Best Professional advice...?

Paying for College
1

<p>In looking to best place assets so that they are most favorable (to us) in upcoming FAFSA and CSS Profiles, do any of you have suggestions as to which of these areas might have a better inside track;</p>

<p>Financial Planner
Tax Expert
CPA</p>

<p>Of course, this is a ridiculous question because we don’t know the specialized knowledge of any of employees/ principals of firms in these areas. But, curious if anyone has had experience in “strategic FAFSA/CSS preparation” and which of these disciplines made the most sense for you. </p>

<p>We recently saw a small company in Maryland that claimed that they would help us prepare for FAFSA filing, but they didn’t claim to be able to know if, for example, placing an investment property in a blind trust or S corp would be helpful or not to EFC but equally important, how that move might affect tax liability (and inheritance) for future years.</p>

<p>Might be too broad a question - but please chime in…Thanks! T</p>

2

<p>In general CPAs, financial planners, and Tax Experts have no clue about how FAFSA or CSS work.</p>

<p>Trusts have to be reported on FAFSA.</p>

3

<p>Idk who a non-CPA “tax expert” would be but, if those are the only choices you’re looking at, I would look for a certified financial planner who has personal experience with FAFSA and Profile. As always, there’s a broad spectrum of expertise/experience among them so it’s probably worth doing as much research yourself and taking specific questions to your “expert”.</p>

4

<p>If you’ve got the time you can use the on-line calculators and run all kinds of scenarios. The “crap shoot” is that for the 300 or so Profile colleges they look at the numbers and pretty much use their own systems so the question of whether investment property filed with a simple 1040A vs. investment property as an S corp…who knows. FAFSA is relatively simple to run scenarios in how they treat business income vs. investments, 401Ks and IRAs etc but if you are even have assets that warrant running scenarios you probably won’t qualify for any federal aid outside of loans anyway so FAFSA schools are almost a moot point… It’s the institutional aid and that small percentage of schools that is not simple. Best of luck!</p>

5

<br>

<br>

<p>Thanks all for your replies. The sentence above really summarizes the angst that I’m feeling now. I’ll keep listening to suggestions and share what path(s) I take.</p>

6

<p>Start by printing out the FAFSA formula, and working through it on paper. You can run as many scenarios as you feel you need to on your own. Here is the link for 2012-2013: <a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/082511EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/082511EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The formula does change a bit each year, so watch for the 2013-2014 formula to appear sometime late next summer.</p>

<p>There are good general versions of the CSS Profile formula at [FinAid</a> | Calculators](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Calculators - Finaid) and at [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your Cost – BigFuture | College Board) However, it is important to remember that each institution that uses the Profile can apply customized modifications to that formula. For a more accurate read on likely results, you need to ask each financial aid office and/or look for pertinent information on the institution’s website.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

7

<p>I would suggest checking out the national institute of certified college planners - NICCP.
[National</a> Institute of Certified College Planners (NICCP)](<a href=“http://www.niccp.com/search.asp]National”>http://www.niccp.com/search.asp)
You can search for an advisor by state. These are a mix of CPA’s, CFA’s, and tax experts that have added college planning to their practice. I have found their founder, Rick Darvis, to be one of the most knowledgeable individuals in this space.</p>

8

<br>

<br>

<p>Very helpful - thanks!</p>