Trusts can pay for your children’s college or other post-secondary education. One of the things a Trust is great for is giving a Trustee the discretion to make distributions. These can over time to or for the benefit of a your child. So, your Trust can provide, “$75,000 shall be set aside for my daughter, Beth’s, post-secondary education. No more shall be distributed during a given school year than is necessary to meet her unmet budget. The unmet budget shall be as defined under Federal Student Financial Aid guidelines or substantial authoritative equivalent.”
This provision can be effective during your life, or thereafter. It works, and it is that simple.
And learn a little about financial aid budgets:
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/next-steps/how-calculated