First, we are addressing student-owned 529 accounts (also known as custodial 529 accounts). The source that these accounts are reported on FAFSA as a student asset, as long as there is no requirement to report parent information, is FAFSA itself. See the instructions on page 9 of the 2023-2024 FAFSA pdf version, starting with “Investments also include…”
2023-2024 Free Application for Federal Student Aid
For Profile reporting, absent any similar specific instructions and based on common sense and my own experience, a student-owned 529 account, as an asset legally owned by the student, should be reported as a student asset. Again, this is for a student-owned (or custodial) 529 account, not a “regular” 529 account, which is usually owned by a parent and in such cases should be reported on both FAFSA and Profile as a parent asset (duh).
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. See what I wrote above regarding FAFSA reporting. If you are replying to my immediate past post, you are writing as though you think I don’t know the difference between a “regular” 529 account and a student-owned (or custodial) 529 account. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have been the custodian for two student-owned 529 accounts. I know what they are, I know how they work, and I know the reporting differences on both FAFSA and Profile between these accounts and a 529 account that is not owned by the student.
Correct. Now change the word “dependent” to “independent” and the FAFSA reporting requirement changes.
Then your experience is different than mine. That doesn’t mean either experience is invalid.