Fed Financial

Do people lie on FAFSA and financial aid to get more money?

My dad told me to lie on my FAFSA so that we would get more money. I refused and now my parents are paying huge bucks to send me to college. We are basically going to be poor now. Should I remake a FAFSA and lie on the form to get more money? Do a lot of people do it?

Public Comments

1. Never lie on FAFSA because if you and your family get audited, you could be in for some major major problems with the federal government. With that said, do a lot of people lie on FAFSA? Yeeaaap. I went to a good university and because I didn't lie on my FAFSA, I was in the same boat as you with my parents paying a %$#@load and me feeling guilty for TELLING the bloody TRUTH. And yeah, my family definitely could have used the help at the time. Meanwhile, we had kids who bragged about 'scholarships' (and these were need-based scholarships, mind!) and drove around campus in Lexus cars, Mercedes cars, and BMWs. It sucks that people lie because when THEY lie, the kids who REALLY REALLY need the money to get to school - and that could include YOU - don't get it because the government only has so much to give. It's a moral issue. A grey area to most people. A bunch of people do it. Most people don't see how it's 'wrong' so therefore it must be 'all right'. But it is wrong in my eyes because it's taking advantage of a system that was designed to help people who were truly IN NEED. I get angry thinking of how I scrimped and pinched and worked parttime as a fulltime student to help pay for my own pocket money and expenses because the government wouldn't give me aid while the rich kids bragged about their 'scholarships' and their BMWs, BUT... I then remember my best friend from university whose family was truly impoverished and I remember how financial aid let her achieve her dream of going to university and then going on to even higher education. I remember how much it meant to her and I can grin about the unfairness of it all.