<p>The reason you have to report assets you don’t have access to is that even though you don’t have access to that money today to spend on college, it is money that you could, for example, use to pay off loans when you get access to it. Someone who is otherwise in exactly the same financial situation as you but doesn’t have an asset they’re going to have access to in 8 years, isn’t really in the exact same financial situation as you, even though it may feel like it today. </p>