inspiredbymusic

In the process of reviewing financial aid documents for a possible appeal, I realized that I did not answer the question regarding parent total current balance of cash, savings, and checking accounts. I didn't enter '0,' it is just left blank.

The actual balance of parent checking and savings that day was a couple thousand (depending on whether it's beginning of the day or end of day balance) including a deposit from son's UTMA account used to pay his tuition and rent.

Now I'm panicked because I didn't submit this information on FAFSA.

I'm guessing that I was waiting to get the balances on the exact day I submitted and then, in a rush to submit it, forgot to ever enter the amount.

But could there have been some other reason I left it blank? Is it possible I wasn't required to answer this question for some reason?

Any help appreciated.

swimcatsmom

It's possible. Sometimes you are not required to answer asset questions on FAFSA if you qualify for the simplified needs test (AGI <$50k plus some other criteria) or automatic 0 EFC (AGI<$23k plus some other criteria). If you were eligible for one of these, you would have skipped all asset questions, not just bank balances.

I think they also ask if your assets are over a certain amount (based on asset protection which is based on the number of parents and age of the older parent) and may let you skip the asset questions if you are under that number. We live in a state that does not allow the skipping the asset questions, so I am not sure on that one. (some states require the asset info even if it is not required for the FAFSA EFC calculation - ours is one though I have no idea why as the small state grant is based on EFC)

inspiredbymusic

Thanks, swimcatsmom.
Do you know if there's a way to check this?
If I logged in to FAFSA to make corrections, could I see instructions that said I could skip this question? And then just log out again if I don't actually need to make corrections?

I'm panicked because I don't want to have incorrect info on the FAFSA.

inspiredbymusic

Bumping.
Does anyone know if there's a way to tell, after FAFSA has been completed, whether or not you were required to answer the question about parent cash, checking, and savings?

Kdog044

If you log in to FAFSA and choose the option to make corrections you can go to the "Financial Information" tab and scroll to the bottom. The last section should say something like the following:

On the day you submitted your FAFSA, did the total amount of your parents' current assets exceed $XX,XXX?

If the answer is no, then you did not need to worry about the question regarding cash, savings and checking account information.

P.S. Yes, you can review this and not change anything (i.e. just log out) and it will not save a new copy. Just make sure you don't select "save" but select "exit" and "ok".

inspiredbymusic

Thanks so much!

baystateresident

Inspiredbymusic- yes, I think that was the first year that the FAFSA asked "did the total amount of your parents assets total $55,000 (or some amount like that)?" If the answer was no, it skipped you past all of the asset questions. The FAFSA this year seemed more simple and streamlined.