<p>I am going to be a senior this year and my parents refuse to let me open up a bank account for savings or checking because they think that having money in the account will ruin my chance at getting aid. My family will not qualify for financial aid but since they are first-generation Americans they cannot pay much for college. Do I lose my chance at merit aid because I have less than $10,000 at most in my savings/checking? Or worse, just because I have an account?</p>
<p>Merit aid really shouldn't have anything to do with your finances.</p>
<p>Have you run the financial aid calculators on the websites? Ask your parents to lend you their tax returns, then plug in all the numbers and you will get your EFC - estimated financial contribution. If you end up qualifying for needbased financial aid, your savings will be expected to contribute 20% towards your college costs each year; your parents savings at only about 5%. That may be why they are not recommending you get a savings account. But if you DON"T end up qualifying for needbased financial aid, it won't matter if you have a savings account or not. For MERIT AID - finances are not taken into consideration, so again it does not matter if you have a savings account or not.</p>
<p>With my $100 or so in my checking/savings account, FAFSA told me that I personally (not my parents) had an expected contribution to my college education of $20, which goes along with the 20% mentioned above.</p>
<p>In essence, it is better for the assets to be held in your parents' name, since only 5% of their held assets will be put into your EFC. But if you do not have a significant amount of money in your account, as in my case, it doesn't really matter in the end. Having your own checking account will give you an important lesson in managing your personal finances, so I believe the pros outweigh the cons regarding whether you should hold a bank account.</p>
<p>You will not lose your chance for merit aid at all (finances don't matter for merit aid), and you will most likely also qualify for financial aid, especially at a private university where most, if not all, people who "cannot pay much for college" receive some sort of non-loan financial aid.</p>