You are correct. The stipend was not from the educational institution at all, but it was from the Zoological society of SD.

And I agree with you. I have discussed this with a few very experienced tax professionals as well. We all are agreeing that she should have been issued a W-2 or maybe at least 1099 MISC, but she was not. We all are agreeing that filing a Schedule C would have to be due to 1099NEC box 1 ( non employee compensation) with deducting business expenses, and due to that payment was not issued for qualified tax exempt education expenses but for services and to cover housing, travel and food. We do not feel good about it though as we still do not think she should be filing a Schedule C, and we think she should have been issued a W-2, however in this case, seems it would have to be done with the Schedule C. We aren't going to be contacting the Zoo to see if the mistake was made with them issuing 1099NEC box 1, etc.