My little cousin is 17 and I wanted to gift her a small UTMA for her use which she'd get from me when she turns 21. She doesn't know if she is going to go to college, trade school, or will get a job instead. I don't want to do 529 and she is located in Texas.

If she does choose college, I don't want this impacting her Student Aid Index, which is used to identify her federal student aid. She currently has an EFC of $0 which means she'd get the max money possible. Her divorced parents make next to nothing and she doesn't have any income or investments to contribute herself. I somewhat doubt a measly investment like $2k even if it grows to $4k or so by then would impact her Financial Aid, but I just want to double check if anyone knows for sure. I also was in the same situation with $0 EFC my college career and never learned what impacts this contribution.