D has received a generous grant for her upcoming freshman year at a school that uses CSS. Our financial situation will likely change in future years due to inheritance and raises. We want to maximize chance of grants Sophomore year and beyond and are considering a Certified College Planner. I’m just exploring this option, so I don’t yet know how their fees work. Any experience to share or advise?
What do you hope to have them do? If you have increased income, this will affect your need based aid. Not much you can do to reduce that increased income.
If you receive an inheritance, the money in your accounts when you file your CSS and FAFSA will be counted as assets.
Can you delay receiving the inheritance until after you file your last FAFSA when your student is a college junior?
I believe H can leave his inheritance in the existing trust. My D will receive a small amount of money as well.
We are wondering about spending down her existing 529 college fund quickly instead of our original plan to spread it out over 4 years (i.e., basically exhaust nearly all of it freshman year). Also wondering whether her portion of inheritance (which can’t stay in the trust) should go into the 529 plan. We are wondering about using inheritance to eliminate our debt (to free up more $ for increased tuition). How will choices effect FAFSA?
Surprisingly, she received a grant for freshman year much higher than the school’s NPC predicted, so I’m hesitant to use that tool to determine the outcome of our different options. And finally, her school says they use the CSS for freshman year only and that future aid should stay consistent assuming finances don’t change much. Perhaps if there is a big change to the FAFSA, they will ask for an updated CSS.
leaving the money in an existing trust doesn’t change anything if some/all of it is his asset.
Are you sure that all of that grant was need based? Maybe some of it was merit?
- Moving her part of the inheritance into a 529 plan with her as the owner and as the beneficiary will be more favorable under FAFSA than would having that money in a regular account in her name.
- Eliminating some/all debt is generally very positive for your family. Having big piles of money sitting in a regular account isn't helpful from a financial aid standpoint.
- Keeping money in the trust does not exclude it as an asset. It is still your husband's asset.
I don’t know what a CCP could possibly do. As @arabrab mentions, moving her part of the inheritance into a 529 and paying off debt are good things to do. But you don’t need to pay a CCP to tell you that.
As for increased income from raises or promotions, there’s really no way to avoid that impact, except that the impact is really for the following year, not the current year.
Beware of an insurance salesperson in disguise as a certified college planner…
And here is a story in Forbes about someone who was caught for falsely claiming he passed the 16 hour certified college planner course when his coworker took it for him.
If your husband is the beneficiary of a trust, his share of that trust is an asset now…even if he has no access to the funds. Perhaps this depends on the type of trust. This is what we were told as DH was going to be the beneficiary in an irrevocable trust his family was creating.
You are better off using an experienced financial planner or a trusts and estates attorney who has some knowledge of financial aid, than using someone whose entire focus is on maximizing financial aid.
Why? It is MUCH more costly to mess up a trust, long term (taxes which you shouldn’t have had to pay; fees which you shouldn’t have incurred; legal fees to re-title assets which were done incorrectly) than to forgo 5 or 10K in need based aid.
There are all kinds of ways to move assets around so as to “escape” being recorded when you file for aid. Some of them are even legal. Whether they are smart financial moves for your family or not- the college aid expert doesn’t know or care. Their job is to get you aid.
But you may be better off with a sound long term financial plan which includes a lower need based aid package next year (because you have less need) but which puts your assets in the right place to maximize your returns and minimize your tax liabilities long term.
I know people who are stuck with costly and low performing annuities… big fees, low returns. Why? They wanted more need based aid.
Guess what? College is four years. Then you’re stuck with a crappy investment sucking up your capital which should be growing until retirement, not incurring fees which go to the guy who sold the thing to you in the first place. (yes-fees. Every year. Dragging down your returns).
I know someone who inherited a large IRA. Yay! The College Planner gave her bad advice on how to title it. There are no do-overs with an inherited IRA. She’s now stuck with it. It would have been a fantastic way to move the assets in it down to her kids with a minimal tax bite (or at least a significantly deferred tax bite on the assets which have grown tremendously since her parent funded it.)
Inheriting assets isn’t always as simple as it looks on TV. Consult a lawyer and accept the fact that in exchange for paying more out of pocket for college, you’ve got a financial cushion for your retirement (and potentially some assets to pass down to the next generation) instead of paying unnecessary fees and taxes.
Good advise, all. Thank you. My H’s understanding from the attorney the family consulted is that money could remain in the trust and not in his name, for several years. As I recall, the CSS asked about trusts in which the student was the beneficiary but not trusts in which the parent is the beneficiary.
Actually, check again. I believe the fafsa and Profile ask for trusts in which the parent is the beneficiary.
From https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1516/help/fotw43e.htm
“Investments include real estate (do not include the home in which your parents live), rental property (includes a unit within a family home that has its own entrance, kitchen, and bath rented to someone other than a family member), trust funds, UGMA and UTMA accounts, money market funds, mutual funds, certificates of deposit, stocks, stock options, bonds, other securities, installment and land sale contracts (including mortgages held), commodities, etc.”
The FAFSA rules do not exclude trusts based on the parent being the beneficiary. There are some complicated rules (applying equally to parents and students) if the trust is a charitable remainder trust, but it doesn’t sound like that is the case.
@blossom is spot on. Don’t do things for financial aid purposes that don’t make sense in the overall context of your family’s financial planning.
Adding to the above…some folks do a LOT of “financial gymnastics” and then find they really don’t net any additional need based financial aid. Remember, need based aid is primarily driven by income. Yes, assets are added in as well, but with a 5.6% assessment on assets for fafsa, plus a $30,000 or so asset protection allowance…the assets don’t come into play nearly as much as income.