Fed Financial
Does financial aid have an impact on how I file taxes?
I want to apply for financial aid for college but I have concerns. I'm worried because even though I'm married, I file single to get my earned income tax credit. I use a different address and my husband files single also( he makes too much money for us to get earned income credit). Also should I use my current address( we own this house together)? I have been told by friends to apply for financial aid as single also. Does anyone know if that's a good idea or not? How soes financial aid work anyway? do they check everything with a magnifying glass? I just want to go to college.
Public Comments
- Yes, if you pay for school by yourself, you can get more money back on your taxes, but if you have financial aid or loans, you wont get as much back
- They check very very well. Be careful
- I can give you some basic information based on my experience applying for financial aid when I went to university. I had no dependents and was single, paying everything (tuition, apartment, utilities, etc.) myself. I did not own a house, car, or anything else of real value. Still, because I actually had some savings in the bank, I received no financial aid then. In the succeeding years, I received scholarship money (not full tuition) because I maintained excellent grades. As time went on, my savings in the bank decreased because of paying for living expenses. Still, I was so responsible with what I had saved, that I was never broke...and for that reason I did not receive financial aid. Toward the end of my university degree, I asked someone in financial how much money in the bank had kept me from receiving financial aid. Answer: Any money. The message was that because I had any savings at all, I was denied financial aid. In other words, I was penalised for having been financially responsible before coming to school. Had I instead wasted all of my savings before applying for university, then I probably would have received financial aid.
- You are required to file as married filing separately and to file your financial aid married filing separately as well. It is illegal to file as a single UNLESS you were divorced or unmarried on the last day of last year. Further, if you do not qualify with his income, it is a criminal offense to claim it as though you were not married. If the Federal government ever realizes you were married not only do you have to repay it with a 1% per month penalty and 1% per month interest (24% per year much higher than most credit cards) you are banned from receiving for 10 years in the future even if you legally qualified for it. You may also be liable for criminal sanctions. Financial aid rolls off your tax returns and your personal records. They check all of your resources such as bank accounts, brokerage accounts, homes and other resources. The US Department of Education creates a number for you, say 6000. They then establish a cutoff number based upon Congresses' approved budget. The number determines how much of the Congressionally approved budget you are eligable for. The school then applies its own mechanism on top of the Federal one. They collect more info, in most cases, than the Feds do and they communicate to one another. If you apply for financial aid as a single, you are committing a criminal act. You need to find a CPA to help you bail out of the mess you have put yourself into. On the other hand, married people with children get higher financial aid.
- Everything OPM said is correct. Please don't lie. It can not only get you in trouble, but it also makes it harder on other students who are trying to get financial aid (now and in the future). The reason that your Financial Aid Office looks at things with a magnifying glass is *because* so many people have tried to cheat the system. Don't be one of those people.
