529 Plans and FAFSA Assets

General planning- of course. More savings is better than less. A kid with high scores will have more options (throw the merit dice?) than a kid with low scores. A kid who has clear direction intellectually but is somewhat flexible in terms of location, lifestyle, etc. is going to have more options than a kid who WON’T consider single sex or Catholic or New Orleans or Allentown PA.

But other than observing that Harvard is more generous than Brown-- doing a deep dive on specifically which schools are going to treat your particular finances in which way- boy, that’s the road to heartache. Plus- the schools are under no obligation to keep their current system in perpetuity. When one of my kids was a senior, the “best buy” college was Brandeis. A terrific merit award, a lovely campus; kids in the donut hole for the need-only colleges could do really well there (close friend turned down Dartmouth with a small need based package for a super generous Brandeis merit package). So a few year’s later my next kid comes along- and Brandeis’ fabulous deal is a distant memory. The fantastic Wash U merit awards had dwindled to a few uber competitive scholarship (still a great deal but no longer something that the top kid could kind of view as a safety); a couple of the need-blind schools had become need-aware- and the whole landscape had changed.

I agree with the sentiments. However, I have already been through the college merry go round and my kids are mostly in high school and they have been pretty consistent. The one who does not work, still does not work, the one for whom 8th grade math was effortless had an equally easy time with Trig. For distance, financial and cultural reasons there are not that many schools I would allow my kids to apply to, it is a universe of maybe 30 schools. Sure Tulane and University of Miami are getting pretty played out in terms of merit as they are starting to get the cream of the crop (probably how Brandeis, Vanderbilt and WUSTL were 10 years ago.) Sure there will be a substitute in 4 years but in general I have very specific ground rules. For example, if you are not going meets full need or substantial merit (less than or equal to in state), then you need to go in state.

In our case how sibling 529 plans are treated will make a difference of thousands each year. Even for the school my child will attend I have no idea how they would treat a 529 plan in her name (which she does not currently have).