Can you get in trouble for exagerrating facts or leaving out facts on your fafsa to boost financial aid?

Question

I will be going through FAFSA obviously. For hypothetical, my parents are still married and together they earn $90,000, if I only list my mother's income which is $30,000, is that a bad choice to make? I'm just upset how I already know FAFSA is going to offer loans, because they have a middle-class income, too much to qualify for grants and yet, they can't pay a private school tuition up front. Then, I hear about these freeloaders spending their financial aid on superficial, materialistic things. DAMN THEM! thanks for your help!

Answer 1

You can try anything but the big computer cross checks then if you get popped for fraud . . . try getting out of that.
I once , honestly, forgot to list the income from cashing in a $50 savings bond & the computer caught it 2 years later.
But go ahead and try it & let us know how it flies.

Answer 2

Yes you can get into a lot of trouble with the FBI fraud division. I have seen students try to put divorsed or separated on the fafsa to not list a spouse and I have seen divorsed parents not put their new spouse on the FAFSA for their child, how do I know about these I caught them and had to fix them. You may be surprised what the private schools offer you in private scholarships as they are endowments that they give to students based on grades and how much they want the student but you still have to complete your FAFSA to apply.

I am a financial aid director and I hate seeing my tax money go to students who do not work hard for their money and will probably never get a great paying job because they have no desire while when I was in college my mom a single mother of 3 with income of 45000 could not get me to qualify for a Pell Grant my senior year of college go figure that one!

Answer 3

Yes, damn them! Just don't "become" them!

Financial aid applications are legal documents and being deliberately deceitful can get you into trouble. What kind of trouble? The financial aid offices don't just "take your word for it". These numbers for income are part of public record (IRS, Social Security, etc.) They get verified, as you also have to submit copies of your parent's tax returns with these forms.

Even if you were able to get past them the first time around and manage to get financial aid based on false information, if they later find out that you obtained this money fraudulently, they could bring criminal charges and require you to pay all the money back, with interest and penalties, and forfeit your college.

You don't want this . . . it follows you the rest of your life. It is easier and better to work and pay for your own education, even if it takes longer to do so, than to be one of "them!"

Damn them!

Answer 4

Yes, its fraud and they can make you pay back what you got, on top of any other charges that apply. You think its unfair to hear about people freeloading? Imagine how it feels to be all on your own trying to pay for college with no help at all, hearing about people with parents that could foot the bill of a communtiy college (oh, you poor thing) trying to scam the system to pay for private school? I hope you use some of that intelligence and don't start your education with the possibility of being caught up in fraud, not to mention taking resources from others when it would be all they had.

Answer 5

Be truthful.

Apply to the schools you most want. Private schools have more ability to provide their own financial aid than public schools do. Of course, if you've worked very hard to achieve, that can be helpful.

By the way, there are some really fabulous inexpensive schools.

Answer 6

It won't have any bearing on what your parents make as its you the FAFSA is interested in as you're the one who wants and needs the money. You have to answer all questions.