FAFSA 529 reporting confusion - report ALL 529s or just for current student?

You need to report the combined value of ALL 529 accounts owned by the parents, regardless of which child is the beneficiary. The FAFSA treats all parent-owned 529 plans as parental assets, which are assessed at a maximum rate of 5.64% in the SAI calculation. So if you have $50,000 total across all your kids' 529 plans, that would potentially reduce aid by a maximum of about $2,820.\n\nThis is actually better than how other student assets are treated (they're assessed at 20%), so there's that silver lining at least!

Are you sure about this?? I thought you only report the 529 for the kid applying! That's what the financial aid advisor at my son's high school told us last month. We have 3 accounts too and I'm now worried I messed up his application. Can someone confirm???

The previous response is correct. Under FAFSA rules, you must report ALL 529 plans owned by the parents as parental assets, regardless of which child is the beneficiary. This applies to the 2025-2026 FAFSA and going forward with the new simplified FAFSA.\n\nHere's how it breaks down:\n- Parent-owned 529 accounts: Report ALL as parental assets\n- Grandparent-owned 529 accounts: These no longer need to be reported as income when distributions are made (a positive change in the new FAFSA)\n- 529 accounts owned by the student: Report as student assets (assessed at higher rate)\n\nThe good news is that parental assets are assessed at a much lower rate (max 5.64%) compared to student assets (20%), so this approach actually benefits most families.

Thank you for clarifying! So even though these accounts are specifically earmarked for each child, I need to lump all of them together as one parental asset? That seems so counterintuitive, but I guess I'm glad the percentage impact is relatively small. Is there any documentation on the StudentAid.gov site that specifically states this? I've been looking but the language is so vague.

my college advisor said something different she told us only report the 529 for kid applying!!! now im confused did i mess up my sons app???? ugh

This happened to us too! Our advisor gave wrong info and we had to correct our FAFSA. So frustrating! 😡

There's a lot of confusion on this topic. I spent 3 hours on hold with Federal Student Aid trying to get a clear answer on this exact question. When I finally reached someone, they confirmed what others have said here - you must report ALL 529 plans owned by parents, regardless of beneficiary designation.\n\nIf you're having trouble connecting with FSA, I found a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an agent in about 20 minutes instead of waiting for hours. They have a video demo showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ\n\nThe agent explained that the FAFSA doesn't care which child each 529 is designated for - it's all considered part of the parents' total available assets for supporting education costs.

did the service actually work? i tried calling 5 times and got disconnected every time! might try this if it actually works

Yes, it worked for me! I was skeptical too after spending so many hours trying to get through on my own. But I got connected to an actual person who could answer my specific questions about 529 reporting. Definitely worth it for the time saved.

The entire FAFSA system is DESIGNED to confuse parents and trap us into making mistakes! I made this exact error on my daughter's FAFSA in 2024 and they flagged us for verification, which delayed her aid for MONTHS. Of course they're going to take every penny they can from hardworking parents who managed to save something for their kids!!! The whole system is rigged against middle class families.

While the FAFSA can definitely be frustrating, the 5.64% assessment rate on parental assets (including 529s) is actually quite reasonable. Only a small portion of your savings impacts aid eligibility. Plus, with the new FAFSA, they increased the Asset Protection Allowance, meaning more of your savings are shielded from the calculation entirely.

I actually just filed my son's 2025-2026 FAFSA last week and had this exact same question! I spent hours researching and found that the federal methodology considers ALL 529 plans owned by parents as parental assets.\n\nHere's what tripped me up originally: the CSS Profile (required by some private schools) sometimes has different rules than the FAFSA. For CSS, some schools may ask you to report only the 529 plan for the student applying. Always check with each individual school's financial aid office if you're also submitting the CSS Profile.

Thanks for bringing up the CSS Profile difference! My daughter is applying to a couple of private schools too, so I'll need to check with them specifically. This whole process feels like navigating a maze blindfolded sometimes. I appreciate everyone's help clearing this up!

what if the 529 is in the grandparents name? does that count on fafsa?

Great question! Under the new FAFSA, 529 plans owned by grandparents are NOT reported as assets on the FAFSA. And importantly, distributions from grandparent-owned 529 plans no longer count as student income either (which is a big change from the old FAFSA rules). This makes grandparent-owned 529 plans much more favorable for financial aid purposes now.

UPDATE: I finally found the official guidance on the Federal Student Aid website! Under the

Good luck with your daughter's applications! And thanks for sharing what you found - helps the rest of us too! 👍

As someone who just went through this process with my twins (yes, double the FAFSA fun!), I can confirm what others have said - you absolutely need to report ALL parent-owned 529 accounts regardless of beneficiary. I initially made the same mistake and only reported the accounts for each respective child, but had to go back and correct both applications. The key thing that helped me understand this: the FAFSA views ALL parent assets as potentially available to support ANY of your children's education costs. So even though you mentally earmark specific 529s for specific kids, legally the parent owns all of them and could theoretically use any of the funds for any child's education. One tip that saved me time: if you're unsure about ANY aspect of asset reporting, it's worth getting it right the first time rather than dealing with verification later. The verification process can seriously delay aid disbursement, and colleges won't hold your spot in line while you sort things out.