<p>It doesn’t matter who the legal owner is if this student is the beneficiary of the trust…at least that was what we were told.</p>
<p>This isn’t the year for your mom to claim you as a dependent if it’s your Dad’s turn. The paperwork he has to file to get you as dependent on his return could delay the processing of your Mom’s taxes and delay your ability to use the fafsa irs data retrieval tool. That would delay the verification process if your fafsa is selected for verification. Have your mom work out in advance with your dad who’s claiming you and if it’s your dad then she shouldn’t.</p>
<p>The guidelines in that link indicate that you must receive benefits within the next week for the simplified needs test. You will need to apply immediately for SNAP, WIC, or something that can be turned around quickly for it to impact 2015-2016. Otherwise the income threshold will drop. You will still receive a very low EFC, it just may not automatically be $0 (for this year it dropped from $50K automatic to $24K without receiving benefits in the previous year pp. 5-6).</p>
<p>How much is in the trust?</p>
<p>As of right now I still don’t know how much is in the fund. Side note - I went to go fill out the 2014-2015 school year FAFSA (didn’t save it, just wanted to see how it all worked), and even though I indicated that my mother filed a 1040A, it still asked for the balance of my savings. Can I safely not include the trust fund there, or do I need to find out the balance of the fund and include it as part of my savings anyways?</p>
<p>I’m not trying to bend the rules or anything…I understand that there are a lot of people out there who don’t get surprise college money from their relatives. But I would be a little disappointed if I would still end up paying just as much for my education with the fund as I would have if it hadn’t existed</p>
<p>Make sure you find out what kind of ‘trust’ it is. It may be a 529 plan that they are calling a trust just because that’s the word they know. If so, it is your mother’s asset.</p>
<p>Agreed…if it’s a 529, it would be reported as a parent asset in most cases. </p>
<p>But if the student qualifies for the simplified needs test, the parent assets are not reported.</p>
<p>I’m retired and last year we qualified for simplified means on the basis of AGI and 1040A. I was surprised that the fafsa still asked for parent and student assets. But the amounts weren’t used to determine EFC. Our assets are above the asset allowance so that isn’t why they weren’t counted and my daughter’s assets weren’t counted either. I’ve read posts here from people who qualified for simplified means and the skip logic didn’t ask for assets. I don’t know why it asks in some cases and not others.</p>
<p>If the online fafsa asks for assets, I think they need to be provided fully and accurately even if they won’t be counted toward EFC. There’s a difference between assets not having to be reported and assets not counting toward EFC. </p>
<p>I also think it would be good on it’s own merits for the OP to get to the bottom of this ‘trust’ to determine what it is and what the value is for planning purposes.</p>
<p>OP, note that if you also need to fill out the CSS profile, the trust (or 529?) assets MAY need to be reported on them, depending on how the account is set up. I agree with @annoyingdad that you need to find out (1) exactly what kind of account it is, (2) how much is in it, (3) who the legally titled owners & beneficiaries are, and (4) if it is a trust, whether there are any restrictions in the trust documents on how/when it can be used.</p>
<p>529 plan owned by grandparent in name of student is not reported as asset on fafsa.
But in the year of funds disbursement, it is reported as income to the child ( which is actually worse), but at least the 1st $6000 of child income does not affect efc.</p>
<p>See final summary in this thread:
<a href=“529 Plan owned by non-custodial parent (or grandparent) with child as beneficiary - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1627942-529-plan-owned-by-non-custodial-parent-or-grandparent-with-child-as-beneficiary.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks, this is very helpful. So from understanding, I should find out what kind of account it is and how much is in it asap; if it’s a trust, then I should record it as my personal savings because it’s considered an asset to me, and if it’s the kind of 529 plan described by rgosula, I need to record it as my own income?</p>
<p>@rgosula, according to the summary you linked to and from what I believe, the 529 disbursements from a grandparent owned 529 would be money paid by someone else on behalf of the student(question 45j last year), not regular income. But the $6260 income allowance does apply to that amount as well as regular income. </p>
<p>@bluerhapsody58, only report it as income if it actually left the 529 account into your account in the tax year. The amount still in the owner’s account does not need to be reported on fafsa.</p>
<p>@annoyingdad, yes, not regular income, but effect is the same.</p>
<p>If the money is in a trust, in which only if the person dies, then you get the money, then it also does not have to be reported on fafsa. It is not your asset at all yet, it is still the owner’s asset. </p>
<p>If it is a trust that is already in your name, in which you could withdraw funds, then it is your asset.</p>
<p>Rgosula…the student needs to know what kind of account this is. If it was set up to pay for college, one would assume those who set it up didn’t plan to die first. </p>
<p>Maybe the trust was setup in case of death, and student was informed of it. That is why he is running around trying to figure out what to do. Maybe it was not specifically setup for his college. But, yes, he needs to inform himself more about this money.</p>
<p>Well they said it was a trust, and they said it was in my name…they said they would make a deposit on my birthday and on christmas every year until I graduated (I had no idea about it until they told me Christmas eve). They made it sound like I could use it for whatever I wanted (college related, obviously)…tuition, books, living expenses, etc. They kind of have this the less they tell me, the more helpful the money will be mentality, as they assume that I can just play dumb and not include that money on the fafsa because I “didn’t know about it”. I explained to them that this wasn’t the case, and that I need the account details if I want any federal financial aid (or in my particular case, merit scholarships, as the school I plan on enrolling in only gives merit scholarships to those who fill out the fafsa for some reason). So hopefully they’ll be giving me the details within the next few days, because I kinda want to get this done asap.</p>
<p>I know I keep repeating myself, but I’m kinda paranoid about not screwing this up…nobody else in my family has really been through the college thing yet. But here is my understanding of my situation. If the account/trust is in my name (I’m pretty sure it’s not a 529), it’s my asset, and I record it under my savings. If I qualify for a simplified EFC formula, then they’ll probably ignore the money for the purpose of determining EFC. If for some reason they decide I don’t qualify, then I hope for the best and pray I still get some sort of aid.</p>
<p>Again, I don’t even have a rough estimate of how much is in the account. If it’s low enough, then I’m betting it won’t limit my financial aid too much. If it, along with any scholarships, are enough to pay for four years of college, then great. So I will update as soon as I find out</p>
<p>…and apply for free/reduced lunch ASAP, try to contact the school district administrative office Monday.</p>
<p>I’m a little confused by that…does where does it ask for that on the fafsa?</p>