thanks for your reply. I could spend 15 minutes typing out all my details but our situations, while not exactly the same, are pretty close. I suspect we’ll end up taking some pretty massive loans out on behalf of my step-daughter. I suppose we could “force” her to attend a really cheap school but that doesn’t feel right. Especially when I have enough 529 money set aside for my two daughters to pay for at least 2 to 3 years at a private college. Yeah, probably just need to accept and move on.
Thanks for your reply. I guess its too soon to tell what we’ll receive in aid. I was just looking for some proactive ways to get as much aid as possible based on my situation. But with our income we may just end up taking out some rather massive loans for my step-daughter. I realize we could insist on sending her to a cheaper school but that doesn’t set right with me when I have enough 529 monies for my own daughters to cover 2 to 3 years worth of expenses for them.
@CG I feel your pain. My stepchildren attended/are attending either private or OOS schools. If your stepdaughter is attending now (which I think I missed in your original post) then that would be rather traumatic to make her move schools based on this.
I’d suggest though you try to dig around for scholarships she can apply for. There are many scholarships that don’t start until sophomore year or beyond and lots of little ones, can add up.
I am in a slightly different boat in the sense that I’ve always made it clear to my two that I will pay for them to attend our instate flagship, or that same dollar value elsewhere. If they want more than that, they have to figure out (with my help of course) how to make up the difference. My steps were not give that kind of guideline and as a result attend/attended pricier schools and were not expected to work or contribute or attempt to get scholarships. I’d honestly suggest all 3 kids try to get what they can for the greater good of the whole, if you only have enough for 2-3 years at a private and that’s what both chooses, you are short there and then fully short for your stepdaughter so I’d step back and look at total costs and try to get creative if you can.
Still, even if philosophically I had zero intent of paying full pay at a private school, to know that the funding existed for my steps to do so and doesn’t for mine thanks to the deadbeat dad, it’s hard not to be upset. I am upset at the situation, my husband feels awful for “putting” me here and we both are flat out angry at my ex.
But moving on is all you can do and doing your best to NOT take out massive loans is the best course of action…within reason.
That said, it should be based on your 2015 tax info…did you file married jointly? You may be ok for a year or could possibly try to appeal to your stepdaughters financial aid office somehow. It can’t hurt to contact them and ask the questions.
They got married in 2015 sometime. They filed the FAFSA sometime in early 2016 when they were already married.
Their tax filing status has NO bearing on the FAFSA calculation for need based aid. Because they are married, both incomes must be reported on the FAFSA even if they filed taxes married filing separately.
@thumper1 you are correct. I misspoke, it’s still hard for me to wrap my head around the fact there is no relationship.
i did a quick look (at an example investment firm’s 529 rules) and switching beneficiary to the original beneficiary’s step-sister/brother is acceptable. if you want to make funds avail to step child then that may be an option, and it wouldn’t be a taxable distribution. I’m not an expert on this, so it might be best to just contact your 529 administrator and ask them about it.
To see how all the numbers work, print out the FAFSA formula and work through it on paper. That way you can try as many different scenarios as you like: http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/100615EFCFormulaGuide1617Attach.pdf
My wife and I married last year. 2nd marriage for both of us. While I had established 529 accounts for my two daughters a long time ago which have grown substantially, my wife did not have one for her daughter (my step-daughter). The 529 accounts are in my name with my two daughters listed as the beneficiaries. One of my daughters and my step daughter both attend college. When we completed the FAFSA recently we had to list the value of those 529 accounts. Since the beneficiary of those accounts are not my step-daughter, we can’t use those monies for her tuition. Yet I think we are going to get penalized on financial aid for my step-daughter because of the significant value on these 529 accounts. If you take away the value of these 529 accounts, we have very little saved that we can use to help pay my step-daughter’s out-of-state tuition at the public university she attends. Any thoughts on this? Seems like my step-daughter will come up short on financial aid simply because I saved up for her step-sisters.
I posted this on the financial aid forum but thought it wouldn’t hurt to post here as well.
I actually know a family who put off second marriage for precisely those reasons. Had a ceremony with no license, blended their families but not their finances. Many in the community aren’t even aware they are not married.
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income in the low 100s. When my wife filed the FAFSA last year (before our marriage) it was just her income which was around 50 s
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YOUR income is in the low 100s, plus your wife’s income was around $50k…so now your income is over $150k…correct?
Sounds like the OOS school gave a Pell Grant? Did they give anything else? If so, then what?
Did she get any merit scholarships? How was her freshman year paid?
Re: loans Just some things to consider…
Who will be taking out the loans? Who will be responsible for paying them back?
Can you and your wife live mostly on your income, and have her income pay for her DD’s college?
Bhmomma - yes, in retrospect it might have been better to not get legally married to qualify for more aid. But that train has left the station. And we might have paid more in income taxes had we not gotten married.
Mom2Collegekids - No, actually our income together now is in the low 100’s. My step-daughter did get a couple of small scholarships for her freshman year plus some direct aid from the school. We did have to take out a loan for her freshman year but it wasn’t that terrible. This was all based on my wife’s FAFSA before we got married. Now with our higher income (and the 529 issue) I expect we may not get squat in financial aid for her.
Good information here:
http://finance.zacks.com/custodial-vs-individual-529-plan-11363.html