Grandparent 529

twoinanddone
Sat, 15 Aug 2015 01:15:25 +0000

It’s best to organize it as suggested above, with most of the money being gifted to you and H and then you pay the school. Then it is a non-event as far as FAFSA goes. She will have to report any money from the 529 and money paid directly from her grandmother as ‘money received or paid by others’ on the FAFSA. Depending on how much other money she’s earned or received, it may affect her work study. Whether it changes the other ‘scholarships’ will depend on whether they are need based or merit.

It’s worth doing the double step to get the $15000 from grandmother to you to school. However, I don’t think it will change all that much if you have $3000 from the 529 on the fafsa and I don’t really see another option unless you transfer the 529 to you or daughter and then the entirety of it will be assessed at 5.6% for the FAFSA. If she loses work study, she can always get another job on campus. Work Study is better, but not horrible if she loses it. If your EFC is already at $37000, then increasing it to $38000 will probably not make much of a difference. Most schools don’t award WS for EFC that are that high.