Using Bonds For Education

[Yegg]

Apparently, if I want to use bonds to help pay for anything education related (in my case, college tuition), the bonds will not be taxed. I've got nearly $800 in bonds that I would like to apply towards the rest of my college tuition but I am unsure of how to go about proving that I will be using them for education so that I can get the money from them tax-free. Does anyone know in detail how this works?

[rabbit]

I'd say go talk to one of the bank people or maybe an accountant.

[Yegg]

I'd say go talk to one of the bank people or maybe an accountant.

Weirdly enough, the banker I asked at my bank didn't know all the details and said that they didn't do that thing (cashing it in without being taxed) at the bank. They gave me a # to call to reach the Bonds Department. I called this place and of course a machine picks up and has me push different buttons until I've narrowed the answers it gives down to a particular bond related topic. So it goes through a whole list of facts about bonds and I'm left waiting until it mentioned "education" or "tax free". It mentions that you may be exempt from tax if you use the bonds for education, however it never mentions how to go about proving you are using them for education. Fortunately, the machine left me with a website (treasurydirect.gov) which I'll be looking over soon. I'm going back to my bank today to try and find out some more answers.

Update: I found the answer: http://treasurydirect.gov/indiv/planning/plan_education.htm

I don't qualify :/.