How does state (Fl)pre-paid affect EFC out of state?

cptofthehouse
Sat, 14 Apr 2012 21:26:58 +0000

I don’t know how schools treat a “pre paid” state plan. They may be treated like 529s for FAFSA, true. However, as Waverly, says, most schools that are FAFSA only in financial aid forms/analysis do not meet full needs, so your “need” figure is only a maximum that might be funded, and for most of these schools, few kids, other than the most desired ones will get that max or even close to it. They tend to gap, sometimes badly.

The schools that tend to meet full need are PROFILE schools and the problem there is that they can look at anything and use anything as assets or income when they define need. The figure they come up with as their family contribution may be completely different from the FAFSA EFC. THere are some PROFILE calculators on line but I don’t know if they will have built in treatment of your pre paid plan. You might want to call the financial aid offices of some schools on your student’s likely list in terms of interest, and find out how they handle the plan. You may find the answers differ widely.

For what other things could you use the “prepaid” ? DO you have other kids? The thing with the 529, it can be used for anyone’s tuition. If you have other kids, and if it is counted as a parental/sibling asset if it is in the other kids’ names, you may want to switch it while you can, unless the schools treat it the same if it is the student who is heading to college’s name.