Should we include farm account and ranch value on FAFSA? Agricultural property confusion
I'm completely lost on how to report our farm/ranch finances on the FAFSA! We have a separate farm checking account we use ONLY for agricultural expenses - it doesn't generate income, just keeps farm bills separate from household expenses. Do I need to include this in the 'Cash, Savings, and Checking' section? Also, our regular checking account starts the month with money and ends nearly empty (paycheck to paycheck). Should I report beginning balance, end balance, or some average? The bigger confusion: we own a small ranch that qualifies for AG exemption on taxes. It rarely makes a profit (maybe once every few years). Do I list our land under 'Net Worth of Businesses and Investment Farms' or under 'Current Net Worth of Investments, Including Real Estate'? And should I use tax appraisal value for the property? Our home is on this property too, so I'm not sure how to separate it all out.
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Carmella Popescu
For your farm checking account - yes, it absolutely should be included in the Cash/Savings/Checking section. The FAFSA doesn't care if that money is earmarked for farm expenses - it's still a financial asset you control. For your regular checking account, you're supposed to report the value as of the day you file the FAFSA application (not a monthly average or estimate). Regarding the ranch property, the FAFSA has specific rules for family farms. If it's your primary residence AND you actively participate in the farm's operation AND the farm has less than 100 employees, you do NOT report its value in either section. The 2024-2025 FAFSA specifically excludes family farms that meet these criteria.
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Lorenzo McCormick
•Thank you so much for clarifying! We definitely meet all those criteria - we live on the property, actively work the ranch ourselves, and have zero employees. So I shouldn't include the ranch value anywhere on the form? That's a huge relief because I've been stressing about how to calculate everything!
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Kai Santiago
We went through this exact same issue last year with our cattle operation lol. Our tax guy told us NOT to include the farm checking account since it's technically a business account not a personal one? Idk that seemed right to us so that's what we did...anybody know for sure?
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Carmella Popescu
•Your tax guy was incorrect. The rules are very clear that ALL accounts in your name must be reported, regardless of what you use them for. Business accounts are only excluded if they're part of a corporation with multiple owners/shareholders. For a family farm/ranch situation, you must report all accounts.
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Lim Wong
I have a similar situation with our horse breeding operation. From what I understand, the key question is how you file your taxes. If you file Schedule F for the farm/ranch, then it's considered a business asset, not an investment. But definitely include ALL checking accounts regardless of what they're used for.
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Dananyl Lear
•This isn't completely accurate. The FAFSA doesn't automatically consider all Schedule F operations as business assets. The three-part test mentioned above (primary residence + active participation + fewer than 100 employees) is what matters most for family farms/ranches. I've helped dozens of farm families with FAFSA applications through our rural education initiative.
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Noah huntAce420
anyone know what counts as "active participation" in the farm? my parents own farmland but lease it out to someone else who actually does the farming. they still make decisions about the property but don't physically do farm work anymore. would that still be excluded?
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Lorenzo McCormick
•That's a great question! I'm curious about this too since sometimes we have others help with certain aspects of our ranch operation.
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Dananyl Lear
•Leased farmland wouldn't qualify for the exclusion. "Active participation" means your family is materially involved in the day-to-day operations. If you're leasing the land to others who do the actual farming, it would be considered an investment asset and would need to be reported on the FAFSA.
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Ana Rusula
I've been trying to reach Federal Student Aid for THREE DAYS to ask similar questions about our family vineyard. Constant busy signals and disconnections. Finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) which got me connected to an FSA agent in about 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent confirmed that since we live on our vineyard property, actively manage it (even though we have seasonal workers), and it's under 100 employees, we DON'T include it as an asset on the FAFSA. But we DO include all bank accounts including the separate vineyard account.
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Lorenzo McCormick
•Oh wow, I've been struggling to get anyone on the phone too! I'll check out that service. Did they explain the reasoning behind including the separate farm account? It just seems weird since that money is already committed to farm expenses.
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Ana Rusula
•They explained that from the FAFSA perspective, money is money regardless of what you're planning to use it for. The key question is: could you theoretically use it for educational expenses if you needed to? Since you technically COULD use farm account money for college (even if it would mess up your farm budget), it counts as an available asset.
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Fidel Carson
Ugh the checking account thing is so frustrating!! like the day before my paycheck hits we have maybe $200 but the day after we have $2800 and that makes a HUGE difference on the fafsa!!! this whole system seems designed to screw over regular working people
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Kai Santiago
•ikr? i picked a day when our account was almost empty to submit ours lol. probably not technically right but 🤷♀️
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Carmella Popescu
•While I understand the frustration, I should point out that timing your FAFSA submission to when your accounts are at their lowest could technically be considered misrepresentation. The SAI formula does include an Income Protection Allowance that's supposed to account for basic living expenses, which is why they want an accurate snapshot of assets on the filing day.
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Dananyl Lear
One important clarification about the reporting date for bank accounts: The 2024-2025 FAFSA specifically asks for the value as of the date you sign the FAFSA. However, for the farm property value question, they're asking about the current market value minus debt (only if you're required to report it). For families with agricultural property, I strongly recommend calling Federal Student Aid directly with your specific situation, as the exclusion rules can get complicated depending on how your operation is structured legally. Save any documentation from that conversation in case of verification.
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Lorenzo McCormick
•Thank you for this detailed explanation! Based on what everyone is saying, it sounds like I should: 1) Include our farm checking account balance, 2) Record our personal checking balance as of the exact filing date, and 3) Exclude our ranch property value since we live on it, work it ourselves, and have no employees. Does that sound right?
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Dananyl Lear
•That's exactly right. And if your ranch operation ever starts generating significant income, you'll report that income on your taxes, which will then factor into future FAFSA calculations - but the property itself remains excluded as long as you meet those three criteria.
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Isaiah Sanders
My situation is a bit diffrent but maybe helpful - we have a working farm but it's owned by an LLC with my husband and his brother as 50/50 owners. FSA told us we report just my husband's 50% ownership value (minus debt) under the business/farm section, NOT under real estate investments. But all personal checking accounts (including the one we use for our share of farm income) had to be reported in full.
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Lorenzo McCormick
•That's interesting! Ours isn't an LLC, we just file Schedule F with our personal taxes. Sounds like since we live on it, work it ourselves, and have no employees, we don't need to include the property value at all.
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Carter Holmes
Just wanted to add my experience as someone who went through this exact situation last year! We have a small cattle ranch where we live on the property and do all the work ourselves. After reading through all the responses here, I can confirm that @Dananyl Lear and @Carmella Popescu are giving accurate advice. The three-part test is key: if you live on the farm/ranch property, actively participate in operations, and have fewer than 100 employees, the property value is excluded from FAFSA reporting. But ALL bank accounts must be included, even dedicated farm accounts. One tip I learned the hard way: keep detailed records of your farm operation to prove active participation if you're ever selected for verification. We had to provide documentation showing we weren't just passive landowners. Also, if you're unsure about anything, definitely call FSA directly rather than guessing - the stakes are too high for college funding!
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Amara Torres
•This is really helpful, thank you! I'm new to navigating FAFSA with farm assets and this whole thread has been incredibly informative. Quick question - when you say "detailed records of farm operation," what kind of documentation did they actually ask for during verification? I want to make sure I have everything ready just in case we get selected too.
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