Whose assets? UTMA 529 & non-UTMA 529

Paying for College
1

<p>After several years of filling out the CSS and FAFSA, the question of who actually owns each asset still baffles me. Each year I am sure I’m reading conflicting info, and I just need it settled in my mind once and for all. </p>

<p>Which of these are student assets and which are parent assets? I opened and funded each of these accounts. There isn’t a whole lot of money involved. I just want to make sure I list everything correctly.</p>

<p>-UTMA 529 for my 20 and 23 year old college students
-529 (not UTMA) for my 20 year old college student
-529 (not UTMA) for current 12th grader</p>

<p>Many thanks for your help!</p>

2

<p>Are the 529s owned by the child or the parent?
If they are all owned by parent then shouldn’t they go under parent assets?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/635389-fafsa-two-529-accounts-2-kids-question-abount-parents-investments.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/635389-fafsa-two-529-accounts-2-kids-question-abount-parents-investments.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Those are my questions. I’d like to believe that I (the parent) own these accounts. I opened the UTMA 529s and the non-UTMA 529s. My name is on each one, along with the kid’s name. Practically speaking, I see them as my assets which I will use only to pay each kid’s college expenses and never take from one kid’s designated account to pay another kid’s college expenses.</p>

<p>I’m still reading confident answers from all sorts of financial experts, which seem to conflict. I’m still trying to figure out how the CSS and FAFSA want the different accounts to be assigned.</p>

4

<p>UTMA 529s are owned by minors with parent as custodian. Since your 23-year-old is no longer a minor, he or she owns it outright (and your 20-year-old might own his/hers as well depending on your state’s age of majority). Either way, these are student-owned assets. </p>

<p>Regular 529s are parent- (or other relative-) owned accounts for the benefit of the named student. Unlike UTMA 529s, the beneficiary of a regular 529 can be changed.</p>

<p>UTMA 529s are reported as a parent asset on FAFSA. You don’t report sibling UTMA 529s on FAFSA. So the UTMA 529 for your 20-year-old is reported on his or her FAFSA as a parent asset. The UTMA 529 for your 23-year-old is reported on his or her FAFSA as a parent asset. They are reported in the same way on Profile in that you won’t report the sibling UTMA 529 as an asset.</p>

<p>All regular 529s are reported as a parent asset on FAFSA, regardless of who the beneficiary is. So for both college students you’d include both regular 529s as parent-owned assets. I believe this is also true for Profile but it’s been a while since I filled it out.</p>