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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I agree OP.

Many years ago (when I was in my early 20s) I was visiting with my grandparents.   They were good friends with their next door neighbors, who had teenage kids.    I noticed that the neighbors had recently built a beautiful new addition on their home.   My grandparents told me that the neighbors did that because they needed to spend their money so their kids would qualify for more financial aid for college.
What?!?!
Is that really a "thing?"[/quote]

Yes--there's a whole industry of folks who guide UMC parents on legal ways to hide their assets for financial aid purposes.  I don't know how many people do it, but it's a thing.  People reduce their income in the year in question, they pay off their mortgage, they have the grandparents contribute to the 529 plan instead of the parents, they buy a new car right before they report their assets etc.  In some ways it could pay off, but it's pretty risky-- honestly you have to be right on the cusp, attending a private school, and willing to have your kid take on the maximum amount of federal loans, and not every school fulfills all need.   So people spend all their money trying to get financial aid and then get loans and have to cough up the money anyway.  For some percent it works out, I guess.  But each school's CSS has ways of ferreting out the tricks too.  
In general, it makes sense to time big purchases before you report assets just in case--so if you need a new car, buy it before your report your savings rather than after. But I don't think it usually makes sense in the end to make a purchase you wouldn't otherwise make in hopes  you'll get financial aid.  There's just too much uncertainty around that IMO.[/quote]

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