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Trust and reporting exemptions for an employee scholarship plan
Summary An employee association asked to exempt its funded scholarship plan from ERISA trust and reporting requirements. DOL said the plan did not fall within the proposed trust exception and that the limited reporting exemptions then available did not include funded scholarship plans. Its trust discussion rested on a proposed regulation and the plan's employee contributions.
Document
Federal opinion letter
Agency
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Document number
P/OPINION 76-35
Date issued
April 13, 1976
Status
Unknown
EBSA's index does not mark withdrawn or superseded opinions; still posted on dol.gov as of 2026-10-26.
Status last verified October 26, 2026
Topics
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About this page: The full text below is the official document from U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). Ezel adds the plain-English summary and tracks the document's status. The official source linked on this page is authoritative for any reliance.
P/OPINION 76-35
403
April 13, 1976
Dear :
This is in response to your letter of October 24, 1975, addressed to the Secretary of Labor on behalf of the Employee's Association regarding the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 {ERISA). In that letter, you requested (1) an exemption from the trust requirements of section 403(a) of ERISA and (2) a modification of the reporting requirements of Part 1 of Title I of the same Act.
With respect to your request for an exemption under section 403(a) of ERISA, your plan would not fall within the category of plans to be exempted from the trust requirement under the proposed regulation {copy attached) issued under section 403(b)(4) of ERISA. In your letter of October 24, 1975, you state that the plan is funded with employee contributions. The Department of Labor is currently considering the comments received on the attached regulation prior to publication of such regulation in final form. You should note, however, that the rationale given in the preamble to the proposed regulation for the trust requirement would appear to be applicable to your situation. The preamble to the proposed regulation provides that the trust requirement is necessary "to prevent comingling of plan assets with assets belonging to the person managing the plan assets." None of the comments on the proposed regulation suggested that this rationale was inappropriate. In view of the safeguards provided by the trust requirement, it would appear to be inappropriate to grant the exemption you request.
With respect to your request for modification of the reporting requirements imposed by Part 1 of Title I of ERISA, on August 15, 1975, the Department of Labor granted limited exemptions from reporting requirements to certain welfare plans. These exemptions did not include funded scholarship plans, however, and at the present time, it is not anticipated that the exemption will be extended to these plans.
Should you have any further questions, please contact (us).
Sincerely,
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