Early Retirement Planning and College

Brokerage accounts in the parents name count 5% against FAFSA vs 25% students name. College is a short term expense so while it may make sense to plan/ optimize around, it generally isn't worth it to structure your lifestyle around minimizing financial aid. In short dont let the tax tail wag the dog.

I forget what the current threshold is, but if your income Is below a certain number, they don’t even ask for asset information - maybe 60k? So if you have enough in savings to cover the difference between actual needs, or sell brokerage but capital gains don’t push you over, you may be avoid including the account all together. However, I think a lot of private schools use a different financial application, which this does not work for.

Back when I used Reddit, there was a user in the /financialindependence forum that highlighted this technique and he gave annual updates when he applied for aid each year.