Ready when you
are.

No. You can use the assets in your account at any eligible school in the country and abroad. That includes 2- and 4-year colleges, graduate schools, eligible apprenticeships, and vocational/technical schools.

There is no time limit on when you can use the savings in your Indiana529 Direct account - so if your child is still deciding their next steps, or taking a gap year, your savings will still be there when they're ready. If the child decides not to pursue any form of higher education, you still have three options:

1. Stay invested. You can leave the money in the account in case the beneficary decides to attend school later.
2. Change the beneficiary. You can change the beneficiary on your account as long as the new one is an eligible member of the family of the former beneficiary.¹
3. Withdraw the money for other uses. Remember - the money is always yours. If you do need to take a non-qualified withdrawal, the earnings portion is subject to federal and state income taxes and may be subject to a 10% federal penalty tax. For exceptions to this penalty, please consult the Disclosure Booklet.

529 plan assets are counted at different rates for the Student Aid Index (SAI) in the FAFSA formula. Federal guidelines are as follows:

• If the student is a dependent, a 529 plan account is considered as the parent's asset (if the account owner is the parent or the dependent student). As a result, it will generally be counted at a rate of only 3-6% of its value for the EFC.
• If the student is not a dependent and is the account owner, the 529 plan account is treated as the student's asset and is generally factored into the EFC at the higher rate of 20%.
• In other cases, the account does not count as an asset for federal financial aid purposes. (However, a student may have to report distributions received from the account as income for these purposes.)
  • Beginning with FAFSA applications for the 2024-2025 academic year, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, distributions from a non-parent-owned 529 accounts will no longer need to be reported as the student’s taxable income on the FAFSA.

Note: Financial aid programs offered by educational institutions and other non-federal sources may have their own guidelines for the treatment of 529 plan accounts. For complete information about financial aid eligibility, you should consult with a financial aid professional and/or the state or educational institution offering a particular financial aid program, since rules and regulations often change.