<p>My father is not involved in my life, and my mother is my primary custodial parents. She makes negative on her tax returns. Will this qualify me for maximum aid? I don't understand how this works through the schools. It seems as if the FAFSA spits out a number while the school comes up with its own. </p>
<p>The school may ask: are your family living off of assets? See <a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid;
<p>Okay I see but my mother’s money is legitimate and our actual income accumulates to around 30,000 but on her tax returns it is still a negative because of the loss from the housing industry</p>
<p>Couple of points</p>
<ul>
<li><p>yes the FAFSA EFC is one number and what the schools calculate you need to pay is another. Run the Net Price Calculator on a few colleges to see what it looks like for you. Even if you are eligible for max aid, most colleges don’t cover full need–you may have a significant gap. </p></li>
<li><p>at schools that are not FAFSA only, you will likely have to ask for a noncustodial parent waiver and see if they will allow you to submit financials without your father’s info</p></li>
</ul>
<p>What’s on the tax returns does not always translate to what FAFSA uses for income, and certainly not PROFILE if you are applying to schools that use that. For one, there is no negative income. You start with zero. Certain deductions get added BACK into income, such as HSAs, 401K contributions. Depreciation may not be recognized either You sell a $200K piece of property for $100K, well, you lost $100K, but, uh, the way FAFSA and other financial aid calculators my e more interested in the $100k you get. </p>
<p>If your mother’s income is below a certain threshold even with the add ins, (about $20K, I think, you have to look it up) and you meet other conditions as well, assets may not be taken into account and you get an auto zero, but if you don’t so qualify, the calculators do also take assets over a personal protection allowance (which is small for a single parent) into account. So run the calculators but also read over what is added back into income, to see what your EFC is going to be.</p>
<p>Also, if you are applying to PROFILE schools that want NCP info, you need to apply for a waiver, asking them to take your dad out of your life for fin aid purposes They will want to know how uninvolved in your life he is, like does the school have him on file, are you on his insurance, has he paid child support. Depends upon the individual school if they will give you a pass or not.</p>
<p>You need to get the definitions and rules for how things work . For example, custodial parent , something that seems so clear, is often times not, as FAFSA’s definition does not mesh with the IRS or divorce decree or most other such defintion. So it’s not quite so simple that the income on the tax returns is always used. The school will also want to see what you lived on if you have a zero income. You can’t live on air. YOu need to show that you did draw on assets and had no actual income, which is possible. My friend did that for years. Income, practically nothing, but she borrowed and drew on assets to get by. So it’s possible, but her kids’ schools wanted proof. She had to show them where she was getting her money to live that past year.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, FAFSA EFC will determine what you qualify for, for Pell Grant. That’s the free money you get from the govt. Filing FAFSA will also give you eligibility to student loans. </p>
<p>The school will separately calculate what your family and student portion will be. They will use your FAFSA and often the CSS PROFILE and sometimes they have their own form.</p>
<p>
Does this mean your mother owns housing that is rented? If so all the deductions for those will be added back, and the value of the properties will be considered.</p>
<p>Okay, yes exactly. My mother will be willing to prove that she is living off of borrowed money, savings, etc. I talked to a few schools and they said waivers are definitely possible to get even though my father still pays child support. The situation is very sticky because he pays child support so that the state does not punish him, etc. However, he does not pay for my medical bills which he is obligated to do through the divorce agreement. I am going to attempt to get the waivers I need because when I did contact my father he explicitly said he would never contribute nor submit his financial information. In addition my social worker was going to send laters to the schools explaining the situation with my father, however he passed this year. Thanks for the advice. I am first generation so my mother does not have any insight on this process. </p>
<p>She did with my grandfather from what I understand but not currently. They were low income properties. </p>
<p>I know there is really no such thing as max. aid, but I do need aid nonetheless.</p>
<p>Usually, if your father pays child support, waivers are not obtainable. That’s because anyone can say they refuse to contribute to college and./or submit financial info just to be eligible for aid. However, for FAFSA alone, you will not need your NCP’s info. It’s those schools that require a NCP PROFILE or other such info from the NCP, for which you have to get waivers. Each school will likely have its own rules on what they need in order to make that decision as to whether or not you get a waiver. Some schools might give you waivers, some may not. It will depend upon the school. One of my closest friends with two kids could not get any waivers from her kids’ schools that a required NCP waivers. He wouldn’t give a thing, like your father, would not even fill out forms, but he was paying court ordered child support through garnishment even and had to be sued regularly for anything he was supposed to give that was not taken from him. </p>
<p>Do realize too, that even if you get a zero EFC, which means your family is not expected to be able to pay anything according to FAFSA, that just means you are guaranteed the PELL grant of about $5700 and loans of upt $5500 freshman year. The rest of the money is up to a school to give to you and most schools do not guarantee to meet need, nor do they for most students. Schools that guarantee to meet need tend to do so using their own definition of it, not FAFSA’s and even a zero EFC student often has to come up with some money, some where, some how. Even Harvard, considered one of the most generous schools, if not the absolute most, requires a student contribution. They also want NCP financial info and they often will not waive this if the NCP is alive, has been in any contact with the student, and is paying child support, unless he is incarcerated or there is a court order for no contact due to danger. </p>
<p>You certainly can apply for waivers for the non-custodial parent Profile (FAFSA only schools will not require your dad’s financials unless they use an additional form to get it). But you might get the waivers, and you might not.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how you would get a negative income. Could you please explain how this happened?</p>
<p>If you really have a $0 AGI on the FAFSA, just be prepared to document how you got ther, and how you pay your everyday bills. You will be a target for FAFSA verification.</p>
<p>Most important…the vast majority of colleges do NOT guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students. The small number that do make this guarantee are highly competitive for admissions. Your first hurdle would be to get accepted. Do you have tippy top ACT/SAT scores, and an outstanding GPA?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The above is from another thread you replied to. With a 1700 SAT score, you would have difficulty getting accepted to most, if not all the schools that guarantee to meet full need…in my opinion. Do you plan to retake this or take the ACT in the early fall? </p>
<p>Yes, you are first generation and Hispanic…but I still think your standardized test scores would need to improve for consideration to highly competitive schools.</p>
<p>For FAFSA purposes, if your mom’s AGI is really $0, you would be guaranteed to receive the maximum Pell Grant of $5600, and a Direct Loan of $5500 for your freshman year. Those are the ONLY guarantees. Some schools have SEOG. You might get federal work study. </p>
<p>Does your state have any grants for low income students? Find out. CA, and NY do. </p>
<p>Not to get hopes too high, but I know of a 1700-1800 URM admitted to Brown and a ton of meet full need LAC this year and even a couple full ride merit awards. However, that is very much on the low side. The student had a very rigorous HS schedule. The student applied RD through Questbridge, didn’t do the college match. You can probably apply to Questbridge and if you are a Finalist it can help you.</p>
<p>My daughter was granted the NCP waiver at all the colleges she applied to, even though I was receiving child support. I believe this was granted because there was never any contact. So you will need to have the third party to attest to the lack of contact, what duration, what circumstances. It is unclear if your father passed or the social worker. If the social worker, then are you assigned another who will have your file and can make similar letter?</p>
<p>Ask your mom to work through the FAFSA formula with you so that you have a notion about what kind of federal aid you will probably qualify for. The formula does change a bit every year, and next year’s will be available sometime in the fall. Here is the current one. <a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091913EFCFormulaGuide1415.pdf”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091913EFCFormulaGuide1415.pdf</a></p>
<p>I do encourage you to apply to some full need met schools that require NCP waiver, because, yes, it is possible that it would work out for you. But those schools do have low admit rates, your test scores are below the norms for many of them, and most of them are finicky about NCP waivers. So have a few on your list, but bear in mind that your most important schools are the ones that you know will take you and that you will be able to afford. We are talking about local state schools, community colleges to which you can commute and also for some schools where you have a good chance of getting some good aid and/or scholarships. You can ask your GC what such colleges are that have been “good” to kids graduating from your high school. Don’t have all of your eggs in one basket.</p>