Pay your student loans...or suffer the consequences

Did you know you can get shot for not paying off your student loans? Well, you can if you hav a whacky spouse...most of you have that part of the equation already.

Woman shoots husband over IRS refund; gets 18 years in prison

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_8174382

On a happier note, if you have kids,or are going to school youself, now is the time to ge that 2008-2009 FAFSA done. If you are waiting until you file your tax returns...don't. Most schools set priority dates for how they treat their needy students. The folks that get their FASFAs in the earliest have best shot at getting campus based grants. The FAFSA allows you estimate your information, so I'd recommend doing just that. You can always go back and adjust the numbers once you file.

If you have one of those saving plans for your kids (529 or some other state fund) awesome for you. If you gave your kid a ton of cash or they inherited a much of money from a family member or have some sort of trust fund...BAD!!! NO NO NO!! The reason being is that those show as student assets; and since I know no one would ever dream of committing fraud by failing to report money you have to the government...right?...anyway, the equation used to determine eligibility looks at student assets like you look at those morning donuts that show up at the office.

Basically what happens (I'll spare you the complex math) is that the calculation takes 20% of any reported student asset and deams it available for that years educational cost. That's cash, savings, checking, investments or any net worth from a business. So here is what I recommend...either find a way to transfer ownership to the parent. Parents, while still resposible for contributing to their own kids education before us single taxpayers are, are given some protection in the calculation. Or you tell the person who wants to set up the fund to do it so it doesn't show as a student's asset. Those 529 savings plans are good in this respect, those aren't seen as student assets. For your own tax implications, you are on your own to figure that out.

When I used to work at another school, it was common for some kid to walk in and say "Uh, yeah I have a trust fund of $75,000, but I can't touch it until I'm like 20 and stuff." Too bad Timmy, if I have to choose between a kid that is a first generation student and you,who is beign used as a tax shelter,on who gets federal assistance..you are losing.

But since most of use have our descretionary income sunk in to games this probably isn't a problem.