<p>when the form asks for how much money u have as cash, savings and checking accounts? u could just not report the cash part right? cause how is someone suppose to know how much cash i have stashed away?</p>
<p>I believe they have their ways of determining that…besides, what about the ethicality issues? And if you are caught you can jeopardize not only the aid you receive, but also your admission.
The only advice I have is to spend down your cash on things you know you will NEED, not want, over the next year or so, before filling out the form. Items such as computers or a more reliable car,etc. I’m even pre-paying some of my more or less fixed expenses ie rent, utilities, even my dentist. Good luck…cash isn’t the worst problem you can have. Honesty is always the best policy.</p>
<p>do certified deposits count in that section also??</p>
<p>meaning CDs? yes</p>
<p>If you have cash in a shoebox, then yes the schools will probably never know unless you tell them. If a school does learn of it, it could be viewed as fraud. On the other hand, if youve had the cash in an interest bearing acct, then some financial institution is going to send you a present shortly called a 1099 and then the schools will eventually find out.</p>
<p>If you are audited, any accounts you have may be investigated. With that paper trail, yes, you can be caught. As Jugulaor20 notes, cash with no statements, no paper trail is not likely to be discovered.</p>
<p>but if you spend the cash it might somehow be traceable…depends what you spend it on</p>
<p>If you have cash in a shoebox, and don’t report it, that’s fraud. A lie. Theft of financial aid you are not entitled to. A federal crime. Regardless of how hard you try to hide it, someone else will know about it, maybe a friend, a relative, a possible someday ex- gf or bf, who may have incentive to rat you out or hold it over you somehow. You’ll be nervous about it and (hopefully) feel guilty about it for the rest of your life. What kind of person are you that you will sell out your integrity so cheaply?</p>
<p>It’s just not worth it. Do the right thing and report it or spend it down before you file.</p>
<p>coolcool: you are right, theoretically no one could trace the hidden cash, but it is just wrong. There are plenty of ways to minmize assets legitimately for FAFSA which do not require you to “live a lie.” Plus a few hundred or even thousand dollars under your mattress are not going to make a big difference in your aid. Spending the money on things you would need anyway, BEFORE you report for FAFSA is the proper way to maximize your eligibility.</p>
<p>Be smart and be honest.</p>
<p>Most of your EFC comes from your income - assets are only counted 5% or so. You should do the moral thing and report your money. Colleges can figure out who has lots of cash in banks from the amount of interest you have earned over the year. I think my cash earned a whopping 11.00$ in interest last year. LOL ;)</p>
<p>“Most of your EFC comes from your income - assets are only counted 5% or so.”</p>
<p>True for the parents’ income and assets. AND, parents get an asset protection allowance (around 40K, depending on age of older parent, and number of parents) before the assets get assessed. So for many families, parental assets won’t count toward the EFC at all.</p>
<p>But the formula treats student’s assets much more severely, 20 - 25% depending on Profile or FAFSA, and it counts from dollar 1. So a student with 2K in savings will increase his FAFSA EFC by $500, and reduce his potential aid by the same amount.</p>
<p>If you spend down prior to completing the aid forms, keep a good record of where the money went in case you’re asked.</p>
<p>Also-- this would be a good time to pay off any debt you may have.</p>
<p>will schools be suspicious if you say a student has 0 in savings? My son (the future college student) had a job and made all of 900 last year. After the prom and clothes and whatnot, it’s all gone. The only other thing he has is about 1K in savings bonds. How often to teenagers have alot of $$ in the bank. I guess they could have generous relatives or run a business or work yearround, but that must be a small minority, right?</p>
<p>OTOH, asking about a parents assets can be misleading too. I’m ultra frugal (okay, cheap) so I have some $$ saved. But I wish they would ask you what kind of car you drive (the CSS does, the FAFSA doesn’t). I don’t have a any debt (besides my affordable house) no fancy tv, no video game, don’t eat out. Why should we get penalized for living BELOW my means.</p>
<p>0 in savings, $100 in checking is pretty normal for students on FAFSA day, if it is timed right.</p>
<p>There are compromises in the FA system to enable it to work without too much complexity. One of the compromises is that it asks about cash, savings and investments but not about the value or necessity of personal possessions. You are right, this clearly penalizes parental frugality, but to take it further would be more intrusive than most families would tolerate.</p>
<p>The CSS Profile asks about the kind of cars driven only for a very small number of schools that have opted to require it as one of the optional Section Q questions. This is a hint of what it would be like to have schools sniffing about to see how a family spends its money. I know MIT asks this, there may be others.</p>
<p>harvard asked it, but he was deferred for EA 
It’s almost comical to be applying for schools where the price of admission is equal to my yearly salary!</p>