Incredible story.
A guy in Newport Beach makes $380,000 a year and his daughter goes to USC on a low-income financial aid grant
He didn't lie on a single form
He just used Chase and Amex to legally make himself look broke the year before she applied
Most high earners get slaughtered by college tuition because they don't understand how universities calculate whether you're "rich"
When your kid applies for financial aid, the government formula looks at two things: your Adjusted Gross Income from your tax return two years earlier, and how much cash is sitting in your personal bank accounts on the day you submit the form
If you have $380,000 of business profit on your tax return and $180,000 sitting in a personal savings account, USC expects you to write a $92,000 check out of pocket every year
This guy's CPA had him run three legal plays in December of his daughter's sophomore year of high school:
1st: Instead of leaving $180,000 sitting in his personal checking account where the financial aid formula penalizes it, he used that cash to pay down the mortgage on his primary house (the federal FAFSA formula ignores home equity on the house you live in)
2nd: He took his 750 credit score and opened $220,000 in 0% APR business credit cards under his LLC's tax ID across Chase, Amex, US Bank, and Wells Fargo
3rd: Before December 31st, he swiped all $220,000 of the bank's 0% money on two heavy commercial work vans (over 6,000 lbs so Section 179 writes off 100% of them on day one), prepaid vendor contracts, and a full year of equipment
Under IRS rules, business expenses paid with a credit card are 100% deductible the day you swipe the card, even though you don't owe the bank a dime of interest for 15 months
Those 0% card swipes legally dropped his taxable Adjusted Gross Income from $380,000 down to $43,500 during the exact base year the university checked
When the financial aid office pulled his file, they saw a family making $43,500 with $1,900 in personal checking and $0 in personal credit card debt (because EIN business cards only report to commercial bureaus)
His daughter got $68,000 a year in need-based grants, which is $272,000 of free tuition over 4 years, and his business cash flow paid the 0% cards off ten months later
(if you have a 700+ credit score and want my team to sequence and unlock your 150k-250k 0% funding stack under an EIN, book a call using the link in my bio)