I’m supposed to inherit a lot of money from a late relative some time after my 18th birthday in March. Since I won’t be getting the money until March or later do I have to put it on my FAFSA for this year?
Also my family income is low but I’ll have a lot of assets after this inheritance. Will this hurt my chances for financial aid a lot or is income taken into account more?
You fill out the FAFSA with the information as it is on the day you fill it out. Income is from the prior tax year (2016 for this FAFSA), assets are as of the date of filing.
If you complete the FAFSA now, you would not include the inheritance as you don’t have it today. In future years, if you have it you will report it as an asset. Depending on the size, it will most likely change your FA. An asset owned by a dependent student is assessed at 20%
Do you plan to use your ineritance for college costs? What a wonderful gift!
If so…consider putting part of the money into a 529 account. That way…for FAFSA purposes anyway…that part will be assessed at 5.6% of value.
How much money are you talking about? $10,000, $100,000, a million dollars?
I would strongly suggest have a financial plan for this money…
Yes, put the money in a 529 account unless the amount is more than a college education than maybe some needs to be put elsewhere.
How much are you talking about?