We make monthly payments to our mortgage lender for property taxes and insurance. Is this account included as an asset on the FAFSA? Thank you!
Good question. I don’t know if I did it right or not, but in the past I’ve included the (minimal) interest earned on the escrow account as income, but I have not reported the account balance as an asset. Even though the account balance at any one time may be thousands of dollars, I haven’t ever seen any guidance from FAFSA (or CSS for that matter) that funds held in escrow by a mortgage company should be reported as an asset for financial aid purposes.
I very much doubt anyone does, nor do I think people include their security deposits for apartments, HOA dues paid in advance, the deposit at the electric company. In fact, I doubt many people include the security deposit the university is holding for the dorm.
I never do as that money has been earmarked and you don’t have direct control even it belongs to you. It is kind of like HSA account that I do not report either.