<p>I will be starting college this fall and my financial aid package consists of a state grant, Pell grant, university grant, and few government loan.</p>
<p>My parents opened a debit card/account with my name (but still under their bank account) and put money into it. Will my aid get reduced?</p>
<p>Also, if my parents decide to contribute more than the stated EFC amount. Will my aid get reduced/affected in any way?</p>
<p>Thanks in advanced</p>
<p>How much are your parents putting IN that account? If you will be spending that prior to completing your FAFSA and Profile for next year…don’t worry.</p>
<p>Many families open joint accounts with their kids, and deposit money into it for costs related to college. Is that what your parents are doing?</p>
<p>If the money is in an account that is in their name and their social security number, then it is reported as their assets on the day that they fill out FAFSA or other financial aid forms. The asset information is a snap shot of the assets on the day FAFSA is completed, so anyone who is filling out that form should make sure to pick a day when the checks have cleared and there is not an artifically large amount sitting in the account waiting to be doled out for something. Because if audited, it doesn’t matter if it was an earmarked amount. You list all assets on that day. So you don’t file on pay day or when there is money in that account pending for a large payment. </p>
<p>Since the account willl be in your parents name, under their SS number, the amount in there on the day they fill out Fafsa will be hit up 5.6% if over their asset allowance. If it were under your name, it would get hit up 20% and you, as a student, get NO aseet allowance. </p>
<p>And, no, it does not matter if your parents’ contribute more than the stated EFC amount. Your next year’s EFC will be based primarily on your parents’ income as reported on the 2013 IRS form as AGI, and any assets you or your parents have on the day you fill out the form. What your parents give you or you to them is not reported anywhere for FAFSA purposes.</p>
<p>I’ve already filled FAFSA at the beginning of the year and gotten my aid estimate along with my acceptance.</p>
<p>They’re putting in about a thousand for food, books, or any other emergency necessities during college. And yeah I’m pretty sure it is a joint account since the money transfers from their account (they’re not depositing part of their paycheck or putting in money unaccounted for on FAFSA). I was worried that my aid would be affected because I can now freely spend that money (since money of the student is more heavily counted against me).</p>
<p>Under what circumstances will they reduce my aid?</p>
<p>Your aid for this year is based on the FAFSA you filed last January (or whenever). Nothing that happens NOW impacts this year’s aid.</p>
<p>You need to be clear, though, as to exactly whose name is on that account . . . because it will make a difference the NEXT time you file FAFSA (in January 2014). If there’s a bunch of money sitting in an account in YOUR name, you’re going to want to transfer it over to your parents before you file, so it shows up as THEIR asset and not yours. If the account you’re using is under your parents’ names already, then you don’t need to worry about it - it would be declared as their asset on next year’s FAFSA, and not yours.</p>
<p>But, again, none of this matters until the NEXT time you file FAFSA. So, for right now, you’re fine.</p>
<p>Your aid will not be reduced because of this for THIS year. The only circumstance that I can think about that can get that aid reduced is if verification shows other assets unreported on the day you and your parents filled out the FAFSA, or the tax returns do not jibe with the FAFSA numbers, again, upon verification. Tax info has to match what was put on the FAFSA and if some numbers were guesses and estimates and what was put on the 1040s differ, your aid amounts can change. But that is 2012 tax year info; nothing you do this year affects that.</p>
<p>As for next year, you need to know for sure whose SSN is account is under. That’s what matters. If it’s your parents as primary, and you as secondary, that’s fine. Otherwise it’s your account and you have to report what’s in it as an asset on the day you fill out next year’s FAFSA which is not available until January 2014.</p>