School fees, enrollment fees, etc., that you must pay to participate in a specific course are eligible education expenses. In this era of technology, laptops might be considered essential for learning and thus fall under the category of “eligible education expenses”, but are they? Keep on reading to find out!
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What Is Considered Qualified Educational Expense?
A qualified education expense is an expenditure incurred on college tuition, registration fees, and all other costs associated with attending or enrolling in an academic curriculum at a qualified academic institution.
A student services fee that every student must pay is another example of an expense that could be filed under this category.
Fees that do not fall under this category (i.e., non-essential) include transportation and room and board.
So Can a Laptop Be Considered an Essential Education Tool for you?
Laptops are popular because they provide technical resources and are highly usable. As a result, their use has become quite common at home as well as in all kinds of classrooms.
Laptops provide students with a range of benefits, from thorough note-taking to quicker writing and editing, research, etc. They also make group work easier and increase productivity.
Let’s take a detailed look at the benefits laptops offer students:
i. Taking Digital Notes
Students who have laptops can easily write things down in apps like MS Word or Google Docs which they can access anywhere because laptops are portable.
Also, unlike paper notes, which can be damaged or lost, digital notes can be saved and backed up, ensuring that important notes are not lost.
The organization is also something to consider, i.e. laptops can help students keep all of their notes and other study materials in order to save them time.
ii. Increasing Work Quality
To improve writing, the National Writing Project helped provide laptops to students. Eighty percent of students who were a part of the experiment said they’d rather work on a laptop. Seventy-five percent of students said laptops helped them be more coordinated, and seventy percent of students claimed that laptops allowed them to improve the quality of their work.
iii. Group Works
Students who learn how to function as part of a team learn course content differently. Also, laptops make group work easier by helping students connect from virtually anywhere.
iv. Providing Availability
One of the key benefits of having a laptop is being able to connect to the Internet. With many sites offering free Wi-Fi, connecting to the Internet is easier than ever. Thus, students can research whenever they want or access educational materials, such as curriculum services and websites, which will further their learning.
v. Additional Resources
Computer access opens up a plethora of new research opportunities. For example, students can quickly search for academic journals and online books, which means they can find relevant information a lot faster. There are also online videos, expert journals, and research websites that can help students experiencing difficulties with certain subjects or projects.
vi. Communication
In the same way that laptops make information more accessible, they also make communication more accessible. For example, if students are having trouble with an assignment or project, they can easily message a professor or a classmate, who might send additional information via email.
On the contrary, students who don’t have constant access to computers might wait longer to receive the help they need. Aside from communicating via email and school websites, students can also use social media and online support platforms when they need help with their studies. In fact, some students even get together to create study guides.
vii. Additional Access
Professors sometimes upload assignments online or submit classwork to students via email. Also, some resources have open tutoring chapters, so certain work can be graded as one part of a course.
Even if teachers do not require online assignments, they can post supplementary questions or training materials on a section of the course website.
Such material could take the form of quizzes which will test students’ knowledge of certain areas of study. This can help students identify problem areas (if any), put in more study time or seek assistance.
Are Affiliated With A Qualified Organization?
Educational costs are only deductible if a qualified organization pays them. Any college, university, private college, or other post-secondary education program that is eligible for enrollment in a financial aid program administered by the USDE (United States Department of Education) is considered a qualified educational institution.
Most accredited post-secondary institutions are qualified, including all non-profit institutions and public or private for-profit institutions. Therefore, if your institution is eligible, it will most likely be on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) document list.
The FAFSA code list is available as a downloadable excel sheet. However, you may simply ask an institution if it is a tax-exempt educational organization. Also, class expenses that help you develop work skills or gain new skills count toward the lifetime learning credit (LLC).
Funds to Use to Cover the Expense of the Laptop
You may receive education credits for eligible education expenses, such as a laptop, paid with cash, credit/debit card, check, or loan funds. However, if you cover the expenses with loan funds, you have to request the allowance during the year you pay the expenditures, not the year you received the loan nor when you pay it back.
Final Words
As qualified educational expenses include all materials needed to complete a course, laptops are considered a qualified educational expense.
With all the benefits laptops provide, there’s no need for further explanations: they are a vital part of education systems. Period.
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