Fair Treatment of Scholarships and Pell Grants Act of 2017 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify the provision which excludes from the gross income of a student any amount that is received as a qualified scholarship used for qualified tuition and related expenses. The bill expands the exclusion to: (1) permit the scholarship to be used for room and board costs for which there is an allowance under the Higher Education Act of 1965; and (2) to specify that "qualified tuition and related expenses" include fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for research at the educational organization. The amount included in qualified tuition and related expenses for research not required for a course of instruction may not exceed $300 per year, adjusted for inflation after 2017.