<p>“How about this: assume you have a collection of 1000 rare silver dollars. Each is appraised as being worth $1000 a piece due to their fine condition and scarcity. Do you report this as $1,000 in cash, or $1,000,000 in investments, or nothing as a personal possession?”</p>
<p>Interesting hypothetical. Cash is a reportable asset. Collectibles and other “possessions” are not reportable assets. A valuable art collection wouldn’t be reportable, for example.</p>
<p>I’d say that the only thing that makes the silver dollar collection reportable is the fact that it’s technically “cash”. So it should be reported at it’s “cash” (face) value, not at it’s market (collectible) value.</p>
<p>AskMe: Credit card debt isn’t considered by the formulas. Nor are rent or monthly mortgage payments. (Mortgage debt is considered when considering calculating home equity for Profile, for for FAFSA if a second residence).</p>
<p>“Credit card debt isn’t considered by the formulas. Nor are rent or monthly mortgage payments. (Mortgage debt is considered when considering calculating home equity for Profile, for for FAFSA if a second residence).”</p>
<p>sblake7, I understand that credit card debt is not considered and mortage is considered for home-equity. My question was how would a renter pay mortgage. Being a renter, one would pay renter (unless such renter owns a house paying mortgage but lives in a rented accomodation). </p>
<p>I think the owner/renter example had some typos or wasn’t well thought out, because there’s no “rent” for the renter, just a mortgage which doesn’t make sense, and also there’s no “mortgage” for the owner who presumably has some housing costs. I had the same question about it when it was originally posted but thought the original poster would come back to clarify.</p>
<p>Here’s another scenario although still not very realistic:</p>
<p>Owner of a cheap house with lots of credit card debt:
$1000 a month income
$300 goes to credit cards
$300 goes to mortgage payment
$400 net income</p>
<p>$1000 considered for FA</p>
<p>Renter of a cheap apartment with no credit card debt:
$1000 a month income
$300 goes to rent
$700 net income</p>
<p>Basically, (Barring major medical issues or unusual circumstances) colleges don’t give a flip about outgoing money. All they care about are A)INCOME (very important- you contribute 25% or more of this -depending on many variables and cost of college) and B)Assets (less important - you only only contribute about 5.6% of these.) Usually only colleges that take the PROFILE will count your primary residence as an asset.
Of course lots of exceptions, but basically they only care about incoming money - not at all about your outgoing money.</p>
<p>The rental payment or mortgage payment doesn’t matter at all.
For the Profile and some colleges, net equity matters on the asset side. That’s it.
They don’t care what your monthly expenses are in the particulars. Up to your eyeballs in debt? Doesn’t matter. Seen as your choice. Not their problem.</p>
<p>GroovyGeek from 11/18: that was a great example - so clear and so clearly pointing out the very essence of what is wrong with this system… saving is bad, spending is good. i must be an idiot not to get that… at least it seems that i’m not alone. thanks.</p>
<p>so here’s my situaion, my folks want to give my son a generous check before the end of the year. that’s great. or is it? because we spent down my son’s assets to near zero so that we could qualify for some (meager) aid which we/he now gets. the problem is that depositing the gift check in my son’s name will mess that up again and no aid for '08-'09. so i’m looking for options. this thread was super helpful, and the chart on this page lays out some options: [url=<a href=“UGMA & UTMA Custodial Accounts - Finaid”>About Finaid - Finaid], but i still don’t have a clear way forward. i’m leaning to either a joint account aor a Totten Trust. any suggestions would be appreciated.</p>
<p>See if your folks are willing to defer the check until after his last FAFSA/Profile is submitted in his Junior year (for his senior year). Then those assets can be used to pay off his student loans after he graduates.</p>
<p>Gparents can establish a 529 with them as the owners and your son as the beneficiary.</p>
<p>Gparents can establish a joint account with son. Use grandparents TIN.</p>
<p>Gparents can establish a joint credit card (max limit) account with son. They can monitor his spending and they pay for card.</p>
<p>Gparents can establish a cell phone account for son. </p>
<p>Gparents can pay the tuition when billed to you. School doesn’t care who or how expenses are paid. School does care if they give money away unnecessarily.</p>
<p>Gparents can give you the money. You pay bills. </p>
<p>Gparents can give cash. Son pays things in cash (books, tuition, R&B).</p>
<p>Money in a IRA, Pension is not counted because these funds can not normally be accessed with penalty and taxes. Because of the taxes and penalties, it makes no sense to count it towards assets. </p>
<p>FAFSA does look to see how much and when you contribute to retirement. It is generally thought that if you can fund your retirement, then you can sacrifice a few years of contributions to help fund your child’s education. </p>
<p>Look at FAFSA as your friend, who wants to know why you want to borrow money or be given money gratis, when you are living good life. Its not a problem if you are living responsibly and look out for the welfare of your family . Would you loan or give money to a stranger who just bought a Mercedes and a new home and has a second home in the mountains and takes a cruise every year, and pleas, I have no money, I can prove it. Look at my bank balance!.</p>