Another question on financial aid - joint ownership on minor account

[mlktwins]

I am joint owner on 3 minor accounts for each of my boys.  Who claims the income on FAFSA, etc?

[kokotg]

28 minutes ago, mlktwins said:

I am joint owner on 3 minor accounts for each of my boys.  Who claims the income on FAFSA, etc?

I have no idea, but are you on the "understanding college aid" board on Facebook? it's great for very specific FAFSA questions like that. 

[J-rap]

Assuming it's really your child's account and they are the only ones using it, then it would be your child's income.  At least that was what we were told.  All of our children got checking accounts under age 18 so we were required to list our names as well, and that proved handy when they were away at school or traveling in case we needed to transfer money into their account for emergencies.  But, we really only thought of it as THEIR account.  It's what they used to deposit their work checks, take out cash, etc.  We only were part of it in an emergency.

[mlktwins]

7 minutes ago, J-rap said:

Assuming it's really your child's account and they are the only ones using it, then it would be your child's income.  At least that was what we were told.  All of our children got checking accounts under age 18 so we were required to list our names as well, and that proved handy when they were away at school or traveling in case we needed to transfer money into their account for emergencies.  But, we really only thought of it as THEIR account.  It's what they used to deposit their work checks, take out cash, etc.  We only were part of it in an emergency.

Yes, it is all their money.

[kokotg]

10 minutes ago, J-rap said:

Assuming it's really your child's account and they are the only ones using it, then it would be your child's income.  At least that was what we were told.  All of our children got checking accounts under age 18 so we were required to list our names as well, and that proved handy when they were away at school or traveling in case we needed to transfer money into their account for emergencies.  But, we really only thought of it as THEIR account.  It's what they used to deposit their work checks, take out cash, etc.  We only were part of it in an emergency.

ah, I guess I do have an idea after all (I think I was reading the question wrong)...yes, my kids all have savings accounts that we have access to but the money is just theirs--we report those as their money.

Edited October 10, 2022 by kokotg

[teachermom2834]

 I have filled out the FAFSA like 9 times now and I never even considered this. My boys had student checking accounts that we fully considered theirs and claimed as theirs on the FAFSA. Technically we have joint ownership on them but that never even crossed my mind. Whether it was correct or not we always considered and entered that as student assets.