I thought I’d start my own thread for this because I couldn’t find an answer anywhere on how to handle this money. My dd is working a co-op now Fall 2017. The money she is earning she is putting in her savings account. The Fafsa 2018-2019 asks for earnings from coops for 2016 but nothing for a student doing a coop currently. So I sent an email to the Fafsa people and they basically told me to add her earnings from her co-op to MY SAVINGS figure. I didn’t think that could possibly be right but I called and they told me the same thing! I’m posting their email reply below, hope it helps someone else. They said I could go to studentaid.gov/dependency and it would be covered there, although I haven’t yet.
Email Response:
Thank you for your inquiry about federal student aid. You explained that your daughter will be employed at a co-op fall of 2017. You also explained that the funded will be deposited into her savings account. You are inquiring about how should the funds earned be record on the 2018-2019 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and will the funds earned impact her federal student aid eligibility.
Because you mentioned that the funds earned will be placed into her savings account, please note that item 41 refers to your cash and your savings and checking accounts. Enter the amount of money you (and/or your spouse) had in cash and in savings and checking accounts on the day you completed your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®). This amount should not include student financial aid.
You may want to visit our studentaid.ed.gov website, which provides details about the U.S. Department of Education’s financial aid programs, eligibility criteria, application procedures, and award levels.
If you have additional questions, you may contact our Federal Student Aid Information Center (FSAIC) at 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243; TTY 1-800-730-8913 or Toll 334-523-2691) between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) Monday through Friday and between 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) Saturday and Sunday.
I don’t see anywhere that the email response is telling you to add your daughter’s co-op earnings to the parent’s savings balance. The email, in a not very clear way, is saying that the student’s co-op earnings, if still retained by the student at the time that FAFSA is filed, should be reported under FAFSA question #41, which is where the student’s (not the parents) current total balance of cash, savings and checking accounts belongs.
@BelknapPoint I know I thought that too but when I called the lady told me to add it to my savings figure. She even put me on hold and got a supervisor to confirm. Although the website they told me to read that would outline this doesn’t. Unless I’m dense, I don’t see anything about co-ops. I might call again another day and see if I get another answer or reply to the email and specifically ask do I put her money in with my savings so I have it in writing. The girl on the phone said I do cause she is my dependent???
I gotta think about adding it to the 529. She’s in her last year. We want to take advantage of getting the subsidized loans and then paying them off with her savings when she graduates. I’m still thinking about all this and what we will do.
Student earnings, even from a co-op, in the student’s regular savings account on the day that FAFSA is filed do not get reported on FAFSA as a parent asset. Any FAFSA customer service representative who is telling you otherwise is wrong.
Ok @BelknapPoint you were right I asked for clarification and got this:
Please note that item 41 refers to the student’s cash and student’s savings and checking accounts. Enter the amount of money the student had in cash and in savings and checking accounts on the day the student completes the (FAFSA®)
But the lady on the phone and her supervisor said to add it to mine. Geez, thanks all!
What would happen if she wrote you a check for most of what is in her savings and you kept it in your account. You could give it back to her when she needed it. It sounds like that is what they’re suggesting you can do … nudge nudge.
Uh… no. This is called fraud. I’m sure it’s not what the FAFSA reps were suggesting. What OP experienced was the typical incompetence/lack of training of a front-line CSR. There are some good ones, and there are some bad ones. Use caution.