<p>Ugh - I completed the CSS and FAFSA without realizing that the custodial account with both my son and my name on it needed to be reported as HIS assets and not mine (correct me if I am wrong on this). SO I am wondering if I should scramble now and sell what is in his custodial account and put it into the 529 account (which is parent owned) or move his assests into a custodial 529? OR should I just revise our CSS and FAFSA profiles to reflect that this money ($20,000) is his asset and not ours? thanks!</p>
<p>If you’re talking about a UGMA or UTMA, the only way these funds can be converted to a 529 is to create a student-owned 529 and transfer the UGMA funds in cash to it. This is a 529 that’s titled in the name of the student. These are referred to as UGMA/529s or custodial 529s. </p>
<p>The idea is that UGMA accounts belong to the child, and so any funds transferred out must be transferred to an account that also belongs to the child. Most brokerages will enforce this.</p>
<p>The restriction on a child-owned 529 is that the funds can only be spent for education expenses incurred by that child. This is different from parent-owned 529s, where the beneficiary can easily be changed from one child to another, or even to another relative, at the discretion of the parent.</p>
<p>The $20,000 in your child’s name will only increase your EFC by a net of $2880. That’s because when it’s in your name, it is assessed at 5.6% ($1120) and when it’s in your child’s name it’s assessed at 20% ($4000). However, you were incorrect in reporting it as a parent asset, so you do need to update FAFSA and Profile to reflect the correct owner.</p>
<p>Since the assets reported on FAFSA are intended to be a snapshot of your assets at the point you begin to fill it out, it’s probably not advisable to transfer the funds now because it would be a 2010 transaction and not refelective of your 2009 assets. However, this is something you could do later in 2010 for next year’s FAFSA.</p>
<p>
If the total of parents assets are under the protected assets for their age then they might not be having any impact as parents assets, in which case the impact when you change them to student assets would be the full $4000 (just warning you so you don’t get a shock is this is the case).</p>
<p>If you are eligible for simplified needs (AGI <$50k and certain other criteria then the assets won’t have an effect either way.).</p>
<p>If you don’t end up transferring the UTMA into a custodial 529 (or even if you do) spend this money on tuition first before any funds in your name.</p>
<p>I had the question addressed in busybee post and was wondering if I should ask it in a new thread. Does CC etiquette suggest posting this in a new thread? Sorry to hijack. I’m assuming this question can help OP as well. </p>
<p>D has $60K+ in assets, over $40K in UTMA/UGMA. Having learned over the past six months how the parent/child percentages are assessed on fafsa, obviously her assets contribute significantly to our EFC (>$10K). We were intending to spend down her minor accounts over the four years. Would it be better to deplete these first, then spend from our (parent) accounts?<br>
Also her first-year inst. grant is very small with university indication that it will not be increased in subsequent years. So would it even matter if we decrease our EFC in later years? The balance to COA is made up of loans.</p>
<p>All other things being equal, it’s best to spend down child-owned assets first before spending parent assets. </p>
<p>Is your D a senior in high school? What is her cost of attendance for her school? If she spends half her assets ($30K) in her first year, it would reduce her FAFSA EFC by $6000. Even with a lower EFC, if her college won’t increase her institutional grant the following year it seems like it might be better to hold on to the funds. The exception would be if that lowered EFC puts you into the range of receiving federal grants.</p>
<p>You’ll just need to do the calculation to see if you’re at the margin. If your intent is to spend all your D’s funds on college, then after you run your what-of scenario you can decide whether to spend it down completely in years 1-2, or spread it out over all 4 years.</p>
<p>No chance whatsoever of being in federal grant range (and thankful). I’ll look into the U grant terms a little more to be sure I understand. H and I still figuring this all out so we haven’t really determined which account(s) will write the checks. Thanks.</p>