A scholarship or fellowship grant is excluded from income only to the extent it is used for tuition and required fees at a degree-granting institution. Amounts received that are used for room and board, travel, research expenses, or equipment are fully taxable - even if the scholarship or fellowship letter says the funds are for "educational purposes." Non-degree candidates receive no exclusion at all: every dollar of a stipend or fellowship received by a non-degree student is ordinary income. Graduate students with teaching or research stipends frequently discover they owe thousands of dollars in income tax they did not expect, with no employer withholding to offset it.
Excluded from income: Scholarship or fellowship amounts received by a candidate for a degree and used for tuition and fees required for enrollment or attendance, and fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for courses. These amounts are not income and are not reported anywhere on the return.
Taxable income: Amounts used for room and board; travel expenses; optional equipment not required for courses; and any amounts representing payment for teaching, research, or other services required as a condition of receiving the grant. This last category - payment for services - is always taxable regardless of how the grantor characterizes it.
Non-degree candidates: Fellowships, stipends, and grants received by individuals who are not candidates for a degree at an educational institution are fully taxable ordinary income - no exclusion available under §117.
If a scholarship or fellowship requires the recipient to perform teaching, research, or other services as a condition of receiving the grant, the portion allocable to those services is taxable wages - not excludable scholarship income. A PhD student who receives a $30,000 annual stipend in exchange for teaching two undergraduate sections per semester is receiving $30,000 of taxable wage income. The university should issue a W-2. If no W-2 is issued, the income is still taxable and the student must report it as other income. Graduate students who receive fellowship income for service should expect Form W-2 or Form 1099, and should be prepared to make quarterly estimated tax payments.
Athletic scholarships follow the same §117 rules as academic scholarships - the exclusion applies to amounts used for tuition and required fees. A full athletic scholarship that covers tuition, fees, room, board, and books: tuition and required fees are excluded; room and board are taxable. In practice, the room and board component of a scholarship creates taxable income for the student-athlete. Universities generally do not withhold on athletic scholarship taxable amounts, creating estimated tax payment obligations for student-athletes with significant scholarship awards.
Employer-provided educational assistance under §127 (up to $5,250/year excluded from income) is separate from the §117 scholarship exclusion. An employee who receives both a §127 employer reimbursement and a scholarship must track the two independently. The §117 exclusion applies only to amounts from a scholarship or fellowship grant meeting the definition in §117(b). The §127 exclusion applies to employer educational assistance programs. Both can apply to the same student for different portions of their educational costs.