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WestrnMom
Super Moderator
| Joined: | Fri May 26th, 2006 |
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Posted: Sun Mar 25th, 2007 08:05 pm |
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Overseasmom, my son got two excellent merit scholarships at his two top private choices bringing them in line with the cost of a public school and each school said they do not need the FAFSA for merit aid. If that is the case at your son's schools, I don't see the point unless by some chance, you can qualify for aid. The only time I'd bother with a FAFSA is if I thought there might be the chance for a grant or an interest-free loan. Otherwise, it's a lot of trouble and personal information to send in if you aren't going to use it.
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Thumper
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Posted: Sun Mar 25th, 2007 08:17 pm |
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| I would advise completing the FAFSA. Yes, it's a lot of work. However...it is necessary if you want the school to consider need based aid during the school year. If, for example, there is some special circumstance (lost job, major medical expenses, death in the family etc), you may need to ask the school to reconsider your finaid. If that is the case, they will require that the proper forms be on file with them...so you can then show the difference in what you HAD and what you are losing because of special circumstances (in income/assets). The last thing you will want to do if there is a crisis is fill out the FAFSA form. No...you may not qualify now... but if a special circumstance came along, you might.
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jocelynDAD
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Posted: Sun Mar 25th, 2007 09:29 pm |
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I agree with Thumper 100%. The minor inconvenience of filing the FAFSA is nothing compared to having it as a backup for whatever might occur in the future. 
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Overseas mom
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Posted: Mon Mar 26th, 2007 03:47 am |
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Thank you all for the advice. I agree that anything can happen in a year, so it will be better to do the FAFSA for my son.
So, even though my D's efc is $17k, it is likely that my son's will be much lower. It won't be an even split because my son had substantial income whereas my daughter had none. Is that correct?
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leftcoast
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Posted: Mon Mar 26th, 2007 04:16 am |
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Your son's EFC is likely to be much higher, not lower. As a "dependent" he will essentially be expected to contribute half his income plus 20% of his savings (even though whatever savings he has may come from the same income. The formula is not quite as simple as that, but I think you said he earned about $30K -- let's assume he's managed to save $8K and the rest went to expenses, taxes etc. -- I ran a quick calculation at http://www.finaid.org and got $12,825 as the amount he would be expected to contribute. Add that to the $17K that comes from you (assuming that none of that is due to your daughter's savings) -- and obviously that's well above the cost of attending a CSU.
But it's not all that much work to do the 2nd FAFSA - since you already have the financials on your end -- if your son has done his 2006 taxes he should find it easy going -- between his W2 and his bank statement, he probably has all the info he needs.
Last edited on Tue Mar 27th, 2007 09:10 am by leftcoast
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Overseas mom
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Posted: Mon Mar 26th, 2007 05:17 am |
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| leftcoast - I knew that EFC would be higher, just got confused. You've made it clearer. EFC for each student is the parental half of the equation (if there are 2 students) plus whatever the student is calculated to be able to contribute. Thank you.
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mom61
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Posted: Mon Mar 26th, 2007 09:25 pm |
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I was against filling out the FAFSA. Husband insisted after Redlands rep told him it was worth a shot. I grumbled the whole time.
I owe dear sweet husband an apology today when the envelope came from Redlands included a university grant. The grant makes Redlands a reasonable choice.
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mom61
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Posted: Mon Mar 26th, 2007 09:25 pm |
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I was against filling out the FAFSA. Husband insisted after Redlands rep told him it was worth a shot. I grumbled the whole time.
I owe dear sweet husband an apology today when the envelope came from Redlands included a university grant. The grant makes Redlands a reasonable choice.
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Overseas mom
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Posted: Wed Mar 28th, 2007 12:48 am |
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Just an update: After my e-mail to the FA office, the woman handling my d's file contacted me for clarification. In the end she says that they will include my son when considering my d's financial aid package. Those packages won't come out until next week.
Thank you to everyone here for help and suggestions.
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Lynda
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Posted: Wed Mar 28th, 2007 01:04 am |
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Mom61,
Congratulations, we have found Redlands to be truthful and caring. I hope they continue this as they become larger and more popular.
Lynda
We didn't fill out the form but I went through each line and it wasn't that bad. We have all the info from tax forms and papers I keep on file. Son was asked to apply for a scholarship early this year based on his academic record. We called but found out that financial need was primary. As much as I love merit aid, they have lots of hard-working students who really need help.
Last edited on Wed Mar 28th, 2007 01:11 am by Lynda
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leftcoast
Member
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Posted: Wed Mar 28th, 2007 07:14 am |
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Overseas -- I just want to give you a heads up on something -- when you have two in college the FAFSA halfs the parental EFC.
Private colleges may not necessarily do that.
The procedure that my daughter's college followed was they wrote a financial aid award on the assumption that my son would NOT be in college, but represented that they would increase my d's grant when they received proof of my son's college enrollment in September. The required a statement from my son's school confirming his enrollment and stating the total cost of attendance for my son's college -- this was handled by my son signing a form and taking it to the financial aid office at Humboldt. Humboldt returned a form showing COA including room & board, totally around $14,000.
After receiving that document, we received notice that my daughter's togal grant was being increased by about $3600. This corresponded roughly to the total amount of tuition and fees at Humboldt; it was significantly less than half of our EFC. I never discussed the calculation with the financial aid office, but my guess is that they had decided to offset the full my son was paying, but not living expenses -- since they knew from what I told them and from my tax returns that my son was not a dependent. I think if I my son was a dependent, then they might have increased my d's grant somewhat more.
I didn't question this since I am not in fact paying anything toward my son's college or living expenses, other than an occasional gift. Also, they knew my son had been out of school for 3 years --obviously, living on his own, he would have roughly equivalent living expenses whether or not he attended college.
I'm mentioning this because I want you to know that your son's CSU attendance is probably not going to mean that the college will reduce your EFC from $33K to $17K, unless it is both a FAFSA only school and promises 100% need. In other words, some people think that a parent with one kid at a private LAC and another in a public U. will get a windfall on the LAC's financial aid -- but at least in my case it didn't happen.
So it is good news that you straightened things out with that school -- but the bottom line is that they still may not award much more money.
On the other hand, with that extra grant, I was probably paying LESS overall to send my daughter to Barnard than my son was paying on his own for Humboldt -- so I considered myself lucky. That was a one-time only deal for me, however, as my son is now 24 and no longer included on the FAFSA in any case.
Last edited on Wed Mar 28th, 2007 07:19 am by leftcoast
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Overseas mom
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Posted: Wed Mar 28th, 2007 10:16 am |
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The FA officer asked me how much we will contribute to our son for his freshman year. My answer was an amount much less than $17,000, so I think she will take that into account. My son just turned 19 and as his parents, we can't not help him or have him think he has to continue working so much to pay for college himself.
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Lynda
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Posted: Sat Dec 29th, 2007 10:29 pm |
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FAFSA for the College GRADUATE.
Too much brain stimulation this holiday. I can't remember/lazy/brain dead. Never did FAFSA before. Son will do FAFSA this yr for the 1st time. Am I correct that we (parents) don't have to fill out because he will have graduated. Can he fill out/apply now while on break?
Lynda
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Sun Dec 30th, 2007 09:43 pm |
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Yes, he will be considered an independent student if he is applying for most master's programs. There are a few health-related grad programs that still require the parent's info., but knowing your son's interests, I don't think he'll be in that category.  Good luck to him - it seems bizarre that four years has gone by so quickly!
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WestrnMom
Super Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jan 1st, 2008 01:11 am |
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Lynda, can he fill out his own FAFSA even if you claim him as a deduction? Planning for the future here.
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Tue Jan 1st, 2008 08:02 pm |
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WestrnMom, For graduate school, the answer to your question is: yes. Graduate students are considered "independent" and file their own FAFSA. There are a few exceptions, as I noted above.
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/FOTWWebApp/fotw0809/WorksheetServlet?wstype=WSDEP&locale=en_US
Last edited on Tue Jan 1st, 2008 08:04 pm by CarolynLawrence
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Lynda
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Posted: Tue Jan 1st, 2008 08:15 pm |
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Dear Carolyn,
Thanks.
Hard to believe 4 years have passed. Almost can't remember the worries I had just four years ago. I try to remember it's not worth it to sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff.
I was looking for my alumni sweatshirt this morning to wear while watching the Rose Bowl. I think I must have brushed against a cleaning solution because it has a faded spot. I thought "darn it's still new". Then I realized I bought the shirt at son's interview-so it can't be new. ' ',
Happy New Year, I am so happy that your son already has his college decision made.
Lynda
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CarolynLawrence
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Posted: Wed Jan 2nd, 2008 04:19 pm |
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Lynda wrote: I try to remember it's not worth it to sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff.
Ain't that the truth. It's hard to remember when you're in the throes of panic, but it really is true. Happy New Year, Lynda, and please say hello to your son for me and my daughter.
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Lynda
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Posted: Sun Mar 2nd, 2008 08:29 pm |
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Son filled out the FAFSA while he was home on break. I think it took less than a half hour. Since he will be a grad student, he only needed his information. I noticed it asks how much he is given to help pay expenses from other sources etc (once he is a grad student). Does that mean that if we help out any, the same amount will be expected the next year?
Didn't I just worry about bedding, for that matter, didn't I just worry about first day of school.
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WestrnMom
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Posted: Sun Mar 2nd, 2008 08:58 pm |
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Lynda, I wondered the same thing if my D applies to grad school. Right now we are helping out but we don't plan to for grad school. Is there an option for that? Should we start a new thread on Grad School FAFSA?
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