Filing last year's FAFSA now...question...

<p>We're still able to do this---we have multiple surgeries, husband's job loss, etc., that our daughter's university will take into account. My question is this: We used to pay our credit cards completely off every month. For the last couple of months, we've slowed our usage, and changed the automatic pay feature to cover only the minimum payment. This makes our checking account balance inflated. We're (still) hoping that husband finds a job soon, and that we can get back on top of paying these off every month, but what effect will that checking account balance have on FAFSA? Should we pay our cash down to almost nothing (by paying off the credit card)? Any great suggestions to make this work?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Any assets, including what is in your checking account is assessed at about 5-6%. Whether that is something that makes a huge difference is up to you. It might be more prudent in many cases to take the 5% hit rather than spending the money or paying off the credit card, depending on how your entire financial picture is.</p>