<prompt> Human: My son is a junior in high school this year. I have been saving money for his college expenses in a 529 plan. He will have about 40,000 in his 529 when hes ready to go to college. I realize this wont pay for his whole college education, but I think he should work and pay for part as I did when I was in college.I have 70,000 in a rainy day savings account, aiming toward being able to pay expenses in case I am laid off. I put more into this every pay period.I am getting advice that says that I should spend some of my rainy day fund because colleges are just going to take it away anyway. The idea is that well get less financial aid the more I have in savings. My car is 15 years old, so I could use a new used car.Im interested in rpersonalfinances view on this situation.  <response>: While it is true that parental assets are counted when calculating the estimated family contribution, parental assets are assessed at a maximum 5.64 rate. In my opinion, spending your savings on something you dont need just to get a small increase in the financial aid package would not be advisable.The main factor in calculating the EFC is earnings. 