will this ruin my chance?

Paying for College
1

<p>okay, so unfortunately when I was younger one of my great Uncles’ passed away and left all of his nieces and nephews some money for college (i don’t think sharing the amount is necessary but if it is then I will consider it but i’ll say this much…it isn’t just a couple hundred dollars). I’m just wondering will this ruin my chance for aid? I mean it’s not like my parents or I earned it and I saved it. Plus, my mom makes next to nothing with her substiute teachers-aid job and my dad passed away last March so Financial Aid will be needed no matter what. My mom keeps saying it won’t harm my chances of getting good aid but she doesn’t seem to know much about the college process so I am coming here for help. Thanks.</p>

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<p>This is all in relation to need-based aid.</p>

<p>In my experience what will happen is more or less this: schools will look at the amount of money held in your name, which presumably includes your inheritance, and divide it by 4. They will expect you to contribute about 25% of it each year to your undergraduate education. (I think this is perfectly reasonable.) They will also look at your family income and assets. If your family owns a second home, for example, they may also expect your family to contribute 25% of its value each year. </p>

<p>They will make a determination regarding how much your family’s income and assets should be expected to contribute above the funds held in your name, less a reasonable contribution from your personal earnings over the summer, and possibly a work study job during the year. Some schools will give you outright grants to cover the difference, some will combine grants and loans, some will leave you with a gap that must be covered by family loans and/or outside scholarships, some won’t. </p>

<p>This will be recalculated each year, depending on income, number of kids in college, etc. Some schools will look at the value of your personal assets again, some won’t, or may only be willing to do so once. (So it may be advantageous to cash out of investments now, rather than risk losing money htat the school expects you to have available.)</p>

<p>So, in sum, schools assessing need-based aid will expect you to contribute your inheritance towards college expenses, but it will not preclude you from getting aid unless it is something like $200,000: enough to pay for school all by itself. (In which case be very grateful that you have it! In fact, be very glad you have it no matter how much it is.)</p>

3

<p>Thanks so much! That makes sense and 25% a year sounds perfectly reasonable.</p>

<p>Also, I wish it was $200,000 dollars. Haha. But I’ll take what I have. Thanks again!</p>

4

<p>Your mom may be right! For FAFSA schools, the value of her inheritance assets may not be a factor if she/you meet the qualifications for the simplified needs or automatic zero EFC. If her income is low it’s a fair bet that you will. The qualifications can be found in this document:</p>

<p><a href=“https://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111609EFCFormulaGuide20102011.pdf[/url]”>https://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111609EFCFormulaGuide20102011.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;