<p>Denlah, if it is possible for you to move some of your savings into your state’s 529, I would urge you to do so before you fill out that Profile. Obviously, choose a conservative investment option since you only have a year to go. Money in 529s is the one category that I know of that is assessed at the parent rate of 5.6% even if the money is in the student’s name. You can check your state’s plan to see if there’s a limit on how much you can put in in one year. If you are competitive for meet-full-need schools, it can make a difference of thousands. </p>
<p>As far as what percentage Profile and Fafsa use… The schools you’ve mentioned use both Fafsa and Profile to come up with their own Efc. Fafsa does come up with an EFC (which assesses student assets at 20%) but Profile doesn’t. Theoretically, a school could ignore assets but, in reality, they are generally using Profile to get a fuller picture of resources before giving their own money. Student assets are generally thought of as being available to fund student education-- especially when that student is a single person with no dependents. In other words, the school realizes that any money your parents have saved up needs to go toward a variety of things: other kids, emergency fund, car/ house repairs and maintenance, etc. But a student of college age in a middle-class family is expected to be able to bank on mom and dad for an emergency and, as such, can pretty much spend down his savings on college. If the family was very poor and the student was contributing to the household, the top colleges may be more sympathetic (one of my kids had a classmate on full financial aid who worked at college and regularly sent home money to help support mom and younger siblings) but I think the top schools will all assess your savings at 20% or pretty close to that.</p>
<p>One other thing: Kenyon is not need-blind for admissions. You do sound like a strong candidate but you should take that into account.</p>