Very specific CSS Profile question

[kokotg]

I asked this on college confidential awhile back and got nothing; this might be too niche for message boards ? ....but just in case....my in-laws give us a cash gift every year for the holidays; it's a decent chunk of money, but not enough to trigger gift taxes and get reported on anyone's tax return. So clearly this needs to be reported on the CSS Profile, as there's a specific question about cash gifts from family. So my question is....a portion of this money is intended to pay for the kids' piano lessons and theater classes. But it's included with our annual gift, because obviously it's easier to do it that way than for them to send a check to the piano teacher every month. Is it reasonable to consider this a gift of piano lessons, etc. to the kids and not us and not include that part of the $$ in what we report? I've been swimming in financial aid stuff for so long that I can no longer tell if I'm overthinking this or not. 

[katilac]

That's how I would consider it. 

[katilac]

You could also certainly ask them to write two checks going forward, one to you and one to one of the kids, if it worries you. My in-laws always sent checks to the kids when they were minors, it's no problem. 

[kokotg]

4 minutes ago, katilac said:

You could also certainly ask them to write two checks going forward, one to you and one to one of the kids, if it worries you. My in-laws always sent checks to the kids when they were minors, it's no problem. 

it's true--I've thought of that going forward, and we'll probably ask them to do that--but the deed is done for this year's reporting. I'm not sure I even knew the css profile existed and what the difference was between it and FAFSA this time last year. I was so young and innocent then ?

Edited October 26, 2018 by kokotg

[katilac]

28 minutes ago, kokotg said:

it's true--I've thought of that going forward, and we'll probably ask them to do that--but the deed is done for this year's reporting. I'm not sure I even knew the css profile existed and what the difference was between it and FAFSA this time last year. I was so young and innocent then ?

 

Ah, yes, the halycon days when college put us in mind of deep thought and the great conversation, and not finances . . .  

I think you will be perfectly fine to report a portion as a gift to the kids no matter what; changing it in future would be more for your own peace of mind and ease. It's not like you are not reporting it, so if they do audit and you say "family gift, this portion for us and this portion for younger kids" I think that is perfectly understandable and legit.

[kokotg]

3 minutes ago, katilac said:

 

Ah, yes, the halycon days when college put us in mind of deep thought and the great conversation, and not finances . . .  

I think you will be perfectly fine to report a portion as a gift to the kids no matter what; changing it in future would be more for your own peace of mind and ease. It's not like you are not reporting it, so if they do audit and you say "family gift, this portion for us and this portion for younger kids" I think that is perfectly understandable and legit.

Thanks--that's what I'm thinking--in the unlikely event that it comes up (they'd have to select us for verification and then ask to see the particular bank statement where that check was deposited), I'll explain the reasoning and if they don't agree the worst that happens is they adjust the financial aid offer. It's not like it would make so much of a difference that he wouldn't be able to go to college (but it would likely make enough of a difference that we'd notice it!)

[Lanny]

You may want to be careful about reporting it for the kids...   On the FAFSA, if the child has assets, they take approximately 20% of that. If the $ is in the parents account, the percentage is much lower. Something in the range of 5 or 6 % as I recall. I refer to the EFC when I mention those percentages.×

DD and I will, hopefully, do the CSS Profile tomorrow morning. We should have done it a couple of weeks ago, when she submitted her first application. They also had their own Form and we did that instead of the CSS Profile. The CSS Profile she will use for at least 3 schools that she is going to apply to.

[katilac]

Just now, Lanny said:

You may want to be careful about reporting it for the kids...   On the FAFSA, if the child has assets, they take approximately 20% of that.  

 

The money is for her younger kids, not the one applying to college, right, kokotg? Smack with a wet noodle if I'm wrong. 

[kokotg]

It's for all of them....I mean, it pays for my oldest's lessons, too (although it won't once he goes to college). I could report the part that pays for his (or report it under his information...this is where I start to go crazy with confusion). It's not an asset, though, because it's mostly been spent at this point--as I understand it, it would be counted as income if I report it as a cash gift to us as parents. 

 

[kokotg]

....because then I think, "but if we as his parents are paying for his piano lessons, we don't report that as income or gift $  to him, so why would we if his grandparents are paying for them?" right? I think myself in circles! I want to just throw money at some sort of financial planner type person to handle this for me, but then I won't have any money left to throw at a college next year....

[katilac]

It's not worth worth this level of trauma, just report it as given to the younger children. For all they know, the in-laws play favorites. 

[Lanny]

DD and I did the CSS Profile this morning. At the very end, there is a section where you can clarify things for them.  I did that, about several different things. Better to give them complete information and not have them confused. One thing, in particular, seemed to be redundant and/or ambigious. I included that Income twice, because of the way it was worded. Better to include it and not omit it and cause problems.

[Lanny]

OP as I wrote yesterday, DD and I completed and submitted the CSS Profile yesterday. Approximately 6 hours later, I received an email saying that we need to submit documentation 1 or more of the 3 universities DD had specified requires.  Hopefully much later this morning we will be able to do that. I suggest that you go ahead and do the CSS Profile and submit it.  Following is from their email to me:

"The financial aid office at one or more of (name of DD) college or scholarship programs collects additional documents, such as federal tax returns, from students and their families through the College Board’s Institutional Documentation Service (IDOC).  They have requested that you submit documents for (name of DD)"