Paying in CA$H and FinAid

[academician2008]

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I am just wondering...

If you are poor and qualify for all types of Financial Aid, you get it all. But then you realize it is still not enough for covering all your expences. You have $15,000 saved. You decide to invest this money in yourself now, so you take $15K less from private loan.
Won't FinAid office wonder where you got the money and reduce need-based scholarships etc. then?? 😕

 

[Lshapley]

Unless you are involved in money laundering, they will know you have $15K in your savings and will likely include that as part of your EFC. The exception to this would be if you had that money squirelled away in a retirement account, which they wouldn't count towards your EFC. However, I wouldn't recommend taking the money from an IRA or 401K to pay your tuition.

 

[Twitch]

Unless you are involved in money laundering, they will know you have $15K in your savings and will likely include that as part of your EFC. The exception to this would be if you had that money squirelled away in a retirement account, which they wouldn't count towards your EFC. However, I wouldn't recommend taking the money from an IRA or 401K to pay your tuition.

The source of OP's $15k is clean. The question of money laundering does not arise since that flow is dirty->clean cash that gets injected into the system. OP is free to alter allocation into a variety of financial instruments without triggering a SAR to the guys in suits.

There are other (legal) shelters for $15k. One you mentioned, another is capital in a primary residence which doesn't count against your EFC. Regardless, $15k in any financial instrument (even unsheltered) is highly unlikely to alter EFC based on OP's stated source.


Don't worry OP. The $15k won't hurt your EFC.