<p>My parents own property in another nation valued at around $50,000, How will it affect my financial aid package? How do colleges know whether you even have property outside of the US?</p>
<p>You will report it on the FAFSA or Profile at the sales value and it will be part of their overall assets. Most two parent families aged around 50 have asset protection in the realm of $40-50k, so it may not count at all or not much of it, depending what other assets they have (that’s for FAFSA)</p>
<p>Once you’ve got assets about the protected amount, they are counted at about 5-6% of their value being available to put towards educational expenses</p>
<p>Actually don’t you just report the equity in property as an asset? If this property is worth $50,000 and the mortgage or outstanding loan is $45,000, your asset would only be $5000. I believe.</p>
<p>So to the OP…does your family have an outstanding loan against this property? If not, the whole thing gets reported as an asset converted into American dollars.</p>
<p>Yes the equity in the property. If you own it outright with no money owed on it then the equity is the sales value. If you owe money on it you take the sales value minus the amount owed. If it is owned with someone else equally, it is 50% of that amount. If it is not your primary home then it is an asset converted to US dollars. </p>
<p>And caveat…the answer to your second question is integrity and honesty.</p>
<p>Caveat…the other thing…if you complete a financial aid application with inaccurate information (like omitting this property) and the school does find out, you run the risk of not only losing financial aid but also losing your admissions offer. You need to be HONEST on these forms.</p>