<p>At the beginning of my freshman year in college, my uncle gave me $4500 for my college journey which I've kept in my checking account and have since dipped into for my expenses since my financial aid doesn't cover everything because living on campus is such a scam... Anyways, last year on my FAFSA, I reported very little and got the full $5k+. This year however, I'm reporting $19000 for my mom and it is also asking for my savings/checking amount and I currently have a little over $4000. But that is all the money that my uncle had given me and I intended on it lasting me thru. my next 3 years of college. My questions are, should I report that amount? because it says not to report financial aid and in a sense, that amount is financial aid... and if I do report it, will my aid amount be very little to close to nothing? Like does FAFSA want me to go broke before they give any more aid? I've also taken out a 3500 subsidized loan. So would FAFSA have knowledge of this and understand that I really only have $500+? My family is a household of 3 and I am the only one going to college but I don't live with my mom and sibling if this info. helps.</p>
<p>The money your uncle gave you is NOT financial aid for FAFSA purposes. You have to report it.</p>
<p>Yes, you have to report it, and no, they won’t expect you to spend all of it. But you will be expected to contribute 20% of your savings each year that you are in college.</p>
<p>No, it is not fianancial aid and if you are selected for verification and that flags, and if you are are audited, you can be in trouble. There has to be a clear paper trail from financial aid payout to you from the college to your account. Money an uncle or a parent or whoever gave you that is not reported as financial aid or scholarship to a college has to be reported on FAFSA and PROFILE according to the rules and 20% goes directly to your EFC number. </p>
<p>What I tell kids to do is to have a parent open up an account with the parent’s SSN and name primary, and designate the account as money you reimburse your parents for expenses they have laid out on your behalf. In turn, your parent can designate that as a college expense account for you. That way if can fall under their asset protection allowance and if their assets exceed that allowance, only 5.6% of it goes towards the EFC. The asset dollar amount reported on FAFSA is as of the date you file the FAFSA, not 12/31 and is info that cannot be changed unless it was a mistake, So if you already filed, FAFSA and the money was sitting in one of your accounts, and you did not report it, what you have done is commit fraud, if you don’t change it. The penalties can be harsh on this, so really , do not fool around. But if you have not yet filed, you can do as I described, and certainly do so for next year.</p>
<p>Them’s the rules!</p>
<p>I second what cpt said - you should NOT keep any substantial amount of $$ in an account in your name, since the FAFSA will assess 20% of that amount toward your EFC. </p>
<p>For each of our student kids, we have a joint account where I, as the parent, am primary account holder. Summer earnings go into that account (as would a windfall from an uncle, etc.), and they draw from it as necessary. They each have a checking account at their college town in their own names, and earnings from their Work/Study jobs go into that account - this pretty much covers their basic personal expenses and books. Since Work/Study earnings, or other FA, does NOT count as an asset when filling out FAFSA, I can correctly say that the balance in each of their own accounts is zero.</p>
<p>Something else – the $4500 that you received from your uncle should have been listed as “other income” (or is it “nontaxable income”? or “other financial/monetary assistance”? - no time right now to look up FAFSA’s exact wording) on the FAFSA for the year in which you received it - this would count as part of YOUR income/resources for that academic year.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if gifts are listed as other income. Actually, i think they are NOT included as other income.They are listed as assets if still in the account.</p>
<p>I have not submitted my FAFSA yet so thankfully I have done nothing illegal. So I’ve recieved roughly $1100 from financial aid, can I subtract that from my $4000 and report that amount? Because technically I can say that I have only dipped into my original $4500 for books, food, etc… and have kept the financial aid money? </p>
<p>Also, if I pay off my $3500 loan right now and only report $500 in my account, would that be illegal?</p>
<p>Don’t know about your first question, but you can definitely pay off your loan before you complete the FAFSA - nothing wrong with that at all!</p>
<p>You are making this unnecessarily complicated. Real black and white here: 1. Report the money that is in your account/your possession (you have to report it even if it’s cash under your bed) as your own asset. 2. Move the money into one of your parent’s accounts and include it in a your parents’ assets. </p>
<p>You have the money. No amount of manuevering allows you to keep it without reporting it. If you pay off a loan to get rid of it, then you don’t have it anymore. Not sure that’s such a great idea.</p>
<p>So I have payed back my loan but it says it would take 2-3 days for it to show up on my checking account. Would it be lying if I submitted my FAFSA tomorrow as $500 (the amount I’ll have left after my loan repayment is credited)?</p>
<p>Quinn, not sure if waiting a day hurts on the FAFSA so I’d wait until the account shows the money gone before filing. Print out an online statement of your account value for the day you file the FAFSA so you have a record of that date’s value.</p>
<p>but the deadline for the fafsa is tomorrow? This is what I get for procrastinating lol</p>
<p>Technically, the money remains in your account until it’s actually withdrawn. However, in ancient times, when dinosaurs walked the earth and people paid bills with paper checks, one generally relied on ones own tally to know what funds remained in a checking account. In other words, once you’d written a check for X dollars, you’d subtract that amount from the balance in your own register . . . even though, obviously, the check might not hit your account for days or weeks. And there are, doubtless, some people who still do it that way.</p>
<p>So, it’s a judgment call . . . but I don’t think you’d be way off base to take that payment into account in calculating your current balance. And, to be honest, if anyone ever questioned it and you said, “I made the payment - it just hadn’t cleared yet,” I think you’d be fine. </p>
<p>Bottom line: the funds are no longer available for you to use, even if they are still (for the moment) in your account.</p>