<p>I have an account with cash/bonds under both my and my parent's name.
To maximize my financial aid, should I put this asset under my name or my parent's?</p>
<p>EDIT: I am inquiring about the top universities with generous, need-blind FA, if that makes a difference.</p>
<p>Who receives the 1098 for this account, you or your parents? Someone receives these for tax purposes. If it’s your parents, the account is already IN their name with you as a coholder. If it’s you, you are right, better placed in the parents name only. If they are already on the account and they are too but you get the 1098 in your name, perhaps you can just get yourself off the account.</p>
<p>Thanks thumper1, but as a Canadian applicant, I’m not familiar with the 1098.
It was originally my account, but my parent’s were later added as co-holders.</p>
<p>If assets are in your name, 20% goes to your ability to pay. If they are in your parents name it is about 5.6%. The key here is who is primary (for the US it is the SS # of the primary account holder)</p>
<p>If this poster is a Canadian citizen, he is NOT eligible for U.S. federally funded need based aid. That being the case, I’m not sure why this would matter on the FAFSA (if he is even able to complete one). If he’s applying to a college that uses the FAFSA information for awarding institutional aid, that college would be taking the info, not necessarily the EFC from the FAFSA.</p>
<p>I thought only U.S. citizens could fill out a FAFSA.</p>
<p>I’m looking for institutional aid because I am ineligible for federal aid.
Usually I will be filling out the CSS, or the universities own forms.
Regardless, I still need to submit this information on assets.</p>
<p>Thank you for your replies; I will try to count this asset under my parents.</p>
<p>The assessments of 5.6% for parent assets and 20% for student assets are FAFSA %ages…and have nothing to do with the Profile at all. Who knows how schools use the student asset info on the Profile? It probably varies from school to school.</p>
<p>Oh 
well, I don’t see why it would be different.
It wouldn’t harm though if I had it under my parents though, right?</p>
<p>PS: Just did Princeton’s calculator; did not make a difference whether under student assets or parent’s.</p>
<p>Lots of variables including family income, but in the PROFILE process, assets in student name assessed at 25% and parents at 5% or so…its not that simple though because of different “allowances” …go to collegeboard.com and use their EFC caclculator (Institutional Methodology or IM) and print out the detailed calculations both ways and compare the details…</p>