<prompt> Human: Im currently a freshman at an in-state public university. For this year, and most likely other years to come, I will have to pay little to nothing in order to attend college from scholarships and grants. Some of these grants have come from filing the FAFSA, which I have done twice now once in January of 2016 for my freshman year that started in August, and later in October 2016 for my sophomore year that will start next August.The major grant I received from the FAFSA was the Pell Grant, amounting in over 5,000. This makes sense given my parents current financial status; they are local entrepreneurs, whose business is tanking. I believe that the information they gave me regarding their parental contributions was correct because of the lifestyle I was brought up living; my mother was very modest and stingy, and focused heavily on saving our money for college because she and my dad would most likely not be able to pay for my post-secondary education at all. Because of this, I worked two or three jobs at a time from the age of fourteen, but that still hasnt been enough to pay for all of a four-year degree.Because of this, I believe my parents instructed me to do the following, and helped me do so: they withdrew money from my savings and checking accounts a few weeks before I filed my FAFSA, leaving about 1,000 total between both accounts so my expected financial contribution would be lower. They wanted me to save the money I had worked for and keep it in case of an emergency, like their business failing and we are become homeless, which some months seems very real. Now that Ive done the FAFSA twice, this makes the withdraws of money not included in the FAFSA around 8,000 dollars. This money is supposedly stored in a safety deposit box that is a relatives box who I believe knows the situation inside of an envelope with my name on it.I didnt realize that this was probably a very bad thing to be doing until thinking it through. I was only doing what I thought was right because thats what my parents told me to do, and I didnt think the money I had accumulated would make a difference in my FAFSA. Im very worried that this could be a federal offense, and I have no idea what to do. Do I report it? Will I lose my money? Could I go to jail? What happens if I dont report it and get caught? Theoretically, I could pay for a semester or two of college if I had to, and I dont mind working during school especially if I need the money, but I dont know how to even confront my parents about this. tl;drMy parents withdrew money from my accounts to make my financial contribution on the FAFSA be smaller so I could potentially get more moneysave the money I worked for in case of an emergency. Is this a problem, and if so, how do I fix this, and what kind of punishment could I be facing?  <response>: OP, are you sure your money still exists? With your parents business tanking a healthy 8k might be too tempting. I keep reading about people getting scammed by their own parents and I always get wary in these situations. 