<p>How accurate does like the amount of my parents savings, investment, etc. have to be?</p>
<p>also, my parents income is <40k, but we have about 30k in savings and like 10k in college prepaid plan, how much does savings/investment hurt my financial package?</p>
<p>They should be as accurate as you can make them so that if you are ever asked you can show how you came up with the numbers.</p>
<p>$40k in assets should not hurt much, if at all. In FAFSA there is some asset protection for parent assets based on the number of parents and the age of the older parent. If there are 2 parents and the older is 42+ the asset protection is over $40,000.</p>
<p>i'm sorry but im not familar with the term "asset protection."
my parents are 42+, are legal immigrants, and have little education.
I basically have to responsibililty of filling out all forms and stuff and there's lots to learn.</p>
<p>My parents are only going to allow me to go to the college if 1) family contribution is <~8k
2)I don't take any loans or stuff. so financial aid is a huge issue.</p>
<p>oh and also, i'm not sure how our house value contributes into our asset. My parents own it and has paid it all off, I think. and value is around 100k. Do I put this stuff in the asset section?</p>
<p>I am looking over the FASFA application, btw</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>FAFSA has a formula that it puts your income and asset information through. If assets fall under the amount of assets protected then they are not used to calculate your EFC. For instance if the asset protection for your parents is $42,000 and they have assets of $40,000 then their assets will have no affect on your EFC. If their asset protection is $42,000 and they have $50,000 in assets then $8,000 will be used in the EFC calculation. This does not mean the whole $8,000 would go to the EFC - just a % of it.</p>
<p>Finaid has an EFC (Expected Family Contribution) calculator where you can enter your family and student income and assets and get a fairly accurate idea of your EFC.
FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid</p>
<p>However you must understand that financial aid does often include loans. If you are going to a school that does not guarantee to meet full need without loans it is unlikely your full need will be met without some loans. Federal grant money is very limited. I am not an advocate of taking out a lot of loans but, realistically, you may have to take out some.</p>
<p>If the family income is less than $50k and parents were eligible to file a 1040A or 1040EZ (not eligible if they itemized deductions or had business/farm income) OR if someone in the family received federal means tested benefits within the past TWO years (free/reduced lunch, WIC, TANF, SSI) the assets won't be considered at all (simplified needs formula would apply).</p>