<p>Does it really matter if I have a couple of hundred of dollars in my bank account? (I am a high school student). Will this lower my financial aid? Also, for my parent's bank accounts too,( They have around $6000) after how much would it actually affect the amount of financial aid I receive? </p>
<p>There is an asset protection allowance for your parents…and $6000 is well below the protected amount. But total,assets are considered. Is the savings their only asset?</p>
<p>Your $600 will not add to your family contribution in a huge way, if at all.</p>
<p>If YOU have $600 in YOUR bank account in YOUR name or on your person, that is at least $120 (20%) automatically on your FAFSA EFC for starters. For PROFILE schools, it could be more–I see 30% in formulas a lot of times. So, I suggest you spend it down or repay your parents for expenses and they can set up an account for you (joint even with your name and ssn secondary) so it’s counted as parental assets which has an asset protection allowance and only hit up at 5.6% under the FAFSA formula.</p>
<p>It’s a high school checking account under Chase. I assume it is under my parents’ assets? (I’m sorry I’m doing this for the first time and by myself) </p>
<p>Cpto…where have you seen Profile formulas? Just asking!</p>
<p>Spend it on something meaningful/necessary. As a college freshman, I had aid money left on my account from fall semester. Wasn’t sure if it’d be counted so I spent it all on the spring '15 bill; should get a refund when spring aid kicks in, but will have filed Fafsa by then. Better to be safe than sorry lol</p>
<p>I do not think they counted my son’s 2K in savings bonds when they calculated need-based FA, he appeared to get the maximum loans and a decent merit package.</p>
<p>Bonds which actually have your child’s name on them should be reported as belonging to the child, as would a bank account.</p>
<p>I felt no need for a bank account until I was old enough to have my own apartment.</p>
<p>@rhandco Merit aid and direct loans aren’t affected by financial info, but grants (whether fed/state/institutional) are.</p>
<p>I Saw some PROFILE figures of some schools at various times. JHU uses 30% of student assets as part of the expected contribution–more than the FAFSA 20% . UCHicago used to take the student assets from the first year and project them for the next 3 years even if they are less, no reduction only increases from that initial figure… I don’t have any school’s exact PROFILE numbers, but if you plug in student assets and play around with NPCs you can get some idea. PROFILE does do some things differently with the student expected contribution. They often start with a baseline figure and add to it based on student assets. Also, some school will count 529 funds owned by the student as a student asset, not the parents, which is different from what the FAFSA formula does. </p>
<p>$600 as a student asset will give the student a $120 EFC right off the bat unless the family qualifies for an auto zero or posssibly a simplified means test. The formula is a direct 20% of student assets with NO protection allowance. How PROFILE schools or any particular schools choose to use the info is a whole other story. But I do know that some are far more onerous on any given situation than FAFSA is in terms of expected contributions…</p>
<p>cptofthehouse: How much is the asset protection for parents? I’m assuming that home equity is included? I didn’t have to list my vehicle on the CSS (which I did in October for EA) but I did just do it for a supplement on the CSS for a particular RD school. We only have one vehicle and its a lease that I’m ending in August so I hope they don’t count it as an asset which I think would be around $25K. Our first sacrifice in the college finances is going back to a used, paid-for-by-cash, vehicle at that time. </p>
<p>Lilliana, if your money in the bank was student financial aid money, it is not counted on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>The student should consider putting the money in a 529 account so that it is counted as a parent asset instead of a student asset.</p>
<p>Have you estimated your FAFSA EFC? </p>
<p>Thumper is right about any money in an account that is left over from scholarship or financial aid including work study earnings. That is not counted in student assets. </p>
<p>As for how much of an asset protection allowance parents have, it depends upon the age of the older parent and number of dependents, and whether its a single parent or both. </p>
<p>You can play around with EFC and NPC estimators and see what makes differences in the variables.</p>
<p>Thanks, I thought it was most likely variable but wasn’t sure.</p>
<p>NEPats…the asset protection allowance we are talking about is for the FAFSA. For all I know, there is NO asset protection for Profile schools.</p>
<p>Thanks Thumper, appreciate the input.</p>
<p>@thumper1 @cptofthehouse Ahh good to know, thanks!</p>
<p>How do I know if it is a student asset or parent’s asset? It’s under my parents’ name. Like it’s a subcategory of their account so is this their assets not mine? </p>
<p>There is a lot of discussion about this. The way it works with banks is that if an account is joint, the first name and SSN gets issued the 1099 for any interest on an account. So the ownership of the account is considered that person’s. It’s a gray area for FAFSA, but they tend to go by tax files when it comes to audit, so a parental account with the student name as secondary can be considered the parent’s. That is what I have seen in three cases where it came down to verification and an audit. It’s rare that it comes down to that level, and I’ve only known about 9 cases over 30 years that have been so verified and audited. But it passed muster in the three cases I have known.</p>
<p>So should I report it as mine or add to my parents? It’s a checking account, by the way. I’m really confused. Thank you for your help.</p>