What's in your wallet? How much cash and credit card debt do you have?

[Xmulder]

As I look through the FAFSA and other financial aid applications, two critical questions are:

1) How much you have in cash, savings, checkings accounts

and

2) How much credit card debt do you have?

How much are people putting down as their balances? I have heard that schools like to see little to none in outstanding credit card debt. What is considered high, reasonable, or low?

What about cash? Since schools have no way to verify this information, do many ppl underestimate (lowball) their assets? If so, do schools take this into account and "adjust" accordingly to estimate the real cash level? I'm not that lucky to have huge savings to lowball, but am just wondering how schools look at this since the figure looks so prone to abuse....??

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[mpp]

Lying on a financial aid application is probably not the best way to start off your medical career...I'm sure there are people that do it, but I'm not sure the reason. Everyone will be eligible for $38,500 in low-interest Stafford loans.

As far as debt, it is used to determine your EFC which is used to determine the amount of subsidized Stafford loans (up to a maximum of $8,500) and any need-based institutional aid for which you may qualify.

 

[gwyn779]

Hmm, I never had to put down credit card debt on an application. Of course, I was so proud when I finally paid off all my credit cards last month (mostly 2 trips to Europe). Then I had to pay for the stupid f***ing Step 2 exams and promptly put $1400 back on.