Sec 15-1877. Scholarships and financial aid provisions

A. Any student loan program, student grant program or other financial assistance program established or administered by this state shall treat the balance in an account of which the student is a designated beneficiary as neither an asset of the parent of the designated beneficiary nor as a scholarship, a grant or an asset of the student for determining a student's or parent's income, assets or financial need.

B. Subsection A applies to any state appropriated financial assistance program administered by a college or university in this state including the financial aid trust fund, established by section 15-1642, the leveraging educational assistance program established by section 1203 of the higher education act amendments of 1998 (P.L. 105-244; 112 Stat. 1581; 20 United States Code section 1001) and the private postsecondary education student financial assistance program established by section 15-1854.

C. Subsections A and B do not apply if any of the following conditions exist:

1. Federal law requires all or a portion of the amount in an account to be taken into consideration in a different manner.

2. Federal benefits could be lost if all or a portion of the amount in an account is not taken into consideration in a different manner.

3. A specific grant establishing a financial assistance program requires that all or a portion of the amount in an account be taken into consideration.