Hypothetical fro tuition

cdawnr

Mon, Aug 25 2008, 3:19 pm

Ok, so the Tuition Is This Normal thread scared me. I have 1 yr til we enter the system. We both work and we bought a house so we have a big mortgage...which I get teh sense may work against us.

Anyway, here is my question. My mom went through some rough times when my dad died about 6 years ago. She was afraid she would have to declare bankruptcy so she "sold" her house to my brother and myself. So thus I "own" half her house in Penna. But I really don't, it's her house in all but name. Also, a a shield from bankruptcy, she put a household fund account in a bank under my name. From this she "pays her rent" and covers the house expences like bills and repairs, but it has several thousand dollars in it and it's not mine either.

Shoudl I look into changing this situation. Maybe put the house in brothers name alone (if he agrees. He lives in same town as she does and in a really small community where they know her and would get that it wasn't his home as an asset) and put the other account back in her name somehow?

THought and opinions please.

Tamiri

Mon, Aug 25 2008, 3:23 pm

I don't understand what you are getting at. Are you imagining that you won't be able to pay full tuition? If you pay in full, no one cares what you have sitting around. If you plan not to pay in full - you have to declare everything when you submit the request to the tuition committee. If, for example, they see you have a nice big house and are paying a $4000 mortgage when you could be in a smaller house, paying $2000 and then $2000/month in tuition - well, what do *you* think they will come back with?

cdawnr

Mon, Aug 25 2008, 3:57 pm

Yes, I do plan on applying for help because we got the house with a lot of help from my in-law,

but the point was not that, my point was that if I were to apply, I only technically own my mother's house. It isn't an asset to me at all, but it looks like it is. Every year my mother figures out what to recompense on what we get taxed for it so that we aren;t paying any expenditures on her house. It is in my name only to shield her from when she might have had to go bankrupt.

My point would never be to hide my real situation, my real income or our property or whatever, but this was a strange situation of my mom putting the house out of her name.

A good example of where it is hard to assess things is like the fact that we used to own a Volvo Wagon , and we got it new. But my fatherinlaw bought it for us when I was pregnant so we were drving something safe. Now my fatherinlaw is not Jewish and is NOT going to help us pay tuition. So just because he has money that doesn't mean anything.

PS: Personally, I hate how much we pay on our mortgage and tried to tell dh it was too big for us, but this is our situation now. And yes with the mortgage it is tight. I am not saying we won't pay full tuition, but I think in anyone's eyes it is a daunting task and one hopes they will get assistance!

Atali

Mon, Aug 25 2008, 4:05 pm

Can you sell the house back to your mother? Or is she still in a financial crisis?

I wouldn't recommend selling it to your brother, or else he will probably be the only one to "inherit" it later on, and you will have no legal share in it.

The good news is that unlike bank credit-scoring, the tuition committee is made of people, not computers, so you should be able to explain the situation to them. Perhaps you can even get a letter from someone else explaining your situation.

cdawnr

Mon, Aug 25 2008, 4:21 pm

Atali,

lol it's in Harisburg, PA...I don't want to inherit it and then have to deal with it Smile

But no, I don't think it is a good idea for it to be back in mom's name. My folks owned a business. My dad got C---- that drifted into his brain so when he knew he was dying and knew he had to salvage the business he wasn't able to do it properly because his thinking wasn't 100% Sad

BH she is no longer ina crisis time but there is still a fear that creditors will come after her.

YOu are right about them being human...it's just so scary when you think about the amount of money involved in tuition