<p>My school has chosen me to verify my parents financial information. And they have a savings account with a lot of money but thats reserved for incase my parents get laid off, if our house burns down, and for other emergencies. </p>
<p>The Cal Grant has an asset ceiling and my parents savings accounts exceeds it which means i'll be disqualified for my Cal Grant. But that money isn't for college, its like a safety net for my family in case anything happens. </p>
<p>What should I do? My family really needs me to get that Cal Grant for college and now I may be disqualified since they decided to get smart and save a bit for the future...</p>
<p>Also, my parents have two savings accounts and one is meant to be saved up for emergencies and the other one has a regular savings and checking account they use for everyday expenses. What would happen if they only reported the bank statement from that one bank account?</p>
<p>Since banks are privately owned, can the government still check to see if you have any other bank accounts or assets?</p>
<p>If you exceed the income or asset ceiling, you don’t qualify. Period. There really isn’t anything you can do. I just took a look at the income/asset ceiling, and for income this year we’d qualify for Cal Grant A & C, but our assets exceed the ceiling. So we don’t qualify and that’s all there is to it. </p>
<p>Don’t cheat on reporting your financial information. Just don’t go there. </p>
<p>The money in my savings account is also for emergencies, my new car, my vacation and not for college. The schools don’t see it that way. They don’t care if I have a new car or if I get to travel and they think I should use it for my kids to go to college, so we are full pay even though I’m currently not employed, knew it was coming, and started saving like crazy. </p>
<p>That’s just the way it works.</p>
<p>Banks are privately owned, but issue statements to the ‘government’ (not to colleges). The interest on these savings accounts, however low, is reported to the IRS and shows up on your parents’ tax returns.</p>
<p>If your oarents assets exceed the allowance, then they exceed the allowance. It doesn’t matter what the regular assets are being saved for…not at all. What matters I’d you have those assets.</p>
<p>Colleges (and this includes the Calgrant folks) do not give need based aid so folks can keep money in their accounts for other purposes.</p>
<p>ETA…I sure hope you included ALL those accounts your parents have on your FAFSA form. Gaining financial aid due to knowingly providing inaccurate or incomplete information is considered fraud.</p>
<p>Sorry, but you are getting the hard lesson that the financial aid process does not favor savers. Still good to save as your parents have (and let it be an example for you) but it hurts you on getting aid.</p>
<p>Yes, they seem to believe all cash should go to college and any loans/credit is what you use when you are in trouble. Obviously, when you are laid-off, the last thing you want is to take on debt! Perhaps if they put it in a retirement type account next year (one that allows you to borrow from yourself if need be.) However, I’m really not a pro in those regards so maybe it wouldn’t do anything. </p>
<p>Poppycock! The FAFSA formula doesn’t take ALL your assets. The asset assessment is 5.6% of the asset. So on $10,000, that would be $560. Over four years, that would be about $20,000…meaning that $80,000 would still be left.</p>
<p>The colleges mostly don’t meet full need…so really it’s not about the assessment for assets, it’s that the colleges don’t guarantee to meet your need.</p>
<p>However, this student is talking about the Calgrant ceiling for assets. </p>
<p>Re: retirement accounts. A couple of things. There is a limit on how much you can contribute in one calendar year. In addition, the contributions made to a tax exempt retirement account are added back in as income.</p>
<p>The family could put some of their savings into a Roth IRA, but that isn’t as liquid as a regular savings account.</p>
<p>I don’t know who you imagine “they” are, @TNE2011, but “they” in this case is the California Student Aid Commission. And the Cal grant asset ceiling isn’t an allowance, it’s a cutoff. If family assets exceed that amount, the student is ineligible for Cal Grants. Period.</p>
<p>@MLM got it right in the very first reply to this thread:</p>
<p>(1) If you exceed the income or asset ceiling, you don’t qualify. End of discussion. No if’s and’s or but’s.</p>
<p>(2) Don’t even think about lying about your family’s assets! It would not be a “little white lie” - it would be criminal fraud.</p>
<p>Is the asset verification as of the date the FAFSA was first filed, or as of the date that the verification is filed? If the former, you have not options. If the latter, it might be possible to put some assets into retirement savings, or spend down some assets if there are expenditures that it makes sense to make at this time.</p>
<p>to clarify: I’m definitely not advising the family to do anything fraudulent, but there may be legal ways of making the asset picture more favorable. I don’t know the Calgrant rules at all, though, so I can’t say for sure what would be possible and what would make a difference.</p>
<p>The FAFSA is a snapshot of the family’s finances on the date it is filed. Subsequent verification would be verification of the income/assets stated on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>If the family wants to make changes for next year, they certainly can, and that may impact the student’s eligibility for her sophomore year . . . but they cannot travel back in time and make changes to the assets already declared in the current (2014-15) FAFSA.</p>
<p>There are lots of ways to save money in college. Make sure you waive the health insurance if you are covered by your parents. Books can be read online, purchased used or shared. After the first year you can usually go off the meal plan and live off campus, which also saves significantly.</p>