<p>Ok slightly freaking out. </p>
<p>We have 529s for each of our children. Have to verify if they are titled as UTMA 529s exactly. Know for sure that statements list parent as trustee for child #1 and parent as trustee for child #2, etc.</p>
<p>We reported these as parent owned 529s (investments) on FAFSA. Did we make a mistake?</p>
<p>Were these child owned 529s due to the account title?</p>
<p>Also were we not supposed to count the 529s of the other kids in the balance reported on FAFSA for child #1? Where else would the balances then be reported as family investments and funds available to us?</p>
<p>Thanks for any help!</p>
<p>I responded on the other thread, but for completeness will update this thread too. UTMA 529s are owned by the child with the parent as custodian. My son’s UTMA 529 statement reads like this:</p>
<p>vballmom CUST
vballson UTMA CA </p>
<p>I also have a parent-owned 529 with my son as beneficiary that looks like this on the statement:</p>
<p>vballmom
vballson BENE </p>
<p>All parent-owned and student-owned 529s are reported as parent assets on FAFSA. Sibling-owned 529s are not reported on the student’s FAFSA.</p>
<p>Appreciate your reply!</p>
<p>Also, to clarify when paying out college expenses for Child #1, we should deplete his 529accounts first, then cash/savings, then savings bonds in parents’ names, then savings bonds in child name (b/c of interest income reporting requirements)?</p>
<p>So confusing how to best use up the small amounts we’ve struggled to save so as not to cause tax issues or more financial aid issues in subsquent years’ filings.</p>
<p>You’ll want to spend down cash/investments that are assessed the highest by the FAFSA formula, all other things being equal. Parent assets and 529 accounts are assessed at the rate of 5.6%. Student cash, savings and investments outside of 529s are assessed at the rate of 20%. So spend student cash/savings/bonds first, then the 529 and other parent assets.</p>
<p>vballmom - I appreciate your patience.</p>
<p>So I looked into the titling of the 529s.</p>
<p>One batch of accounts for the kids are titled:
sahp kid name
sahp spouse name custodian</p>
<p>Other batch of accounts for the kids are titled:
sahp kid name UGMA/UTMA
sahp custodian</p>
<p>We have these groups for each one of our kids.</p>
<p>Which ones are parental assets for FAFSA and which one are student assets, if any? Do all the kids’ accounts get reported for the first applicants FAFSA?</p>
<p>Am I overthinking all this?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>These look like parent-owned 529s and as such all are reported as a parent asset on child #1’s FAFSA.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>These look like student-owned 529s. Only child #1’s 529 would be reported on FAFSA, and it is reported as a parent asset. Sibling-owned UTMA/529s are not reported.</p>
<p>None of the 529s would be reported as a child’s asset on FAFSA; all 529s that you report are reported as parent assets.</p>
<p>Thank you for the clarification vballmom, you’ve been so very gracious to share your knowledge. Much appreciated!!!</p>