A regulatory change buried in federal financial aid law is handing grandparents one of the strongest college-funding tools in years. It's not exactly new - it took effect with the 2024-2025 FAFSA - but its implications are flying under the radar for most families. Here's the TL;DR: Grandparents can fund a 529 college savings account for a grandchild and pay tuition directly from it with zero impact on that student's financial aid eligibility. Before 2024, that wasn't the case.