Edit College Savings Goals

A college goal competes for household resources inside the retirement plan

FAFSA estimation is optional. Leave it off when you want to compare college costs and family funding without estimating aid. A college goal can affect retirement even when aid is unknown, so begin with supportable costs and enrollment dates rather than delaying the plan for an uncertain award.

Create one goal per student or materially different enrollment plan. Enter the beneficiary, school assumption, enrollment year, academic years, base year, tuition behavior, inflation, family funding target, and annual cost components. Scholarships and other funding reduce the modeled family need.

A linked 529 is reserved for that goal and cannot fund ordinary retirement spending. The goal can still draw from broader household assets when modeled costs exceed available 529 money, so review both education coverage and retirement effects.

Separate tuition behavior from other college costs

When a plan includes an annual tuition schedule, a zero-dollar entry means no tuition for that calendar year. It does not remove room, board, or other separately modeled costs. Entries are matched by calendar year, including schedules entered out of order. A year without an entry uses the base tuition and education-growth assumption; it does not copy another scheduled year.

Choose the closest school assumption or enter custom costs. Tuition behavior controls whether tuition locks at enrollment, continues increasing, or remains a fixed nominal amount. Tuition inflation before enrollment and Other-cost inflation have different roles; room, board, books, fees, and other costs can continue changing even when tuition locks.

Family funding target is the share the household intends to cover, not the chance of receiving aid. Enter annual scholarships or other funding separately. Keep base year aligned with the year represented by the entered cost figures.

Link 529 assets and enable FAFSA only when the required facts are supportable

If college attendance ended before the projection starts, its cost table can be empty while eligible rollovers from unused 529 funds still appear in the totals. A rollover to the child’s Roth IRA leaves the modeled household; it does not add to the parents’ retirement accounts.

All linked 529 accounts for one beneficiary share the modeled annual IRA limit, compensation cap, and $35,000 lifetime rollover allowance. They do not each receive a separate allowance. Account age and recent contributions are checked separately for each 529. Unlinked accounts wait for a college-goal beneficiary link before modeled Roth rollovers.

Use the same beneficiary name across goals for the same student and distinguish different students by name. Matching ignores capitalization and extra spaces. Enter the same annual eligible compensation on that student’s rollover accounts; if eligible accounts disagree, the model uses the lower amount until you align them. Review each account’s rollovers in Projection before relying on the total.

Create or edit the 529 in Accounts & Holdings and select this college goal as its beneficiary link. Saving a goal does not automatically identify every education account. An unlinked 529 remains restricted but does not pay this goal in the model.

FAFSA estimation uses the supported federal dependent-student inputs and award-year assumptions. Enable it when the family can provide the filing, family-size, income, asset, student, and assistance facts. Independent-student cases remain flagged for manual review, and an estimate is not an aid offer.

Review annual cost, 529 use, household funding, and retirement tradeoffs together

After saving, inspect the year-by-year college projection. Confirm enrollment years, total cost, scholarships, 529 payments, and the amount shifted to household assets. Full 529 coverage and full household coverage are different measures.

If FAFSA-aware strategy results matter, compare them under the same college and retirement assumptions. Current law, institutional aid, actual enrollment, and account eligibility can change; refresh the goal when a school plan or source estimate changes.