I am filling out the CSS profile and not sure whether what retirement plans I have.
In the CSS profile, there is a section on “participates in the following retirement plan”. I do know I have 401K but I am assuming it is not asking me whether I am contributing now, right? as I am no long contributing to the 401 K.
In addition, one of my former employers is also paying me a few hundreds dollars a month, I think it is some kind of retirement plans that it created for all employees. Is it called “employer sponsored retirement plan” ? If not, what is it? I do not know the value of the plan, I only knew that I will continue to receive it until I die.
I think the purpose of this question is to determine your financial security for the future, so it likely doesn’t really matter which sort of retirement plan you have. Sounds like you have both 401k and employee sponsored (regardless of who is funding/not funding them).
In some obscure help info or explanation, it was pretty much what ProfessorMom1 wrote, just a way to assess future security. The 401k is a Qualifed Retirement Plan, protected, fill out what they ask, but it won’t be seen as present assets. The income you now get from the retirement usually needs to be reported as such, unless there’s something odd about what it really is.
You really should bone up on details- for your own knowledge and for heirs, if something should happen to you.
So, to answer your questions, in the section where it states, “Participates in the following retirement plans (Select all that apply)”, all you’re doing here is supplying the total value of those plans that you’ve checked off -even if you’re no longer contributing to any of them (in your case, the 410k). The question of “contributing now,” you will answer when you get to the ‘Parent Income and Benefits Details’ where it asks you to 'Enter the amount the student’s parents contributed in 2016 to the following:" (e.g. ‘Tax deferred pension and retirement savings plans’, etc.
As for the “few hundreds dollars a month” you receive from a former employer, if it comes as a paper check, you should be able to locate the name of the firm that manages this monthly disbursement which you receive on the check stubb or even the envelope. Or, contact the HR department at the former employer for that info. Either way should provide you with the info you need in order to know who’s managing your 401 so you can find it’s total value. If it is an old 401 and you’re at least 59 and half years old, you could very well be receiving said disbursements (assuming you did not roll it over to an IRA, etc.). In any event, good luck; sorry for the wordy answer.