<p>My parents did not know how to send Fafsa/Css, so I was able to look over both before sending them in. Almost everything looked correct, but for questions such as amount of money in savings/checkings account and amount in bonds, my parents put $0. Despite all my protesting, my parents insisted that these numbers could not be checked, and they refused to change anything. I am extremely worried that colleges will be suspicious and my admissions will be affected, not to mention the consequences if they are found to be lying. We have a very large EFC (over the yearly cost of colleges), and would probably not get any aid anyway, and are thus relying on loans. Are my parents assumptions correct, or what should I do otherwise?</p>
<p>All values reported are supposed to be correct. In your case, however, if a too-high efc isn't allowing you to receive need based aid, anyway, it's not going to make a difference. </p>
<p>Actually, the 1040 figures will tip the financial aid officer off about your parents' assets. Interest and dividend income on the 1040 indicates assets. Some parents will lie and say that these were sold or liquidated before filing the FAFSA. Some financial aid offices will require statements from accounts for which there are 1099's. This will catch cheaters. In the case of someone with an efc that is more than the cost of attendance, though, it isn't worth requiring the info. I would just say "whatever" as long as there is no need based aid involved. All that such a student would get is an unsubsidized loan and a parent PLUS loan.</p>
<p>CSS looks at lot more closely at things - it is possible you may have a college contact you about your parents' assets. Again, though, if your EFC means no federal or institutional need based aid, they may not bother.</p>
<p>Quite honestly, when I filed my FAFSA I had 200 dollars in our acct but the day before it was 2000 dollars but we paid our mortgage with the money. The amount in the savings is only a snapshot of what is in there on the day you file. Finaid.org recommends that you spend down your savings to maximize your chance at a lower EFC. by paying off credit cards, etc. Relax.</p>
<p>Well, I guess the question I was trying to lead up to was, if by some weird chance I manage to get some minor financial aid from colleges, will I get in trouble for this or have my chances at admission affected? As much as I don't want my parents to get in trouble, it was their choice, and I would hate for me to have problems due to their lack of insight.</p>
<p>I have seen students selected for verification (bleah!) or FAFSAs rejected the first time around, with comments about 0's in the cash-on-hand questions, or zeros at the end of other amounts (therefore looking like an estimate, not an actual figure) in the SAR comments. Therefore I always advise people to put down Something--everyone has bus money, or KFC money, or at least the cost of a Snickers bar. Also I always advise people not to round numbers to zero, even when estimating. HTH</p>
<p>As another poster mentioned, if the colleges request tax info, the interest income that is reported would certainly be a red flag that there were assets, and even with "spending down," there woould probably be something left in savings or checking. Are your parents away that there is an asset protection built into the FAFSA calculations, or did they just not disclose assets because they felt it was personal?</p>
<p>radiomom- interesting, I have always estimated and used 000 #s for the estimates (tax data) and used actual numbers for the assets etc; it helps me be clear when I go back to redo things, and I assume any one reading it would see the clear pattern</p>
<p>That's a good idea. last year I used turbotax to estimate data for FAFSA and used the 2006 tax data for some stuff. I almost sent my taxes in with some estimated data :eek: . The lady at the county courthouse pointed out the discrepencies when my husband took our tax documents to the county courthouse (we have a deal where you can freeze something to do with real estate taxes if your are over 65 and have income below a certain amount). it was only about $300 difference (the real was lower) to our actual income. But Oops - I did feel silly.</p>