Do we report UAW/Ford pension on FAFSA? Getting conflicting answers
I'm so confused about FAFSA reporting requirements for my husband's pension! He just retired from Ford under the UAW contract and started receiving monthly pension payments this year. Our daughter is submitting her FAFSA for Fall 2025, and we're getting totally contradictory information about whether this pension counts as income. We attended a financial aid webinar with Yorkshire College Planning this morning where the advisor specifically said pensions DON'T need to be reported. But then my daughter chatted with an online FAFSA helper who insisted they DO need to be reported! We don't even have our tax documents organized yet since this is his first year receiving pension payments. I'm worried about making a mistake that could affect her aid eligibility. Has anyone dealt with reporting pension income on FAFSA recently? What's the correct answer?
20 comments
Join the conversation
Zara Perez
Yes, pensions ARE reported on the FAFSA. They show up on your tax return as income (typically reported on line 5 of Form 1040), which means they'll be captured when you input your tax information into the FAFSA. The FAFSA uses your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) as the starting point, and pensions are part of that calculation. The confusion might be because some retirement assets (like the value of pension plans) aren't reported, but the distributions/payments definitely are counted as income.
0 coins
Benjamin Johnson
•Thank you for clarifying! So even though it's not earned income from work, it still gets counted because it's part of our AGI? That makes sense but wow, that's going to really impact our expected family contribution. The Yorkshire advisor was so confident when he said we didn't need to report it...
0 coins
Daniel Rogers
FAFSA is SO CONFUSING!!! I get different answers from everyone too. Last year when i filled it out for my son, the FSA people told me one thing on monday and then the complete opposite on wednesday when i called back. its like nobody actually knows the rules! And good luck getting thru to anyone on the phone - i spent 3 HOURS on hold before they disconnected me. the whole system is broken!!!
0 coins
Aaliyah Reed
•Same! I literally spent two days trying to reach someone at FSA last month. The website kept giving errors and the phone line just played music for hours.
0 coins
Ella Russell
The previous commenter is correct - pension income is reported on the FAFSA because it's included in your AGI on your tax return. However, there's an important distinction: while the INCOME from the pension is reported, the VALUE of the pension plan itself is not counted as an asset on the FAFSA. This is different from the CSS Profile (used by some private schools), which does ask about retirement assets in some cases. For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, you'll report your 2023 tax information. If your husband wasn't receiving pension payments in 2023, then they won't be reflected on this year's FAFSA. However, they would appear on next year's form. Make sure you're separating the income (which counts) from the asset value (which doesn't count).
0 coins
Benjamin Johnson
•This is super helpful! He started receiving payments in January 2024, so it sounds like we won't need to report them on this year's FAFSA (using 2023 tax info) but will next year. That makes a big difference for our planning. Thank you!
0 coins
Mohammed Khan
Probly that College Planning place was thinking about CSS Profile which has different rules or something. My brother works in financial aid at State U and says lots of these "college planners" give out wrong info all the time. Just go with whats on your taxes, thats what FAFSA pulls from anyway.
0 coins
Gavin King
•You're right about the confusion between FAFSA and CSS Profile requirements. I work with financial aid applications, and this is one of the most common areas of confusion. The CSS Profile (required by many private colleges) has more detailed questions about family finances including some types of retirement assets, while the FAFSA is more straightforward and focuses on income.
0 coins
Nathan Kim
I've been through this with my husband's pension from GM (also UAW). Yes, pension payments count as income on FAFSA because they're part of your AGI on your taxes. The financial aid officer at my son's college explained that what's reported on FAFSA is basically determined by what shows up on your federal tax return. BTW when you need to actually talk to someone at Federal Student Aid about your specific situation, try using Claimyr.com. They got me through to an agent in about 10 minutes after I'd wasted hours on hold. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ that shows how it works. Saved my sanity during verification when we had questions about reporting my husband's pension correctly.
0 coins
Benjamin Johnson
•Thank you for sharing your experience with a similar situation! It's frustrating that we got such conflicting information. I might need to use that service if we have more questions - the hold times are insane this year.
0 coins
Aaliyah Reed
wait so do i need to report my Roth IRA on fafsa?? im so confused now
0 coins
Ella Russell
•No, you don't report retirement accounts like Roth IRAs, traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, etc. as assets on FAFSA. However, if you take distributions/withdrawals from them that count as taxable income on your tax return, those amounts would be included in your AGI and thus reflected on FAFSA. The key difference is between the account value (not reported) versus distributions that count as income (which are reported).
0 coins
Zara Perez
One thing to be aware of is that if your husband's pension situation changed substantially between 2023 (the tax year used for 2025-2026 FAFSA) and now, you can request a professional judgment review (sometimes called a financial aid appeal) from each college's financial aid office. If he wasn't receiving pension in 2023 but is now, OR if the pension is significantly less than his previous salary, that's exactly the kind of situation where schools can adjust the FAFSA calculations to reflect your current financial reality.
0 coins
Benjamin Johnson
•That's really good to know. His pension is definitely much lower than his working salary was, so this might help us significantly. Should we wait to request this review until after we receive the initial financial aid offers?
0 coins
Gavin King
I want to clarify something important: while pension income is reported on the FAFSA (through your AGI), the SAI (Student Aid Index) calculation treats pension income differently than earned income. The FAFSA has income protection allowances and adjustments that can offset some of this income. So even though the pension is reported, it doesn't necessarily impact your aid eligibility dollar-for-dollar. Each school's financial aid office can also make professional judgment adjustments if your current financial situation differs significantly from the tax year being reported.
0 coins
Benjamin Johnson
•Thank you for explaining this! I didn't realize the SAI calculation might treat pension income differently. That gives me hope that it won't impact her aid package as much as I feared.
0 coins
Mohammed Khan
my uncle said he didnt report his pension and they never caught it lol but i wouldnt recommend that!!
0 coins
Ella Russell
•This is extremely risky. FAFSA verification can randomly select applications, and if they find discrepancies between your FAFSA and tax returns, it can lead to serious consequences including loss of all aid, potential repayment of funds already received, and even fraud charges in extreme cases. Always report everything accurately.
0 coins
Daniel Rogers
You kno what really gets me? With the new FAFSA supposedly being "simpler," they've made everything MORE confusing!!! They keep changing the rules and can't even get their website working right. My daughter's college fund is going to therapy for the FAFSA-induced stress disorder!!!! 😫
0 coins
Aaliyah Reed
•lol FAFSA-induced stress disorder is so real! I'm still traumatized from helping my son last year.
0 coins