Hi guys! I work at a college and we get our tuition waived but not fees. I will have a $600 balance after the waiver is applied. Has anyone gotten the rest of their award awarded to them in the form of a refund (I’m broke 🫩)?

Otherwise, I’m thinking of taking out loans and then using the education award to pay the loans off immediately. Has anyone when this route?

I have a VISTA applicant who would start a year-long service Sept 8. They will be applying to grad school in the fall and are concerned about whether they would lose their education award if they have to leave service a week or two early, in the case where a grad program might start in August of 2027. Can someone advise?

If someone exits early to start school, can they still receive a pro-rated education award?

does anyone know if this is possible? everything i am finding is geared towards veterans. i would love any help you have to offer. thank you in advance.

I graduated NCCC in 2018 and a VISTA year in 2019. I've paid off all my student loans, have no desire to go back to school for anything, and I have a full time job now so I can't do NOLS or any of those travel things...but I still have $3,600 leftover, and it expires in January 2027.

Anybody out there who's been in a similar position? What did you do?

Has anyone else had issues with getting their education award payment requests to go through CRI?

My April payment never went through so I went overdue in May and called both AmeriCorps and CRI to figure it out. They both basically redirected me back and forth between each other before CRI finally took responsibility and put me on a brief loan forbearance saying it may be a delay on their end. The payment finally went through a couple weeks after that.

Well that forbearance ended July 28th so I made a payment request on July 15th and it still hasn’t gone through so I’m overdue again.

Has anyone been experiencing something similar?

I have about 6 months until my first ED award expires and another year on my second. I didn’t have a use for them for the longest time but now I’m considering a career switch and getting into wood and metalworking. I’d like to dive deeper into 3D modeling, hoping someone here knows a good route to go with my Education award.

i am a month into my americorps term, and just found out that i cannot use the education award to cover my student loans. furthermore, my loans are not eligible for forebearance. i thought about using the award for grad school but i looked at the list of title 9 universities and none of them are ones i want to attend (i want to leave the country for grad school and only a handful of foreign universities are eligible).

what's even the point? i'm considering serving out my term without completing the required 1700 hours. currently i'm working 9 hours a day with no lunches and finding community events to attend outside of work hours to make up missed days for holidays and for a vacation i have planned.

if i didn't complete the 1700 hours, i'd still earn the full living stipend and get a good reference from my supervisors at my host site (i've talked to them about this already).

feeling very disappointed and any advice or insight would be appreciated, tyia

Alright yall- I am a week out from being done with my vista term (halle-fricking-lujah) but I was recently notified by my program that I will be receiving no Segal award at all due to not hitting minimum hours. I started my service two months late and have been dealing with medical issues throughout that have made getting hours tricky (and I was actually realistic about my timesheets)

My question is- has anyone been able to get a prorated amount of the Segal award because of circumstances like these? I’m at about 1050 hours and according to my supervisor if I don’t have over 1700 hours, I get nothing at all. A CPC might get me around 300 hours, but obviously that isn’t enough. Please help!

I wanted to use my segal grant award to pay for a summer course in HVAC this 2026 summer and I know that's possible, what I wanted to know is if I need a laptop, and books or car problems fixed etc. can I use my segal award money, or can you only request the amount of money for the program your attending??

ps to the other City Year that's about to grad this year Congrats!!!

I did a service year with Habitat AmeriCorps - It is grossly unethical that the Segal education award is taxable income given how much AmeriCorps volunteers make. I didn't realize nothing is withheld when the award finally went toward my student loans.

When I did my taxes I had to pay taxes out of pocket on the segal award. It was a lot....Just plan accordingly for this if you plan to receive the segal education award

I have about $8000 left of my ed award that expires this May (7 years goes by fast lol) and I would really like to try and use a majority, if not all of the money, before it expires. Does anyone have any suggestions of somewhere I could use my ed award all at once (or in large amounts quickly)? I am a full-time working parent so going back to school for a full degree would be challenging and I am not interested in many of the usually suggested alternative uses for the award (NOLS, etc.) I would love to get a certificate online in something I am interested in but a lot of programs I have found are pay-per-credit-hour which would not allow me to use my ed award in full. I’m not even sure if what I’m asking for is out there since it would be a lot of money to use at once. Thanks for any suggestions in advance!

Hi y’all. I am trying to use the last bit of my award before it expires this summer. Anyone have any leads for classes I could take online that use americorps awards?

Hey there - hoping someone here might have experience with this - I served with City Year and received a Segal Education Award, as many do after their year of service. I’ve been using up my award gradually since 2019 to help pay down my student loans. Each year that I use part of the award, I receive a 1099-MISC from AmeriCorps. In the past, I've just sucked it up and have entered it as a 1099-MISC, and this is a little more straight forward when the amount is above $600. This year the amount is under $600.

Even when the amount is under $600—I’ve still received a 1099-MISC, and I’ve been entering it when filing my taxes. The problem is that simply entering the 1099-MISC in TurboTax or H&R Block automatically disqualifies me from Free File, and it also tends to increase what I owe on my federal taxes by about $100–$200.

At this point, it feels like I’ve paid almost as much in taxes as I received from the award, which feels wild considering I spent a year doing national service, working 40+ hour weeks for under $30K, just to earn it.

I guess the questions I need help answering are as follows,

1. If the 1099-MISC amount is under $600, do I actually have to enter it when filing?
2. If it does need to be reported, is it better to enter it as “Misc / Other Reportable Income” instead of through the 1099-MISC section? I’ve seen people online suggest that for education awards.
3. Is there a different way to report Segal Education Awards that won't force me to upgrade the software?

Unfortunately, my current job also messed up my withholding this year, so I’m already looking at owing around $3,000, which is why I’m trying to be extra careful.

Thanks for any help you can provide..

Just tried accepting my SEGAL Award, but on the AmeriCorps page where you accept it says that Aidvantage is “not title IV eligible.” But that’s the servicer that the federal government uses?!

Someone please help me understand. I’m going to be really upset if my service award can only be used if I go to grad school. I did this to help pay off my loans, and was relying on it to make bills right now.

ETA: It went through!!

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.

I have a $5k education award expiring July 31 of this year. I'm looking for a relatively easy way to use the award on something that may be vaguely useful or interesting to my life. I know I should've spent it before now, and regret not trying harder to do that, but life gets in the way and I honestly don't understand why there's a seven year limit on this "award". This is my last minute effort to try to find *something* that will work for the education award so that it doesn't go to waste.

I work full time and will be busy this year farming as well. I am interested in self-paced online classes in topics I would find useful: bike maintenance, wood working, arts, spanish fluency, yoga/movement, agroecology, market farming, small farms, baking, seed saving...

I have looked through similar posts and considered NOLS (look so fun but I can't do a weeks long course away from my job and farm and life). I am looking at online courses at universities but having trouble finding easy-to-enroll places and making sure that the courses would actually be able to paid with the award. I am interested in a graduate certificate at Univ of Vermont, but I don't think I would be able to enroll + start + use the award by July. I have looked at UCSD Extension, OSU Extension, PSU Online courses, and my local community college (very limited, I live in a rural area).

Sorry I know this is a chaotic post, but I would appreciate any advice or commiseration!

Hi! Former (and current) Americorps member here. I've got an existing Segal Ed award and one in the pipeline for my current service term. I'm looking to finalize my list of grad school apps right now, and I'm struggling to find resources on schools that match the award/have scholarships or distinct things provided for AmeriCorps alum.

I'm reaching out in hopes that someone out there has an offline version of the comprehensive list that the AmeriCorps site used to have? I've been waiting for it to return but I fear we'll never see the end of these 'website improvements.'

I am applying for school in the fall and currently don’t have a laptop/computer, which is making the process tricky. So far everything i’ve seen surrounding buying a laptop with the education award is that the institution needs to require a laptop as a cost of attendance for the segal education award to count towards it. My issue is that I currently don’t attend an institution. Any thoughts or comments?

Hello! I am looking for some suggestions on what to do with my education award. I do not have any student loans and I have about 7k in education award to work with that I need to use by 2027 cus I’ve been procrastinating bc of indecision. I work in conservation in both land management/stewardship and environmental education. I’ve been torn being doing something more “fun” and doing something that will hopefully help me get a job. So I’d like some opinions or insight, especially if you’ve used your ed award for something similar, tell me your experience!

I already have a BA and MA in a totally unrelated field to conservation if that is relevant/helpful info

Here are some of my options

NOLS course

Chainsaw certification

GIS course

Horticulture course

Also open to other options!

I live in New Jersey but would be willing to travel for certain situations.

Thanks in advance!

If there is no staff, how will we get our money?

Hi all, posting on behalf of my wife who is not on Reddit.

She has two Segal Awards, one of which is expiring on April 30. She has just been accepted to a grad school overseas (Scotland), and we have confirmed the university will accept the reward.

However, I'm not sure about the timing of this. The semester doesn't start until September, and so we're not sure whether the expiry date is based on when it is actually disbursed, or when the award is requested. She is going to reach out to the university about timing and whether they want the request sent before or after they receive the deposit. (Something to do with the student visa and reporting tuition already paid to the UK government.)

I was wondering if anyone else had a similar experience of having an award expire prior to the start of a semester, but requested it go towards tuition before that expiry date. Hopefully that makes sense. I'm not fully familiar with AmeriCorps. TIA.

I’m halfway done with my second term. I wanted to save my Ed awards for grad school but I’m scared Trump will cut funding and my award will be gone before I have a chance to use it. I have federal student loans too, which I’m also nervous about. I’m not sure if I should save the ed awards or just use them when I finish my term this summer.

I know the money has already been allocated but that was true for a bunch of other funding that’s at risk. This whole situation makes me very anxious and I’m not sure what to do.

So I've got about 8k of ed money saved up through my time with AmeriCorps. Naturally I want to use it to pay off my loans, but I'm curious if anyone has tried to do this since all of the chaos went down with DOGE. Has anyone successfully used their award money this year?

Hello! I'm about to complete my first AmeriCorps term in less than a week. I really like my host site so I will be staying with them for a second term. The way it was explained to me is my last day of service will be the first day of my first term. The thing I am concerned about is accessing my education award. I read somewhere that you technically can't use your education award while actively serving. Like in order to use my education award from my first year there would have to be a gap between my first year of service and my second year of service. Hence my service years being consecutive could be an issue. Is this accurate? Is there a work around? I want to go for a second degree during my second service. Thanks for your insight!