AmeriCorps education award.

In plain English

The AmeriCorps education award, formally the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award, is a benefit you earn by finishing a term of national service through AmeriCorps. After completing your required hours, you receive an award you can use to pay current college costs or to repay qualified federal student loans. The award is paid to the school or loan servicer, not handed to you as cash. Unlike many scholarships, the award counts as taxable income in the year you use it, so it can raise your tax bill. You generally have seven years from the end of your service to use it.

01Why it matters

It turns a year of service into a real chunk toward tuition or existing student debt, which can shrink what you borrow or owe. Knowing it is taxable when used helps you avoid a surprise at tax time.

02The math, step by step

After completing a full term of AmeriCorps service, you earn an education award. For a full term, the award equals the maximum Pell Grant for the fiscal year your service is approved, which is $7,395 for terms beginning on or after October 1, 2023. You can apply it to your tuition bill or use it to pay down a qualified federal student loan, with the money sent straight to the school or servicer, and you generally have seven years to use it. Because the award is taxable in the year you use it, a large award used all at once could nudge you into owing more tax that year.

03What this is NOT

04Receipts

Every figure on this page is sourced to a primary document. Tap to open the original.