I have a small business that is worth nothing. It can’t be sold, etc. It’s a service business. So the value for the CSS profile is whatever is in the business bank account.
My question is: do colleges typically have a ‘set aside’ for value of small business, or is every dollar there treated like a dollar in a personal bank account? I could understand if colleges allowed for some level of protection, ie didn’t count the first 10k or 50k or 100k since selling your business to pay for college would be self defeating. But not sure.
I’m asking because I usually move the majority of the money in my business account into my personal account on a regular basis. But I could keep it there for a few months if it would help - I could use the help. TY~
Small businesses have to reported now on FAFSA as well as CSS Profile. In CSS, if colleges set aside a certain amount for a small business, that would vary by school I expect. I would call each school’s financial aid department and ask them what they want there. Note on the following thread (focused on FAFSA) that the OP received different answers from the schools. @politeperson@kelsmom@belknappoint@twoin18?
How do you file the business taxes? And in particular are you doing quarterly withholding (eg Sch C) or paying yourself through payroll? If the former then there’s no reason you can’t overwithhold just before the relevant FAFSA/CSS calculation date, to reduce your assets. If the latter then money in your bank account is post tax, so will be less than the pre-tax money in the business’s bank account.
But the difference to your EFC may be very modest (hundreds to low thousands of dollars).
From what you’ve said it sounds like Sch C, and the business value is probably equal to the bank balance. Some colleges may count that, others may not.