My son was admitted ED to Columbia. They did not give us anything close to the aid we need , and almost double what the NPC told us. Now, we are divorced and both ex and I run our own business, so I know the NPC can be a bit trickier in both cases.
I reviewed my CSS ( I am his mother and his custodial parent), and I think I made a mistake. Columbia asked the following Supplemental Question under Student Assets:
“If any of your assets are from Section 529 college savings or pre-paid tution plans, what is its value?”
The heading above this question is: Supplemental Questions - Student Finances.
I (parent) own this account however it is my son’s name. But I (mistakenly?) put the total amt of 529 (both my other sons and this student) in this spot. My first mistake was putting the total amt of both my kids’ accounts in there. My second mistake was, I had ALREADY put this total 529 under Parent Assets and it seems I duplicated it under this Supplemental Section (UGH!), and this is why the Student portion of our bill is so high (21,000 annually).
We are meeting with Columbia Financial Aid on Monday morning, but would love some confirmation from other people out there that this is indeed an error on my part (and that they will help us fix it?) and that our aid might change if this is fixed.
Obv my son is freaking out, as am I, and i am very distressed that i may have made this error.
529 assets are counted as parent assets, not student assets, if the parent is the owner of the account even when they are in the name of the student. It sounds like you did this correctly – included all the 529 assets of both your son and his brother. Since they are counted as parent assets, they should not be contributing to the student portion.
But if you did make a mistake on the CSS profile, then the financial aid office should be able to help you fix it and will adjust your package accordingly.
I am also going to send you a DM. Let me know if you can’t access it.
Edited to ask – when you say that the student portion is 21k – is that the “family portion” or the actual amount that your son is supposed to contribute from his earnings and savings? Did you report a lot of earnings for him from a summer job or similar?
im not seeing a message from you? it says your account is private.
I put the 529 BOTH under parent assets and then, under COlumbia’s supplemental questions where they asked about 529, i put it under there too. I dont think I should have done this as this was a supplemental section under Student Finances. So in essence i duplicated this asset–put it once under parents and then again under student
i listed both his brother’s and his 529 total Student Assets ( this was a columbia-specific Supplemental Question.) I believe I did this incorrectly as i had already put it under Parent Assets.
He had very little earnings (worked at an icecream shop) over both summer and in the school year. I think 2200 total or less (need to look)
Sorry – I am in the process of composing my message to you. It will show up as a highlight on your avatar once I am finished writing it and then you will be able to respond back.
Oh, if this was a Columbia specific question then yes, you are probably correct and once you speak with them you will get clarification.
Thanks. It was a question I hadnt seen before and I definitely had already put the 529 under parent assets. So I think that was why the student portion of annual cost was so high?
I think your best answer will come directly from Columbia financial aid.
Re: owning a business. There are a number of deductions allowed for IRS tax purposes that some colleges add back in as income for financial aid purposes. Perhaps this is part of your issue.
And the NPCs are often not accurate for the business owners or self employed, or divorced parents…and you have all of these things going!
If my understanding as to what OP is reporting here is correct, the balance in the 529 account for which the student is the beneficiary has been listed twice on Columbia’s Profile form: once as a parent asset, and then again as a student asset in a supplemental question. A call to Columbia’s FA office with an explanation is, I think, the best course of action, followed up after the discussion with a confirming email to the FA staff person who was on the other end of the line (having everything in writing that can be reviewed by both parties is never a bad idea and can reduce confusion while providing clarity).
Update in case anyone down the road has this question re Columbia’s supp CSS questions. The finaid officer confirmed I had answered the question incorrectly, and today we received an updated finaid letter with MUCH more aid, much more in line with our expectations.