No. A qualified retirement account has the specific purpose of being used for, no surprise, retirement. There are account restrictions, with a minimum number of exceptions, so that the account funds are used for retirement purposes. Because pulling funds out for a child’s college expenses would result in financial penalties (in some retirement accounts more so than others), in my opinion it’s reasonable that qualified retirement accounts are not reportable assets when applying for need-based financial aid. An investment in real property other than the primary home is not comparable in this regard to a qualified retirement account.