Do IRA accounts count as assets on FAFSA vs CSS Profile?
I'm trying to get ahead on the 2025-2026 FAFSA for my two kids and I'm confused about reporting retirement accounts. Do parents need to list IRA accounts as assets on the FAFSA? We have about $184,000 in traditional IRAs and $73,000 in Roth IRAs, and I've heard conflicting things about whether they count or not. Also, my older daughter is applying to some private schools that require the CSS Profile. Do IRAs get reported differently there? I've read that CSS counts retirement differently than FAFSA but can't find clear answers anywhere. This makes a huge difference for us since our income looks decent on paper but we're stretched thin with two kids heading to college back-to-back. Any help appreciated!
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Lydia Santiago
Good news on the FAFSA front - retirement accounts (including traditional and Roth IRAs) are NOT reported as assets on the FAFSA. The federal methodology specifically excludes all retirement plans from asset calculations when determining your SAI (Student Aid Index). However, CSS Profile is a different story. The CSS Profile generally does ask about retirement accounts, though they typically don't count the full value. Many schools using CSS will count a portion of retirement assets (often excluding the first $50,000-$100,000, then counting some percentage of the remainder). Each school has its own formula for how they treat retirement assets in their institutional methodology.
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Melissa Lin
AuthorThank you! That's a huge relief about the FAFSA at least. Do you know if the CSS Profile specifically asks for the balance of each type of retirement account? And is there any way to estimate how much they'll count against us?
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Romeo Quest
my daughter applied to 6 schools last year and NONE of the private ones counted our IRA's on the CSS! they looked at our investment property tho which FAFSA didn't... each school has there own formula
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Melissa Lin
AuthorThat's interesting! What kinds of private schools were they? We're looking at some highly selective ones that I've heard can be pretty thorough with financial assessments.
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Val Rossi
As someone who just finished this process last year, I can tell you it's confusing as heck! On FAFSA, no retirement accounts are reported as assets - your IRAs (both types) are completely invisible. CSS Profile does ask about retirement accounts but honestly it depends on the school how much they'll count. For my son, the three private colleges all treated our retirement accounts differently: - One ignored them completely (like FAFSA) - One counted 5% of anything over $150k - One wanted to know our balances but said they only factored them in if they were "unusually large" (whatever that means) It's SO frustrating how inconsistent they all are!!! Good luck with it all!
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Eve Freeman
This is accurate. The CSS Profile collects the information, but each institution applies their own institutional methodology. Many schools use retirement assets as a "tie-breaker" for borderline financial aid cases rather than directly in their formula. The best approach is to contact each financial aid office directly and ask how they specifically treat retirement assets in their calculations.
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Clarissa Flair
FAFSA is going to ruin me!!! I've been on hold with them for 2 HOURS trying to get answers about this exact question! Their website says one thing, my kid's counselor says another thing, and I can't even get a human to explain it to me! How is anyone supposed to figure this out when you can't even reach a real person?? And don't even get me started on the CSS profile - they want to know EVERYTHING including what I had for breakfast! 😡
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Caden Turner
Hey, I had the same problem getting through to FAFSA last month. I found a service called Claimyr that got me through to an actual FSA agent in under 10 minutes when I'd been trying for days. It's at claimyr.com - they have a demo video (https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ) showing how it works. Seriously saved my sanity when I needed verification questions answered before my kid's deadline.
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McKenzie Shade
The new FAFSA for 2025-2026 is totally different from previous years just FYI. But retirement accounts are still not counted as assets. You will need to report your AGI from your 2023 tax return (they use the "prior-prior year"). IRAs aren't included in the asset section but if you made contributions to them in 2023 those will show up in your AGI and untaxed income sections.
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Melissa Lin
AuthorThanks for mentioning the contributions part! I did max out our IRAs in 2023, and I wasn't thinking about how that might affect the income side of things rather than the asset side.
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Romeo Quest
somebody told me if u withdraw from your ira the year before fafsa it can mess up your aid a lot even tho the accounts dont count as assets!!
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Lydia Santiago
That's absolutely correct. If you take a distribution from an IRA, that money becomes income on your tax return, which will directly impact your FAFSA SAI calculation. A large withdrawal could significantly increase your Expected Family Contribution even though the IRA itself isn't counted as an asset. This is why financial planning for college should ideally begin several years before applications.
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Melissa Lin
Thank you all for the helpful responses! Just to summarize what I've learned: 1. FAFSA: IRAs (both traditional and Roth) are NOT counted as assets 2. CSS Profile: They ask about retirement accounts but each school treats them differently - some ignore them, some count a percentage of larger balances 3. Withdrawals from IRAs can affect FAFSA by increasing reported income even though the accounts themselves aren't counted 4. Contributions to IRAs affect the income side of FAFSA calculations I'll be reaching out to each private school individually to ask about their specific policies. This forum has been super helpful!
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Jabari-Jo
Great summary! One additional tip that helped us - when contacting the financial aid offices at private schools, ask them specifically if they have a "retirement asset protection allowance" and what their threshold is. Some schools will tell you upfront something like "we don't count the first $200k in retirement assets" or "we only assess 2.5% of retirement assets above $100k." Getting these specifics in writing (email) can help you estimate your expected contribution more accurately and plan accordingly. Also, if you have kids going to college back-to-back like you mentioned, some schools will adjust their methodology when you have multiple kids in college simultaneously - definitely worth asking about!
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