FAFSA confusion: Should Greenlight savings be reported under student or parent section?
My daughter (18) has a Greenlight savings account that we set up for her when she was 16. She's got about $3,700 in there from birthday money, part-time job, etc. I'm filling out the 2025-2026 FAFSA and I'm totally confused about where this account should be reported. Since she's technically the account holder but we (parents) manage it, does it count as her asset or ours? I've heard student assets are assessed at a higher rate, so I want to get this right. Anyone deal with this situation before?
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Gianni Serpent
I think if her name is on the account, it goes under student assets. That's what we did with my son's account and the financial aid office didn't question it during verification.
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Ryder Ross
•Thanks for the response! Did your son's SAI get affected a lot by including his savings? I'm worried because I've heard student assets are assessed at 20% while parent assets are only 5.64%...
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Henry Delgado
The Greenlight account absolutely needs to be reported as your daughter's asset if she is the account holder. The FAFSA looks at who legally owns the asset, not who manages it. Student assets are assessed at 20% of their value toward the SAI (Student Aid Index), while parent assets are assessed at a maximum of 5.64%. However, there's a student asset protection allowance that shields some of that money from assessment. For dependent students in 2025-2026, the first $400 won't be counted.
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Ryder Ross
•Thanks for the clear explanation! That's what I was afraid of. With the $400 protection, that still leaves $3,300 being assessed at 20%, which would increase her SAI by $660. Wish I had known this earlier...
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Olivia Kay
we had the same issue last year!!! our tax guy told us to move the money to a 529 before filing FAFSA but we didnt have enough time. big mistake cuz it cost us like $800 in potential aid
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Henry Delgado
•You bring up a good strategy. Converting regular savings to a 529 before filing FAFSA can be beneficial, as 529 plans owned by parents are reported as parent assets (assessed at the lower rate) rather than student assets. However, this needs to be done properly and with enough time before filing.
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Joshua Hellan
Wait I'm confused about something similar. My kid has a UTMA account that we manage. Is that different than a Greenlight account for FAFSA purposes? The UTMA is in his name but we control it until he's 21.
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Jibriel Kohn
•UTMA accounts are ALWAYS the student's asset on FAFSA, no exceptions. Those get hit with the full 20% assessment. I learned this the hard way with my oldest kid and it seriously messed up our financial aid. For my younger one, we're using a different strategy.
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Edison Estevez
Has anyone tried calling the Federal Student Aid helpline about this? I waited for like 2 hours last week trying to get an answer about my daughter's accounts and never got through.
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Emily Nguyen-Smith
•I had the same problem with ridiculous wait times. I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) to get through to a FAFSA agent without the wait. They called me back when an agent was available and I got my questions answered in minutes. They have a video demo that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. Totally worth it when you need answers quickly about asset reporting.
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Ryder Ross
I just want to update everyone - I ended up calling my daughter's Greenlight customer service, and they confirmed it's considered HER account for financial aid purposes. I also learned that money moved between accounts right before filing FAFSA can sometimes trigger verification, so we're just going to report it correctly and deal with the higher assessment. Thanks for all the advice!
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Olivia Kay
•smart move! we got flagged for verification last year after moving money around and it was a HUGE headache. took months to resolve and almost missed scholarship deadlines
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Jibriel Kohn
For anyone else dealing with this issue: the 20% vs 5.64% assessment rates are accurate, but remember that the FAFSA also has an asset protection allowance for parents based on the oldest parent's age. For the 2025-2026 FAFSA, a 45-year-old parent gets around $9,500 protected. Student asset protection is much lower at $400. The system is designed to expect students to contribute more from their assets.
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Joshua Hellan
•Is that parent asset protection allowance still a thing? I thought I read somewhere that they basically eliminated it in the new FAFSA?
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Jibriel Kohn
•You're partially right. The protection allowance was drastically reduced in recent years but not completely eliminated. It's much lower than it used to be, which is why proper asset positioning before filing has become even more important.
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Alice Coleman
This is such a helpful thread! I'm in a similar situation with my son's savings account. One thing I've learned from talking to our financial planner is that timing really matters with FAFSA filing. If you're able to plan ahead for next year's FAFSA, consider strategies like paying down parent debt or prepaying expenses before the snapshot date, since FAFSA looks at assets on the day you file. Also, for anyone with multiple kids, remember that having siblings in college simultaneously can significantly impact your EFC/SAI calculations - sometimes more than the asset assessment differences we're discussing here.
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Jason Brewer
•This is really valuable advice! I hadn't thought about the timing aspect - we usually just file FAFSA as soon as we can after October 1st. The sibling factor is huge too. My neighbor's kids both got way more aid when they overlapped in college for two years. Quick question though - when you mention prepaying expenses, what kinds of things count? Like can we prepay next semester's tuition or does it have to be other expenses?
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