<p>So, when I'm filling out these financial aid forms, it tells me to enter what the student's current balance in the bank. And well. It's gonna fluctuate over the next week. Like, my mom ran out of checks, so she used my bank account to pay a bill, so she deposited a bunch of money to match the billing statement. I'm hoping it doesn't affect me too much. But should I sit around and wait for the bill transaction to go through before I enter my balance on my financial aid forms, so that my balance will be back to what it was before?</p>
<p>Wait. You don’t want to have to report your mom’s money as being your own. That will hurt your EFC.</p>
<p>I would spend what you need to spend before reporting the balance because 20% of whatever it is goes directly to your EFC/</p>
<p>What is your normal bank account balance?</p>
<p>Consider things like buying your laptop for college now in order to deplete the funds.</p>
<p>The day you fill out your FAFSA and PROFILE should be a day when the bills have been paid and no large payables are sitting in there. Pay day is NOT a good day to fill out FAFSA, for example. You need to report the exact amount of assets you have on that day, and you can’t subtract out that payment that will be goiing out tomorrow or that money your mother stashed in there. The only exception is if you have financial aid money you deposited and left in there. If you are selected for verification purposes, you may have to come up with your statement that day you filled out the form, so don’t be playing games with the actual amount sitting there.</p>
<p>You should have a big fat zero in that account. Because every dollar you have there or in your pocket or under your bed is going to get a direct 20% hit on the EFC. Your EFC is $20 right off the bat if you have $100. What I recommend kids to do is to open a jointaccount with a parent IN THE PARENT’S social security number and use that to repay your parents for expenses and keep it as as slush fund for college costs. Your parent has an asset protection allowance which the student does not have and only 5.6% of assets over that allowance go towards the EFC. Big difference. So get that situation cleaned up before filling out the FAFSA or PROFILE. Explain how this works to your parents.</p>
<p>If you have 1000 in the bank on Monday, and you write a check for 1000 that day (but it hasn’t cleared the bank yet), what would you report on FAFSA that same day? </p>
<p>Since the mom has her own money in this kid’s acct, the family bills need to get sent out before filing FAFSA. If she’s already ordered new checks, then those should come soon. Then things will go back to normal.</p>
<p>Once you file the 2012 taxes and use the data retrieval tool, do you have to update bank balances? the parents portion asked if you had less than 45,500 (I think that was the number), so does that get updated after using the 2012 tax info as well? And the student’s bank balance as well? Thanks.</p>
<p>Assets stay the same even after all of the tax info is received. That’s why it is important that the number is as low as possible. From what I’ve been told, uncashed checks are not taken into consideration; it’s what’s actually in the account. Kelsmom could verify that one. If someone unwiitingly filed the day before a house closing and a huge amount was sitting there that makes a big difference, a professional judgement can be requested, but as a rule, they want to know what the dollar amount is on the statement that day, for ease of verification. </p>
<p>Get that account straightened out in terms of mom’s money and pay her for expenses, set up an account with her with her ssn and name first before filing FAFSA. It will save you a lot of trouble of appeals and the such to keep things straightforward.</p>
<p>When do you find out if you’ve been selected for verification?</p>
<p>Sometimes it is immediate, when the SAR processes, there is an asterisk next to your number; other times I believe notice can come through the school</p>