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Does having a house affect getting Financial Aid?

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 7:22 pm
by polyester
My parents recently bought a house in my name, but I basically have no money.

I was wondering if this house will factor into me not getting financial need based grants because even though the house is in my name, I contributed 0$ to it, and it is not indicative of my wealth at all.

Re: Does having a house affect getting Financial Aid?

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 7:24 pm
by sethc
polyester wrote:My parents recently bought a house in my name, but I basically have no money.

I was wondering if this house will factor into me not getting financial need based grants because even though the house is in my name, I contributed 0$ to it, and it is not indicative of my wealth at all.

I was sort of in the same boat once, but not exactly. This is kinda a quasi-legal advice type of question, to be honest. In other words, don't take what anyone tells you on here about this as gospel (or anything else, for that matter). If I were you, I'd just call FAFSA and get connected to the right person and ask them. You don't need to reveal your identity to them before asking something like this. If they insist, just hang up and try again. I'd also ask your undergrad FA office this if I were you. They're likely not to care about telling you the truth because, basically, they got what they needed from you & you're on your way out.

If you're the non-confrontational type, try the email route. It's a little less anonymous, but you can still protect yourself.

Having said that, I'm 99% sure you can't get grants for law school. "Grants" are typically government-funded $$$ that you don't have to pay back.. so as far as FAFSA goes, this ain't gonna effect how much you get because you can only get loans (if I'm right). As far as scholarships and other school-specific cost-breaks, you'll need to contact the individual school to see how they work.

Hope that helps.