For question 90, it asks “As of today, what is your parents’ total current balance of cash, savings, and checking accounts?”. My parents currently have more debt than they have money on their current balance. However, FAFSA does not address this issue anywhere in their “helpful information guide”.
Would I put $0 either way?
No, you cannot offset assets with debt. For question 90, you enter the amount in their savings and checking account, and the amount of cash they have in their wallets on the day you file. It is fine to pay bills before you answer the question.
That makes sense but what about the fact that it says “Add the account balances of your (and if married, your spouse’s) cash, checking, and savings accounts as of today. Enter the total of all accounts as the total current balance. If the total is negative, enter zero as the total current balance.”
Your balance could be negative if you have bounced a check or have overdraft protection so checks are paid even if there is no money in the account. I don’t think it is possible to have a negative balance in a savings account.
Your lowest balance would be $0…and that would be if there wasn’t a dime jon your parent accounts the day you file your fafsa.
You can have $1 million dollars in debt…but if you have $25,000 in accounts. You list that amount on your accounts.
Fafsa does not consider debt. At all.
Perfect, that makes sense. Thanks everyone
Hello, for questions 88 . what if my parents dont have a bank account and dont have cash? my dad works and makes about $500 per week so in 1 month is 2000 and in 1 year its 24k what would I put in this question?
Question 88 only asks for cash on hand at the time FAFSA is completed. Cash on hand means money in checking and savings accounts and money in actual cash form, like in a wallet, in a box buried in the back yard, or stuffed under a mattress.
o ok thx also my parents didnot file there taxes for the 2019 year and someone told me to just fill out the applicatio without their taxes but someone els told me that if i do that they fill ask me for a verification of there taxes what can i do here?
Tell your parents that they should file their 2019 tax return.
o ok thx also another thing should i wait for them to file the taxes and then submit my fafsa or submit it and turn them in in the verification process after they do them?
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To properly complete FAFSA, you need to know information from your parents’ 2019 federal tax return, if they are required to file a 2019 return.