My parents are paying only for books for college. I recently read in US News’ Ultimate College Guide that, after receiving your aid offer, you can call and tell them about financial issues not on FAFSA and they might increase their aid. Would they do so if they knew my parents were not paying?
Your need based financial aid is calculated on what your parents CAN pay, not on what they WILL pay.
Think about it…if what you are suggesting was the norm, every college student would,say “my parents aren’t paying” and get increased aid.
Typically changes in the need based aid package are made because there are changes in the family finances (loss of job, etc) or because there is some financial burden that is not reflected on the financial aid forms (like huge unremibursed medical expenses).
Increased aid is not given because a student says “but my family won’t pay this much”.
@thumper1 thanks for the quick reply. There is another financial issue that might work, but I’m not sure if reporting it would help or hurt me. A few years ago my parents bought another house, but they bought it through an LLC they created, so they don’t own it, and from what they’ve told me, they didn’t have to report it on FAFSA for my brother. Should I tell the FA people that my parents are in debt from that?
Have you run the numbers for what the aid would be if you were an independent student, not a dependent of your parents?
I might focus less on trying to game the FAFSA and more on addressing whatever issues are driving your parents’ books-only stance. Are you eligible for good merit based on your stats?
Consumer debt is not taken into consideration when need based financial aid is calculated. So…the college is not going to care that your family is in debt from a previous business venture…or even a current one.
on what basis would this student gain independent status for financial aid purposes? I don’t see anything that even remotely suggests this would be a possibility.
@ohiovalley16 I am in the summer between my sophomore and junior year, so I don’t have SAT or ACT scores, but my PSAT this past year was 206, UW GPA was 3.81, and weighted GPA was 4.6.
Isn’t becoming an independent student very difficult? I’ve heard stories of people marrying just to become independent.
UAlabama (full-tuition), Temple University (full tuition) and UConn (state school) are so far the only colleges that I plan on applying to, but I would like to apply to 7 or 8. Parents make 85k, 1 sibling in college, other sibling graduating the year I begin attending (2017). NPC have shown LACs as well as some private colleges (ex. Vanderbilt) as affordable as well
I think you already have a reasonable plan in applying to schools where you would likely get merit; stick with that. Don’t go trying to figure out how obscure circumstances will impact your financial aid – always assume the worst and try to get yourself merit (or some financial “safety” situation).
Full tuition does not mean that room/board are included. Be sure you are looking at total cost of attendance.
@GnocchiB UAlabama would cost between $10,482 and $11,982 depending on what dorm I choose. That includes 3 round trips, with a plane from NYC to Birmingham and a train/ride share from Birmingham from Tuscaloosa. Temple would be about $11/12k, because, even though there would be no airfare, the dorms, meal plan, and public transport card are more expensive.
Edit: I should add that by the time I graduate, I expect my net worth (savings + scholarships + stocks/bonds) to be about 12,000. So subtract 3k a year. Subtract another 2k a year because of a job. So Bama could be as low as 5 or 6k a year.
I think that LLC will have to get reported to CSS schools like Vanderbilt.
Practice for the PSAT so that you can make national merit
@ohiovalley16 this student is not independent of his parents
Guess what would happen if students could become independent just because their parents wouldn’t pay? Every parent would say they weren’t going to pay, so their child to get more aid. Even if they secretly were going to pay. Lol
Yes agree the PSAT score is pretty good already, practice and retake in October of junior year and you could be NMF which would open you up to full rides from UKY and many other places (first year at UA I believe as well).
Run net price calculators. With your parents’ income your EFC should be close to the room & board cost. You can only take out $5,500 loan yourself.
So full tuition might not be enough merit for you if your parents are not willing to contribute.
If you are able to get a full ride, would they pay for your air fare home?
How is your older sibling paying for college? Are your parents paying for more than books for him?
News flash - if your parents own 100% of the LLC, then they own the assets of the LLC (the second home).
What is your likely major and career goal?
The student EFC really has no relationship to institutional need based aid. The only school that uses the FAFSA info (plus a small form of their own) only is University of Chicago. All of the other colleges that guarantee to meet full need for all students require the CSS Profile which asks for more detailed financial information.
At schools that use the FAFSA only, there is no guarantee that full need will be met. So while,the student EFC might be only the cost of room and board, the school could very well expect them to pay many thousands more than that amount.
The OP said his parents WON’T pay, not that their income wouldn’t suggest that they CAN pay.
@mommdc no, they will not pay for airfare. NPC at Vanderbilt gives me grants that cover all but about 10k of the cost, minus books is about 9k. That’s including about 1k for transportation. Georgetown is a little more expensive, like 10k
@Madison85 One sibling is going to a government academy, the other is commuting to a local, small state university
Do you have a summer job?
Your PSAT score is terrific - it is very important that you do well on it in October. Can you concentrate on preparing for it over the summer? You can get prep books from your local library.
What are your SAT or ACT scores, and what is your GPA. You have two mighty competitive schools listed above…Vandy and Georgetown. Do you have the stats to be a competitive admit for these schools? They are not a slam dunk for most students.
In addition, the net costs you are getting are with three in college…at virtually no cost to your parents. When one…and then two siblings graduate, your costs will go up very substantially at Vandy and Georgetown…because your need based aid will be substantially reduced…very substantially. Will your parents be willing to pay those increased costs?
From post #6:
@mom2collegekids pre-med and accounting
No job now, bu lots of ECs, and I plan on getting one next year.
@thumper1 No SAT scores of ACT scores yet. Most likeley going to get over 1400 for CR+M. Parents will cosign but not pay for increased costs, hence why Vanderbilt and Georgetown are not on my small list of possible colleges.
Definitely going to study hard for PSAT and SAT. National Merit will be hard though, because Connecticut has a cutoff of ~220, and because my math score cannot improve by much. I got all but 1 correct this year.