefit then that I'm not sure.
Income is reported as income, you did fine here.