<p>I am a transfer student transferring from Montana State University to a private college in Massachusetts (deciding between Simmons College, Suffolk University, Eastern Nazarene College, and Bay Path College). I am 24 years old and married. </p>
<p>My husband has a sizable trust fund. (In the hundreds of thousands of dollars.) This trust fund is not under his control until he comes of age in… six years I think? Maybe eight? I can’t remember. He can request money from it, but all monetary requests must be to support <em>his</em> expenses and must be approved by his uncle. Needless to say, I will be unable to use this money to fund my tuition & fees. </p>
<p>I earned $20k last year and he earned $0. Regardless, because of this huge asset, my EFC is like, $60k, and I can only get federal unsubsidized loans. Combined with scholarships etc I am looking at coming up with at least $10k / year. (I am an out of state student, so the UMasses are not any more of a viable option than the private schools.) </p>
<p>Is there any way to have my financial aid package reflect that this asset is untouchable for me? I have not previously had a problem because in-state tuition at Montana State was so cheap. :/</p>
<p>Thank you for any and all help you can offer me! This is all new to me.</p>
<p>1) Why must you transfer rather than completing your degree at Montana State U?</p>
<p>2) If you are obligated to move to Massachusetts, why have you not considered taking a year off to establish state residency there? </p>
<p>3) What is the likelihood that your husband can find a job and earn some money this year? Did the two of you live entirely on your $20k income last year, or did his uncle pass money to him from the trust for his share of the expenses?</p>
<p>4) What sort of work can you find in Massachusetts? Will you be able to earn at least as much there as you did in Montana? Can you work full-time and attend college part-time?</p>
<p>Money in the family is money in the family. Your H has 0 income. He requests XXXX dollars to support “himself” then that means that your income can go towards college. It would seem that your H could say that he needs $20k per year to support himself (rent, utilities, car expenses, food, cell phone, etc). </p>
<p>You can’t get that asset removed unless you were to separate from your H.</p>
<p>Move to Massachusetts, establish residency, and apply to an instate public there. You can not make the value of that trust, or the income it generates for your husband go away.</p>
<p>As spouses, under most (if not all) state laws you have a mutual duty to support each other, i.e., your H has a duty to provide you with financial support. If he’s not working (can’t? or won’t?), he should request trust funds from uncle. H’s financial need arguably includes his legal duty to support you, his wife. Why stop at $20k? Have him ask for $30k, $40k, or $50k. It’s all going to be his in a few years anyway. Why should he live in poverty in the meantime and make you suffer as well? Is uncle being difficult and refusing to pay out, or is H afraid to ask?</p>
<p>DGDAD, OP’s husband may have a duty to support. He does not have a duty to send her to college. The trustee may be thinking that in a few years, OP can go through much of the trust, and that was not the intent of the donor. I agree, OP should take a year off, get MA residency and look at state schools.</p>
<p>Why does H have no income? Is he in school? Is he getting money from the trust? Or financial aid?</p>
<p>While he may not get approval to get enough money for his wife’s college, he certainly should be able to request $20k+ per year for his own support. That would help shift the wife’s income to go towards college.</p>
<p>That said, I agree that they shouldn’t be paying OOS rates or even private school rates if there is an easy way around that…taking a year off, etc.</p>
<p>It sounds like the husband is requesting some money from the trust. Fact is…if he is requesting rent/mortgage, utilities, etc…then he IS providing support for his wife who presumably lives with him.</p>
<p>Shaving $10,000 a year off of college costs (room/board) is not a bad thing. If this OP gains instate residency…she should be all set if she attends a MA public university to complete her degree.</p>
<p>*He can request money from it, but all monetary requests must be to support <em>his</em> expenses and must be approved by his uncle. *</p>
<p>From the above, it’s unclear if he regularly requests money for his FULL support (rent, food, transportation, clothes, cell phone, etc). I can understand that the uncle would be fearful that a spouse might drain the acct for her own education, and then later divorce. However, if the uncle has intimidated the husband to the point that he’s not requesting enough money annually to cover his full expenses, then that should change. The husband should be able to itemize at least $20k per year in expenses and get money for those expenses. </p>
<p>Of course, another issue may be that the uncle thinks that H should be working some to reduce his need to seek substantial withdrawals.</p>
It already does. “EFC” stands for “Expected FAMILY Contribution.” Your FAMILY’S financial situation has been examined by the school(s). Loans are offered to allow you to pay for schooling now, and then you can pay off the loans when the full amount of the trust fund becomes available to your FAMILY (and your family, of course, includes you AND your husband…).</p>
<p>“Ascertainable standard” is not an issue of the trustee intimidating anyone. The trustee is legally required to take into account other sources of support available to the beneficiary, and is not required at all to reimburse a list of itemized expenses.</p>
<p>According to OP, trust is going to end in 6 years and uncle is going to have no choice then but to dump hundreds of thousands of dollars into OP’s husband’s lap. If I were advising unc, I’d be suggesting that he start involving hubby in the investment strategy, invite him to meetings with the financial advisor, tax accountant, and trust attorney, and start educating him in money management and finance. He should also start increasing the amount of distributions so that hubby has more responsibility and learns to handle budgeting his personal finances. It could totally backfire to maintain too strict a distribution pattern, keeping him living at below the poverty level. Then suddenly the trust ends and wham, he’s thrust into a situation he is ill prepared to handle.</p>
<p>We do not how old OP’s DH is. He may be in his early 20s. Many people mature during the 20s. I do not agree with increasing distributions. My guess is that someone left that money in trust with he hopes of the DH having the funds to buy a house or have assets, not to subsidize his wife’s college. We have no idea if the DH is living at a poverty level. It would be helpful to know if DH is working, in college or what. If the DH is not earning anything and not in college, the uncle may not want to be an enabler, allowing DH to live a comfortable life without work. A trust fund in the hundreds of thousands of dollars will not allow DH to live for life without working. Money management discussions might be helpful, but for all we know, they have already happened. Yes, DH may not know how to handle the money when he gets it. But at least uncle wants to see that DH gets it (I hope, not unheard of for trustees to steal, DH should be demanding to see brokerage statements), and not piddle away most of it on living expenses and wife’s tuition.</p>
<p>I assume OP is moving because she is getting married? If not, Mom, I agree with your questions. </p>
<p>I do not know about how a trust would work for FAFSA (is it asset of trustee/grantor v beneficiary?), but it sounds likeeven as an independent student, even if they only looked to the distributions from the trust plus OP earnings, OP would not be eligible for Pell Grants. I suspect for institutional aid, the trust will be considered an asset.</p>
<p>When we looked at a trust for FAFSA purposes, for the beneficiary, their value of the trust was listed as an asset. Simply put, this husband “could” request and receive the full value of that trust at any time (if the uncle decided to give it to him). </p>
<p>OP…it might be cheaper to stay in Montana to finish your degree, and fly to Massachusetts every month for a long weekend…than to pay to attend college in MA. Not ideal…but it would work.</p>