I knew a guy in college a while back who got married for financial aid purposes. Then when in his graduate program he had to get divorced so he could get married for real to his fiance.
There has to be a certain level of trust there though where in some states there could be legal repercussions if a spouse wanted to hinge you with debt, etc. I would have to trust a for fun and profit spouse much more than I would a roommate.
Plus there’d be the impact of a divorce on your credit history in the short term. And the need for a careful prenup prior to marriage to shield both parties’ assets from the impact of what the other party does. When you include the need to trust a college student to not go crazy financially during college, it’s a lot of barriers to entry for sure.
Tempting to consider nonetheless considering the boatloads of money an emancipated resource-less student would save you over 4 years.
Why would divorce have impact on your credit history?
Sorry about that. I mixed up my thinking between credit score and insurance premiums. Marriage is considered a positive thing for insurers and vice versa divorce is not. Hence on average, divorce will increase insurance premiums.
But by itself, you’re correct that it should not affect credit score. Especially in the case where both “spouses” would be in it for college tuition savings only and not about to mess up each other’s credit record by doing spiteful things.
AZ only gives a $4k deduction , no match etc. but allows any state 529
So what’re the best 529 “deals” out there?
Also per
For state financial aid, the balances in an account will not be treated as income of the parents, nor of the student when determining financial need. Federal based programs may take the account balance into consideration as a parental asset when determining eligibility.
Yes, the state offers a tax deduction for investing in the Arizona 529 Plan of up to $4,000 for married tax filers who file a joint return and $2,000 for single filers.
Is that $4k/per tax payer or… child/acct?
It would appear to be per taxpayer, which would be consistent with other states that I am aware.
I have dealt with 6 different universities between me and my undergrad/graduate studies, my wife, and two of our children and have never dealt with CSS (scenarios include state schools both in-state and out-of-statr and private schools). I have read about CSS numerous times, just have never had to deal with it.
It’s not that many colleges that require it but still a lot of very prominent universities, especially those with large endowment programs require it: https://www.nhheaf.org/pdfs/handouts/CSS_Profile_List_and_Assistance_Information.pdf