<p>Spend the money on college essentials and desirables or let some trustworthy person (parents, uncle etc.) hold it.
or hold it in cash (loose interest income) and never put that amount back in a bank account.</p>
<p>Don’t let your parents hold it. It comes back to haunt you when they look at paperwork.</p>
<p>Grandparents are best bet.</p>
<p>If they ask where it is, tell them you lost it gambling. :)</p>
<p>“I am now playing with the efc calculator and got it to give me my current exact efc. I add 90K of savings and my efc is the same.”</p>
<p>Your family probably qualifies for the simplified needs test, were assets are ignored if parent’s AGI is under 50K and they can file short form taxes.</p>
<p>BTW, OP’s concerns may be unfounded if his/her parents qualify for the simplified needs test.</p>