CSS Profile Tax Deferred Retirement Question PD-175A

[EdBenjamin]

Hello parents and students. I’m filling out my CSS Profile. Do I need to include the 529/Educational IRA accounts under the question for retirement accounts? Do I need to include my Variable Universal Life Insurance policy? If so, do I use the surrender value or cash value of the policy? Thanks in advance!

[gibby]

You need to include your 529/Educational IRA account as an asset that can be used for college (it’s not considered a retirement account for the CSS Profile): http://www.forbes.com/sites/troyonink/2014/02/14/how-assets-hurt-college-aid-eligibility-on-fafsa-and-css-profile

Assets that aren’t in retirement accounts — balances in checking, savings, CDs, brokerage accounts, money market, investment real estate, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, commodities and 529 college savings and prepaid plans—do get included in the EFC formulas.

In addition

Life insurance cash values are not counted under any of the formulas, but a few highly selective colleges will ask about policy cash values in their supplemental questions on the CSS Profile.

[annoyingdad]

In other words, 529/Coverdell accounts are regular investment assets, they don’t go under the retirement account question.