I saw that. But the stipulation is in the language “therefore only own a portion or percentage of the asset”. The parent or the first named owns 100% of that asset but allows access to the other owner to the funds. Simple as that. There is no apportioning the funds like owning half a house or half of an account where the portions are so designated.
No, it’s not as simple as that. Where in the FAFSA instructions does it say that the first named on a joint account owns 100% of the account assets for FAFSA reporting purposes? Please tell me. The FAFSA instruction that I pasted above specifically applies to questions 41 - 43, and a similar instruction applies to questions 90 - 92. Questions 41 and 90 specifically ask about balances in bank accounts. Why would the instruction talk about determining ownership interest in joint assets, if, as you contend, you aren’t supposed to do that for joint bank accounts?
If the account balance of a joint parent-child bank account is $1,000, and $600 of that was deposited from parent funds and $400 was deposited form child funds, the parent would report 60% of the account assets as a parent asset on FAFSA, with the child/student reporting 40%.
You can use your interpretaion, and others, including myself can use mine or whatever they so choose, taking the risk that it is flagged upon verification and how the financial aid officer would view this. My joint account with the students were 100% parent funded with my student having given me some of their earnings as reimbursement of their expenses for the prior year. His name on the account is simply there to allow access to my funds deposited there.
As I said, I’ve undergone a thorough verification process with this arrangement and called the FAFSA number twice to ask about it.
However, in any situation like this if it comes up, could be subject tor differences of opinion with financial aid officers that may share your opinion. That is the risk. However, having undergone the verification/audit process once, it is highly unlikely this will arise the way the verification info is requested and what one provides in such cases.
From personal experience, I have little faith that the first-line customer service folks at FAFSA can accurately answer anything but the most basic questions. I recently made an inquiry and communicated with three different people, getting three different (and conflicting) answers. When such is the case, I believe that following the instructions as written is the safest way to go.