<p>My family is in the income bracket of 120,000 - 140,000 and has a significant amount of assets. However my dad has told me that many of the assets are unaccessable and that he would rather not dissolve those that are accessable to pay for college. How significant are assets in consideration for financial aid? Do colleges consider the accesibility of assets when making a decision?</p>
<p>Colleges <em>can</em> consider individual circumstances when it comes to distributing their own financial aid funds. It’s their money and they can do what they want with it. You would have to declare those assets and then make a case for why they are inaccessbile. Keep in mind, though, that the reason for not accessing them would probably have to be a really good reason and not just that your father “would rather not”. Also, even if they are presently inaccessible for a compelling reason, they would still at the end of the day be assets you family has, where another family needing aid would not.</p>
<p>But all you can do is ask. It never hurts to make your case and see how it works out. Your family income is pretty high, though, so there may not be much aid forthcoming in any case unless you’re talking about Harvard/Princeton/Yale.</p>
<p>We’ve been around in circles with the asset question…in our case a trust that is real estate. We have been told by FAFSA folks that each beneficiary of the trust MUST declare their portion of the value of the property whether or not they have access to the value. </p>
<p>We’ve also inquired about other assets. As noted above, all assets MUST be reported, and you can’t decided not to do so just because they are not available for college use. For example, if your parents have $200,000 in a regular savings or CD, they are required to report this amount as an asset on the FAFSA (and Profile if the school uses it). If there is a compelling reason why this money can’t be used (e.g. handicapped parent that needs the interest for longterm health care), then you would present this to the school as a special circumstance. “My parents don’t want to use this money” would most likely not be considered a special circumstance by the colleges.</p>
<p>Now…if the money is IN retirement accounts (TSA, IRA for example), the balance IN those accounts would not be considered as an asset for financial aid purposes in most cases. These balances are not even listed on the FAFSA. BUT the amount contributed during the tax year for the specific FAFSA IS added back in as income on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>You need to have a serious talk with your parents about what amount of money they are willing to spend on your college education each year. Do this now…before you even send in an application. Every year many students post here who have NOT had this discussion prior to college and they are very disappointed when their parents put financial limits on in the end. Personally, I think it’s better to know up front. You certainly can apply to more expensive schools, but at least you will KNOW what your family intends to contribute towards the costs.</p>
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And this makes him different than anyone else . . . how? I don’t know anyone who would “rather” dissolve their assets. But those are what everyone must tap into to pay for college.</p>