I had to report that I have about $20k in assets on my FAFSA. I’m an independent 20 year old student (both of my parents have passed). The $20k is life insurance money I received recently since my mom passed in October 2014. I have no income at the moment because I got laid off, but was only working part time minimum wage even then. I know the term “assets” seems to imply (at least to me) that the assets are saved and available for use for school. In my case, they are definitely not and are a horrible representation of my financial status.
Does anyone know how much assets affect financial awards in the UC system? I’m planning on attending UCR (if I can afford it obviously).
First of all, so sorry to hear that both of your parents have passed. You are so young to have lost both parents.
Assets can play a big role for an independent student student. There’s no protections, etc.
Were you planning on attending UCR this fall?
I know that you feel that the money “isn’t available for school,” but what is it for? What do you plan on using the money for?
If you could defer enrollment for a year (ask UCR) and then spend the money on needed items during the next year (a reliable car that will be used for the next 10 years, a computer, etc), then you wouldn’t have to report the money when you file FAFSA next year.
In the meantime, look for another job. Surely someone is hiring, even if it’s just mcdonalds.
@mom2collegekids Yeah, the plan is to attend school this fall. I’m super fortunate that the house we’re living in is mortgage free, so worst case scenario my sister and I have agreed to sell it if we need to. Although I’m actively looking for a job for the time before I have to move the money is paying for mine and my younger sister’s living (utilities, food, gas, my current schooling). She’s 18, so I can’t file for any sort of guardianship/making her my dependent. We also are planning on renting the house here when we move, so we have to redo certain parts of the house to make it “renter-ready.”
My main concern is that I’ll be expected to be able to use it all for school. I have no problem with having to take out like $10k in loans, that’s average from what I’ve heard (?)
@mom2collegekids UCR has also been super great about letting me reduce the amount of my assets by the amount that I have to use to pay my mothers/fathers tax debts and the cost of putting our home through probate since it was sudden and there was no will. So, I am definitely thankful for that.
Oh, and while it’s on my mind - the Blue and Gold scholarship thing (it’s a scholarship right?)
My understanding is that I qualify for that. (<$80k a year, citizen, I think that’s it??) Do the assets I have affect my eligibility for that?
I don’t mean to sound greedy/money-grabby etc. I just don’t know how any of this really works and wanted to ask people who have more knowledge/experience than I do. (My CC counselors haven’t been very helpful).
Apply. It looks like it’s mostly income based. http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/paying-for-uc/glossary/blue-and-gold/ It looks like if the cost is greater than a %age of your assets and a share of your income that you qualify.
Look into B&G. I don’t think that $80k limit is for an independent person w/ no dependents. but your income is still probably low enough.
What aid pkg did UCR give you?
Normally, I would say to just put your “what if?” scenarios into the net price calculator, but UCR’s net price calculator at http://vcsaweb.ucr.edu/FinAidManualCalculator/ does not appear to have a provision for independent students like the other UCs have. You could try the net price calculators at other UCs that have a provision for independent students for your “what if?” scenarios.
First and most importantly, I don’t know why you were not qualified for Simplified Means test where your assets are not considered. I hope I am not missing something (and misleading you) but a young independent student I worked with last year who has some assets a bit more than you qualified and wasn’t required to report assets. See
http://www.finaid.org/educators/needs.phtml
I don’t understand, are you saying that UCR has accepted you but has not given you a financial aid package? Are you a transfer, then? If you don’t have an aid package, how is it that you are working with them on allowing to reduce assets etc? Didn’t you then ask how your package is going to look? If you are in touch, ask.
So you have a few levels of aid you can get. Federal, State via calgrant and university. UCs are generous to low income people but all students will have to take the basic federal student loan and have a work component contribution, via work/study, summer earnings or both. those usually add up to 8 or 10k per year.
Some states require the fafsa asset questions to be answered for state aid even if the student qualifies for the federal simplified formula. The OP should have qualified for the independent student simplified formula for federal aid if she was able to file a 1040A or 1040EZ for 2014 and AGI was less than $50k which sounds like the case.
The OP mentioned the CC counselors not being helpful in post #4 so I presume she is a transfer.
OK maybe transfers don’t have the package yet, but the case I was talking about was also in CA However it was freshman admissions at UCR, UCB, UCI, UCLA and all packages about the same except for adding Regents award at UCR.
@BrownParent I did file a 1040 EZ and was able to opt out of including my assets, but UCR contacted me for that info before they would give me a package. I am a transfer student who has been accepted. First, I had to send in documents to prove that I am an independent student, then they contacted me for asset information.
I’m surprised, so this is a new one for me. Who owns the house? That’s an asset too. Make sure UCR knows your full circumstances including your sibling living with you and if she is still in HS…
I think at worst case you will get full tuition. Hopefully you will get more covered. Usually assets are assessed at 20 pct per year, so you could be asked to contribute that in addition to your student loan and work/study. Hopefully you will get a good pkg soon.
https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1516/pdf/PdfFafsa15-16.pdf (questions 42 and 91) indicate that FAFSA does not include an owned house that one is living in as an asset for financial aid calculations. UCs use only FAFSA information to calculate financial aid.
@BrownParent I’m only hoping for full tuition, I can manage everything else, just worrying myself until I know what’s going to happen. Like @ucbalumnus said, they aren’t calculating in the house, but at this moment in time, technically my mother owns it since it’s still in probate.
Thanks to everyone for the help, I appreciate it very much!
Well you don’t want to turn away any awards that you may get for room, board, books, transportation and personal expenses and health insurance all of which are included in the COA and are ‘need’ that the UCs take into consideration af often cover for low income students. Please let us know how it turns out.
Maybe they just asked for your assets to be sure you didn’t just inherit a couple of million.