Ok, good to clarify. My kids have both parent-held and grandparent-held. I was wondering about the best strategy for withdrawing.
@Acersaccharum We wound up transferring ownership from a grandparent because I knew we would need the funds before senior year. There are some workarounds mentioned in this article: https://www.savingforcollege.com/article/workarounds-for-grandparent-owned-529-plans
Good point @cozminok.
My point of drawing 529 with financial aid assumes parent ownership. It reduces assets without needing to show income hence the benefit. Without financial aid, it doesnāt really matter so makes more sense to delay or evenly distribute. In my case I will need some 529 money during the process as I suspect most would.
No, it is assessed at the parentās rate (5.6%) on the FAFSA.
Having the student hold the asset is helpful if there are multiple children with accounts. If the parent holds all the accounts, all are reported on the FAFSA even is the account has another child as a beneficiary. If the sibling owns the account, not reported.
Re: ACT scores. I swear you have to follow up with the ACT site. I ordered Twin Aās ACT regular delivery Oct. 25. One school has them and the other still didnāt as of this morning. I sent an email last night that I assume they read this a.m. Just checked and the score is now there for her ED choice.
If you have a score lagging that you ordered, I recommend sending an email!
Sorry, @twoinanddone is right. I was being confused thinking of other sheltered student assets (e.g., UGMA/UTMAs).
(dfbdfb steps away, quietly.)
For those who havenāt seen this article, I thought it was timely and appropriate for this thread 
@eandesmom Great article. Thanks for posting!
Good news in Merit aid for in the stats in this thread: Ursinus College just announced an increase in its Gateway Scholarship to $35,000 for 27 ACT/1220 SAT, and all admissible applicants will receive at least $21,000 per year for all 4 years. Begins with fall 2019 enrollment, but they do recommend applying EA or ED.
@Acersaccharum , just to add to that, after speaking with the Ursinus rep last week, my DD had to request they move her EA app to RD. She has a 26 ACT super scored. They only review for merit and aid at same time as admissions review. Her GPA is under their average. It was advised to try for the 27 ACT with the December test as it will yield significantly more merit.
@Longhaul That is fantastic! My D is in the same position with her superscored ACT, but I donāt think we can handle another test. Getting to that point was so painful. Iām glad they will consider for your D, best of luck on that test!
It really is a great Merit offer (even if tuition did go up too ;-))
How about the SAT? It doesnāt have the science section and math isnāt as fast paced. Did they take the PSAT and how did they do on it?
It might be worth taking a few SAT practice tests on the Collegeboard website and see if itās above the 1220.
D took both the SAT and PSAT, and did not fare well. So we pursued ACT with a prep class and several practice tests. Her practice scores were a little higher than her actual scores, so that stung a little, but we declared an end to testing for the sake of sanity. The fall testing dates conflicted with important sporting events and she is a recruited athlete, so weāve picked our battles. Fortunately, she is in at her safety and itās affordable, so thereās that.
@Acersaccharum
Which sport does your daughter play?
@JBSeattle She is a swimmer.
So annoyed that EA for Ursinus was missed. It was on list, but she didnāt have bandwidth to answer extra question. Twin A has GOT to find time for 11/15 EA deadlines. She is so busy and this is without a sport. Honestly, donāt know how the super involved kids are managing.
If all students recieve at least 21,000, why not just lower the sticker price by that amount? Iām not trying to be difficult, but I donāt understand how these things are calculated. Am I missing something?
Regarding Ursinus and the 21Kā¦
It does not actually state you are garunteed that amount, just that all are reviewed for scholarships that start at that amount.
Which I believe is essentially saying all students will get at least that amountā¦in FA or Scholarship but they could decide to give it all in FA. However, you could be offered nothing.
For all that are applying, getting the higher score in is smart. Ursinus is very big on test scores and it will make a difference. FWIW, My S17 was admitted EA, with a 25 superscore and was offered 24k. We did appeal and they offered a small one time grant, mabye $2500 if memory serves.
In his case, he was not goign to re-test no matter what and did not beleive he was capable of a better score (and with that attitude he was probably correct lol).
It was his 3rd choice school and has a lot of wonderful things about it so for those who like it and can bear dealing with another round of testing if needed, Iād definitely go for it.
My only concern with going RD is that if you donāt hit that 27, youāll likely be offered less in RD than you would have EA.
@gallentjill Agreed with the āsticker priceā comment. It just shows what a game this is.
Also @TwinMom2023 , it is annoying that they sent out this email announcing the change after the EA deadline, but still in time for ED.
And @eandesmom , the email we received (probably because D applied EA) actually states:
āā¦In addition, the college has increased itās Ursinus Scholarship merit awards, so that all admissible applicants will receive at least $21,000 per year for four years.ā
This makes it sound like more of a sure thing than the language on their website.
@TwinMom2023 I hear you about the kids being busy and the deadlines. My D19 did not play her fall sport and she still seems to be super busy. She is working more, but 11/1 deadlines were tough. We have some 11/15 coming up too.