<p>I am filling out the CSS Profile and under Parent's Data I checked off that I have a State Sponsored Retirement plan AND a 401k. Underneath that it asks for the total current value of plans and says 'Enter the total current value of this parent's tax-deferred retirement, pension, annuity, and savings plans. Include IRA, SRA Keogh, SEP, 401(a), 401(k), 403(b), 408, 457, 501(c) plans, etc'
Am I supposed to include the value of the State Sponsored plan in that total amount?</p>
<p>What kind of plan is your state sponsored plan? Do you have a balance in it that is your own money? Most often a state plan is a 457 or 401(a), 403(b) for public school teachers.</p>
<p>Here’s a list of retirement plans:</p>
<p>[Types</a> of Retirement Plans](<a href=“http://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/Plan-Sponsor/Types-of-Retirement-Plans-1]Types”>Types of Retirement Plans | Internal Revenue Service)</p>
<p>Your plan documents or online access should say what type of plan it is.</p>
<p>It is 414h</p>
<p>I can’t answer for sure. The difference is that contributions are mandatory. You don’t have to add in contributions on FAFSA. It doesn’t appear you have a way to know the value, just your contributions and the plan has a defined benefit. That’s from this older thread:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/844758-question-regarding-fafsa-414-h-pensions.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/844758-question-regarding-fafsa-414-h-pensions.html</a></p>
<p>Here’s another old thread:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/836340-css-profile-pension-retirement-plans.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/836340-css-profile-pension-retirement-plans.html</a></p>
<p>JMO but I think if you needed to include it, it would have been in the list, despite the etc.</p>
<p>I will have some state retirement pension; plus I have a 457 that the state does not contribute to. The 457 I could give a current value, since I get quarterly statements, etc. The state pension is an unknown and based on many factors: years employed when retire, average salary, payout plan chosen at retirement, etc (and whether the state actually has the money to pay when the time comes). We added a note in the info section at the end where you are asked to explain anything that there is no estimate of the current value of this pension due to these unknowns. We were never asked to provide any further explanation, so I guess that was ok.</p>
<p>Do you surmise that the value of pension plans will factor into financial aid (provided from the schools?) - I thought retirement funds (similar to home equity in the family home) did not factor into the financial aid calculations (we are only applying to the Ivies and MIT who provide International Financial Aid, fyi)? </p>
<p>We only did the CSS profile. I am from Ontario, Canada, and myself and DH both work for the provincial government and upon request (oh why oh why did I even ask???) I get the commuted value assessment for each - which is alot higher than my contributions - close to $1M CDN when you combine the 2 plans. The CV is the value should we leave our jobs before we turn 55. If we did leave those funds would be placed in a locked in retirement fund, and not touchable until we are 55 years old+. If we left after 55, they are vested and cannot be accessed until retirement.</p>
<p>I did include those numbers. Now I am worried. I don`t recall those prompts being available in the NPC prompts.</p>