Total cash, savings, etc

[physiologyguy]

I am sure someone has answered this before. If I have money in the bank, but i also have 40,000 plus in governments loans (and like 1,000 in bank), should i report 1,000 or 0? It says on the FAFSA to report all cash, savings, checking, DO NOT INCLUDE financial aid.

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[GeraldMonroe]

Some people say that if the money in the bank was loan money, it doesn't count, and you can put 0. This is probably legal.

In your case, that's irrelevant, because any dollar amount below around 5-10k does not affect your EFC (expected family contribution). I would just report the 1,000 in the bank. Just type in the exact balance on the day you do your FAFSA.

At the end of the FAFSA, right before you submit it, it tells you what your EFC is. As long as that's 0, there's no need to fool around with how to report the bank balance.

 

[TMP-SMX]

If you've had 40k in loans, you spent the 1k of money that was actually yours a long long time ago. Your assets are a bit fat 0 for the FAFSA. (More like -39k).