I currently am going into my senior year this fall, will be filling out the FAFSA in October. I was wondering if Money I have made from working that I have been saving in my bank account if it will be smart and okay to do to basically give away that money to a trustworthy family member not in the household maybe a week or so before I fill out the FAFSA so that my asset are 0$ and then after a little bit of time get the money back from that person?
Also Is there an estimate to how much the student protection allowance will be for this upcoming fasfa.
Your FAFSA also requires your parents’ income because they assume that you have been supported by your parents. It’s not solely based on your income.
Plus, trying to defraud a federal agency is a big NO-NO. At the end of the FAFSA form, both you and your parents are asked to electronically sign the form, indicating and acknowledging that the presented information is true and All of that trouble for $5920 per year from the feds? Is it worth it?
It sounds like you aren’t planning to give the money away. It sounds like you want to give that money to somoenone else so you don’t have to report it on your FAFSA form.
Simply put…the money is still YOUR money…no matter where it is…unless you REALLY are giving it away for someone else to have as their own forever.
If you just give it to a family member and then take it back after filing the fafsa, and you do NOT report it as an asset…you will have committed fraud. Getting financial aid by knowingly providing inaccurate information (which is what you would be doing) is fraud.
Fraud is a crime. You could lose not only any aid you might receive, but also your admission spot to the colleges, and you can be fined as well.
How much in savings do you have? Why wouldn’t it be money you would be willing to put towards college costs?
How much is your parent income? That is the primary driver for calculating need based aid.
Your student asset is assessed at 20% of its value…not 100%…for financial aid purposes. If you have $5000 in the bank…$1000 would be added to your EFC.
If your family is VERY low income, there are some provisions whereby your assets would not be counted. Is your family VERY low income?
No. Not smart and okay. This would be stupid and wrong.
There is no asset protection for students, just for parents.
I think you can put the money into a 529 account and then it gets counted as a parent asset, so much better.
Ah yes…but a 529 needs to be used for educational,expenses. And it sounds like this student doesn’t WANT to spend his earned money on college.
There is an income allowance for students, but no asset allowance.
That would be committing a crime. Financial aid is for students who need money, not for students unwilling to pay. Find a cheaper school if you don’t want to pay. Or one that awards merit aid.
It’s probably not enough money to make a difference, honestly, if you are a high school student with savings from a typical job.
Giving it to get it back is at least unethical, probably illegal too.
However, deciding to buy the laptop you need for college anyway, or pay down a credit card or car loan or bills before you file FAFSA, that is OK to do.
Do your parents qualify for simplified assets or an automatic $0 for EFC on FAFSA? If so, your assets won’t matter.
But I agree that you may be doing all this worrying for no gain. Your FA will depend much more on your parents’ assets and income than yours.
It’s not that I don’t want to pay for it with my money. I just would like to get as much financial aid as possible the first 2 years because I believe by third and forth year I will be able to pay those off
Everyone wants to get as much FA as possible. That’s just not how it works.
You are asking us to tell you that committing fraud is OK. It’s not. That money will be YOURS regardless of who has it. You could put it on the moon, and it would still count as YOUR asset.
You need to be honest when completing your financial aid forms. If you have assets, regardless of where you have them (and that includes “giving them to a trusted relative to give back to you”), you MUST report them. MUST. Required.
If you want to reduce your asset before filing the fafsa, you can use it to purchase needed things…a new computer, for example. Or as mentioned, you could put them money in a 529 account where it would be assessed as a parent asset.
But giving to someone else…who will give it back? No. That would be fraudulent reporting of assets.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Closing thread as the discussion is going in circles. Gaining financial aid by knowingly providing inaccuracy information is fraud. I’m not sure which part of that sentence is unclear.