<p>It seems like asset protection is around $40-$50,000 so if you have $80,000 sitting in the bank and you can pay off consumer debt, that should help in either FM or IM, though a Profile school may ask about those cars, etc.</p>
<p>And yes, paying down any HELOC would be good, as you can reaccess that money- unless your bank is one of the ones freezing it.</p>
<p>Run your own version of the formula to see if you are even eligible for aid- Pell/ACG/SMART and then any state grants. If not it is ot worth it to run your accounts down when you need the money for college. However if you are so borderline that say, paying off a car would make you eligible for a small Pell grant which makes you a candidate for ACG, the ACG is $600-700 the first year, about $1300 the second year and if your student is a math science kid with a strong GPA, another $4k per year, even if the PEll grant is small.</p>
<p>Therefore, if that one pay down would make you eligible for a Pell, you can add on almost $10k in ACG/SMART IF IF IF your student would qualify. It is probably a small percentage of students who are eligible for those and who have income low enough to qualify for a Pell and who also have assets other than home equity which would put them over the benchmark.</p>