mom2collegekids

Yes, the justification seems to be that students' money should go towards education. However, that's just not a real expectation. There should be some protected amount so that students can have a few thousand set aside for: broken phone, car repair, broken computer, etc.

I just think it's bad to encourage kids to spend all their savings...or resort to financial gymnastics by giving it to parents as a "pay back" and then parents holding it for them.

rmldad

I agree that this is an awful policy. My high school senior will get the money she has earned this year included for FA calculations and then this same money will get included again when her savings are listed.

It seems that they expect families to "resort to financial gymnastics" by double-taxing money this way.

whifang

my dad has a small business company and my mom said i should transfer the $10k to the company as "investment". this should be fine right?

sry to reply so late, i just moved in to my dorm and had to work.

rmldad

If you legitimately invest the money in your dad's company, you would list still need to include it as an asset. However, shares of small, privately-held companies are notoriously hard to value. These investments typically decline in value from the initial investment amount since sale of the shares is limited. Thus, your $10k cash might be worth only$6-8k as this investment.

However, if your "investment" means loaning dad $10k for four years to get the money out of your account, then you must list the loan as an asset at face value (plus accrued interest).