<p>My parents just moved to Kentucky from Missouri a few months ago and I'm here at Cornell. If my parents were to buy a house in Kentucky (they are renting in an apartment right now) and still keep the one in Missouri (it's hard to sell houses these days...), will it affect my financial aid much? As in, will I get less? My parents still make about the same amount.</p>
<p>I wouldn't be suprised if it did. Deffffinitely call up the school and ask. gl</p>
<p>That depends on how your parents buy the house. One major component of finaid depends on your parents' total assets, however, debts are not included.</p>
<p>So say your current total assets is $1 million right now. If you buy the house in cash, then you'll still have $1 million in assets simply because you're changing the form of your assets. However, if you take a $200k loan to buy the house, then your total assets goes up to $1.2 million. Obviously, the more assets you have, the less finaid you'll get.</p>
<p>Kyt - no, that's not true. If the parents took 200 loan to buy the house, then the parents would still have 200 in cash (bank), has 800 equity in the house, and 200 debt, therefore net is still $1mill in networth, not $1.2 mil. The asset goes up to $1.2 mil, but you also incurred additional 200 in debt.</p>
<p>OP, no, if your parents didn't save additional money in one year to buy the house, then your parents' networth would still be the same. Your parents probably took out a bridge loan to buy the house, and that would not increase their networth.</p>
<p>No, like I said, finaid people don't look at your debts. Having $100k in debts while having $100k in cash does not equal to a networth of zero (in the eyes of finaid). Having $100k debts and $100k cash is equal to a networth of $100k.</p>
<p>I have not dealt with financial aid for my daughter, but it's not done that way anywhere else - otherwise most Americans would have very high networth.</p>