<p>I don't know what to do. My mom told me all of her information, but my dad refuses to tell me any financial information of his. He is on disability and is on Social Security, but he also has quite a bit of cash stored in a bank account somewhere. The problem is, he refuses to tell me how much. I have no idea. I know he has some, but he won't even let me make an estimate to put in. He's forcing me to only put my mother's, which is only like $200 in a bank account. I don't know what to do. I know lying about it is fraud, but I'm just having so much trouble with this... I don't want to lie, but I don't know what to put. Should I just guess? He thinks they don't need to know how much money he has, so he won't tell me.</p>
<p>Edit: My dad also will not give me any money from his bank account for my college fund.</p>
<p>Are your parents divorced? If they are, then start by only filling out your mother's portion and ask the college you're applying to if they require the non-custodial PROFILE to be filled out. If your parents are married, then help your father understand that not reporting assets is considered fraud and will have severe consequences. Show his this quote from finaid.org:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Be very careful about following any unethical advice. Financial aid administrators are obligated to notify the US Department of Education when they encounter cases of fraud. (If they don't, their school is held liable when the US Department of Education audits them.) Every school verifies the FAFSAs of at least one-third of their students, and some schools verify 100% of the financial aid applications. This is in contrast with the IRS, which audits only a very small percentage of tax returns. So if you lie on your financial aid forms, there's a very good chance you'll get caught.
<p>I'm sorry you're having to deal with this. Educate yourself, then educate your father about the importance of filling out financial aid forms completely. You and he might find that his assets are not "taxed" as highly as you think they might be. FAFSA only includes 5.6% of parent assets in its calculation of what parents are expected to contribute.</p>
<p>Well...tell your dad this...most schools will require tax returns to be sent as well at some point in the process. On those returns you also list your interest earned. If there is interest earned, it won't take long for the school to figure out that savings was not reported (if indeed this money is in savings somewhere). The 1098I (interest report) from the bank reporting interest earned is also reported to the federal government. It's very hard in this day and age of computerized information to hide ANY asset that is not stuffed between your mattress...oh and it's fraud to not declare that as well.</p>
<p>I guess the bigger question is...do your parents plan to contribute to your college costs? Regardless, these forms must honestly and accurately be completed. If they are not completed honestly, you not only jeopardize your financial aid prospects, but also your admission (remember, these forms are signed by you the student also). If you don't complete the forms you have no chance of getting any aid. </p>
<p>Is there a trusted adult...a teacher, clergyman, other relative beside parent, who could discuss this with your dad? </p>
<p>Also, how is it that your mom doesn't know about these assets? Do they file taxes separately (doesn't matter for FAFSA and Profile, but...if they file jointly mom should have some idea of the savings)?</p>
<p>And this is for the Profile, right? Yes, parent assets are assessed at 5.6% with an asset protection allowance also for FAFSA. To be honest, no one really knows how each school uses the Profile information....except that school.</p>
<p>My parents don't plan on contributing much to my college fund at all. My mom's income is only around $18,000/year and my dad is on Social Security. :/</p>
<p>My mom doesn't really know much about taxes at all. I also think she might know how much he has, but he won't let her tell me.</p>
<p>My dad gives me a lot of difficulty regarding anything that deals with college. We already had a meeting with my counselor about me living in a dorm for college. It's just a difficult situation.</p>
<p>It sounds like you should do your best to get the numbers you can get. Please enlist the help of another trusted family member or somebody. Maybe your parents (your dad in particular) are afraid they will have to put their entire life savings into your college costs. It sounds like they have a modest income and the costs of college are quite overwhelming in for them...and that is understandable. If their income is less than $50,000 total per year, the cost of some colleges is in that range as well. This is a very daunting thing for many families to face. Someone familiar with the financial aid process who also is trusted by them would be a good resource for you. Without knowing your dad's savings amount, it's very hard to say what will happen.</p>
<p>If your family filed a 1040EZ or 1040A, they might be eligible for the simplified needs test (I'm not the expert here on that one, but perhaps Kelsmom or Swimcats will post). If that is the case, for FAFSA purposes, those assets will not even need to be reported.</p>
<p>For the Profile, I don't know what to tell you. Do your parents support your decision to apply to this school (assuming it's a somewhat expensive private school)? Or are they not in support of that because of the overall costs or some other reason?</p>
<p>I hope your college list includes a variety of schools both in terms of admissions requirements AND in terms of cost...just in case.</p>
<p>My father doesn't really support me going to that school, or any of the schools that I am applying to for that matter. I'm applying to two UCs, two CSUs, and only one private school. I don't think I'll have any chance of going there even if I do get in, because our financial situation is just so difficult. He only has the money he has in his savings due to inheritance, and he has already told me that he doesn't plan on using it for my college fund.</p>
<p>I already sent it in a few minutes ago. I hope the amount was close enough. If it's like, $5000-10000 off, what will happen? I basically filled out the entire application myself, and I think I messed up on parts of it because our income is a lot different than how it was last year. :(</p>
<p>It is true that your family situation may fall into either the automatic 0 EFC or the Simplified EFC formula. As long as the parents' adjusted gross income is less than $50,000 AND either 1)your parents filed (or could have filed) the 1040A or 1040 EZ (generally speaking, if they made less than $100,000 and they didn't itemize deductions on Schedule A or report business income on Schedule C) or 2)if someone in the household received a federal means tested benefit in 2007 or 2008 (free/reduced lunch, supplemental security income, TANF, or WIC) the assets won't be included in the formula. You are supposed to report them correctly, of course, but they won't be considered. If you think you fall into this, you should report what your mom thinks is correct, but the assets won't be counted, anyway.</p>
<p>Profile is a different situation. You will probably be required to provide documentation of your assets, because they will be taken into consideration. The income tax forms provide insight into assets, and incorrecty reporting will raise a flag. My suggestion is to talk to a financial aid officer at the school to find out what your options are. You may find out that you MUST have the info or you will not be able to get any aid from them. Better to know this now. You also may find out that they can work with you. You won't know until you talk to them.</p>
<p>I would try to do something about this now than later...guessing probably wasn't the best solution, so I would talk to someone like a counselor or something who can help you sort it out/figure out what to do.</p>
<p>Yoliness, it sounds like there is more to your situation than what you are posting here. I am NOT suggesting that you share it here, but I DO suggest you talk to the financial aid people at the schools where you are accepted. Whenever a student says their parent won't give financial info, the first response is that they have to or you won't get aid. However, I have found that there are times when, after digging a bit deeper, there is more to the story than just the refusal to give info. I suspect that may be your situation. You stated that you met with your counselor about living in a dorm in college. Please ask your counselor to help you ... if you have an unusual situation, he/she can help you document it if you need to make an appeal to the financial aid office for a special circumstances judgment. Each school will handle it in their own way, so you'll need to speak with an aid officer from each school.</p>
<p>It sounds like you will need financial aid all four years. Thus, you will need to fill out the FAFSA (Profile) for the next three years. Every year you are going to have a knot in your stomach wondering if you are "guessing" right or if they are going to come knocking on your door, because you "guessed" wrong.</p>
<p>Please do what others have suggested and speak to a counselor.</p>
<p>Yes, lying on a financial aid form is a web that just gets more complicated and can harm you in the end. We are currently in family court trying to counteract “inaccurate and untrue” facts that were used on both a FAFSA and CSS/Profile (2009-2010), we presume to qualify for a scholarship and Stafford loan and to verify that student is “contributing” to his college expenses. Neither FAFSA nor CSS were updated with required 2008 tax information, but SAR and university “aid package” letter were filed in court as evidence of student’s “contribution”. IDOC was not sent in either. A “non-custodial parent financial information waiver” was applied for by the student and granted by the university, thereby insuring that the non-custodial parent’s information did not contradict the misinformation on the two forms. Non-custodial parent info is not required on the FAFSA and NCP was not contacted by the custodial parent or student (or CollegeBoard.com) regarding filling out the CSS non-custodial information.</p>
<p>We believe (and hope) that the student did not accept financial aid with inaccurate information - and that the prestigious university she is attending did not, in the end, actually grant it! Student has significant assets ($300,000+) in an UTMA account which custodial parent refuses to use. EFC, according to SAR, was $8,000 MORE than annual tuition to university. </p>
<p>“oh what tangled webs we weave…” any suggestions from the FinAid Administrators out there on how to “untangle” this mess?</p>
<p>When I hear stories like this, I can’t help but think that the parent doesn’t want the child to know the big amount, because the parent knows that it will look selfish not to want to provide some for college costs.</p>
<p>Yoli…</p>
<p>Has your dad said where he wants you to go to college? Or does he say that he doesn’t want you to go at all.</p>
<p>*I’m applying to two UCs, two CSUs, and only one private school. *</p>
<p>Are you saying that even the CSUs aren’t acceptable to him? What school is acceptable to him? </p>
<p>BTW…if he has a large inheritance, it would be ridiculous for this family to get an auto 0 EFC where taxpayers who have a lot less would be providing fed and/or state grants.</p>
<p>Sophieclaire, I am not quite sure I understand what happened in the situation you present. Why are you in family court? How does the info on the forms come into play? Did you or someone else lie? Or does someone THINK you lied? How did the court get these documents (which I assume are protected by privacy laws)?</p>
<p>Was the $300k UTMA not reported? That on its own would impact the FAFSA EFC by 60,000 as 20% of student assets go to the EFC. Or are you saying that the UTMA was set up by the non custodial parent? A UTMA is considered the student’s asset so the fact that the non custodial parent is not required on FAFSA is irrelevant. The custodial parent refusing to use the UTMA funds does not mean they are not reportable assets.</p>
<p>As noted, a UTMA with $300,000 in it would most definitely disqualify a student from receiving any need based aid anywhere. If this was not reported on the financial aid application forms, than the web cannot become untangled. It needs to be resolved…perhaps the finaid folks will comment…but my guess is the student would lose any forthcoming aid. Could they be held responsible for paying back aid that was given to them due to inaccurate filing info on the finaid forms? With this amount in a UTMA, I would certainly hope so.</p>
<p>Could you have your mother put in your dad’s info if she knows it? If you let her finish that part and have her submit the CSS, she will never have told you how much your father has in savings.</p>