Effect of home owning on financial aid Forum

[MandyNC]

Does anyone know what owning a house does to your EFC in financial aid? We're looking at buying a cheap investment house for while I'm in ls. Money for a down payment and co-signers mean we're paying less than we'd pay for rent, but I'm wondering if the government assumes you have a mad flood of cash if you own a home. Even then, can you just use the grad plus loans to make up any difference?

Curious if anyone has experience with this. Thanks.

[gmichaelbluth]

I don't remember them asking about current home value for FAFSA--I do recall a question about the value of real estate you own that is NOT your primary residence. I think the Need Access form requests some information about your current home value though, so that could potentially have some impact on the results.

[unbeknownst]

bump

How about for a principal residence? That I will have to rent out when school starts?

[secant]

My recollection is that you include real estate as an investment but exclude the home you live in.

[sarahd]

You do exclude the home you live in...it is not considered for the purpose of financial aid one way or the other.

So, for this year that would be your current home...which would then be an investment property for the purpose of next year's FAFSA.