529s, do college savings affect admissions?

[YoLo2]

@BelknapPoint

The treatment of grandparent-owned 529s is changing for FAFSA purposes. How Profile schools will or will not change regarding grandparent-owned 529s is not yet known.

On the other hand, your post from 2016 opined that grandparent-owned 529 accounts did not have to be reported on the CSS Profile (or maybe that parents could get away with not reporting them?)

529 funded by grandparents

A student and/or parents may not necessarily know about a grandparent-owned 529 account that names the student as the beneficiary, and if they did know a grandparent account owner may not cooperate in disclosing the current value. Where are the instructions from CSS saying that such an account and its value need to be reported under section ES? IF the grandparent account owner requests that the distributions go directly to the school, yes there will be a paper trail. But the grandparent has other options, including having the distribution made payable to the beneficiary, who will then (presumably) make payment to the school - no paper trail for the school to see.