<p>Will owning a bank account affect my chance of getting a need-base financial aid from colleges?</p>
<p>depends how much money is is the bank account.</p>
<p>Basically , need-based aid is based on student’s income & parent’s income --and basically it have to be below $50,000 a year for a PELL grant and some other types of grants .</p>
<p>On the FAFSA , if the income is below $50,000 for the parents ( I think ) , they do not have to list assets. ( like a checking account amount ) . </p>
<p>But the school may have their own financial aid forms ( supplementary ) that will ask if you pay for private school tuitions for other children, own other properties , have a lot of stocks and bonds, ect . But generally , public colleges do not ask for this information .</p>
<p>Both FAFSA and Profile require that you submit Parent’s income, Student’s income, Parent’s assets, and Student’s assets (‘liquid’ assets such as cash, checking accounts, savings accounts, bonds, stocks, etc). And a ton of other info.</p>
<p>So yes, they do require the info. Unless you qualify for the Simplified Needs Test (parent’s AGI under 50K and not required to file regular 1040):</p>
<p><a href=“http://finaid.org/educators/needs.phtml[/url]”>http://finaid.org/educators/needs.phtml</a></p>
<p>then any money you have in a bank account is going to increase your EFC, and decrease your potential aid.</p>
<p>Parents get an Asset Protection Allowance (APA), typically around 45K, and liquid assets up to that amount don’t get counted in the formula. Students don’t get an APA.</p>