My son is still waiting to hear back from one of the music schools that he applied to.
We have already submitted the FAFSA with our EFC of $77,000. Now my husband’s business has been shut down since it is nonessential. We will go through our savings just trying to pay his 30 employees something during this difficult time.
Should my son email his change of circumstance before the music school’s decision is sent out (suppose to be either 3-31 or 4-1) or should he wait to notify them once he sees if he is even accepted.
He has sent emails to the schools that he was accepted to. He hasn’t heard either way if they will be able to provide him with more money.
Do not contact the school until you have an acceptance in hand. At that point you can speak with a financial aid Director/VP/Dean.
For the schools you have an acceptance and FA package in hand, I would recommend a parent call the FA office. You will be asking for ‘professional judgment’, as your current financial status has changed as compared to your FAFSA (assuming you filed CSS Profile as well).
IMO, many high schoolers don’t fully understand financial concepts and terms well enough to have a meaningful conversation with a financial aid staffer regarding professional judgment, let alone the consequences of the changes to your husband’s business. If the student’s enrollment depends on getting additional FA it’s best for the parents to lead that discussion.
Especially with $77000/EFC, I would wait to contact FA office until acceptances results.
Today is 3/27, schools already made decisions most likely even they haven’t sent out results yet. FA offices may not have a chance to look into modifying initial offers. April is the month you can work with schools. And you certainly have a time to negotiate until May 1st.
Have you done a CSS Profile yet? Just FAFSA? Many schools just do FAFSA but just wondering. The CSS Profile has a “special circumstances” section. My husband had a stroke and with one school, they took our income loss into account after I wrote them, and another school didn’t until the following year, because they used the previous year’s tax AGI as a basis. Honestly, the wealthier the school the better this goes,I think, or at least that was my theory.
Some schools are not need-blind so waiting for acceptances is a good idea.
Thanks, everyone. We will wait to hear before contacting the final school. My son did send an email to the schools he has been accepted at. It will be interesting to see if he gets any more money.
Did he email the financial aid office and did he include details?
When we were dealing with a change in circumstances I actually did all the communicating and wrote a formal letter to the financial aid department. (The change was also on the CSS Profile)
Is he mainly dealing with financial aid or also merit?
Once accepted, check the procedure at the college for updating your circumstances. One college we dealt with last year had a specific form to fill out. The sooner the better, the wheels seem to turn slow in these circumstances.
Also, the music department may be helpful if they know your circumstances and want the student to fill a need. The department chair may be able to contact the right people, or give you a name of someone in FA. Best of luck on your adventure!
@mominwestlake Have you looked into the Relief Act passed last week by the govt. My family has a business that was shut down during all of this. The govt is offering some very generous packages for small businesses and employees. As far as our accountant told us (today) There are available loans for an 8 week duration and IF 75% of the loan goes to employee payroll, with the remainder going to utilities and rent, the loan will be FORGIVEN. I can’t speak to how that might work for your business, but it is worth looking into. There is also an EIDL Loan Grant through the SBA. ($10,000.) no repayment. Application for the relief (payroll) will be active Apr. 3, I believe.
Unemployment is taking care of employees shut out of work bc of Covid. ON TOP of state benefits each person will receive an EXTRA $600 per week through the federal aid that passed. Im not sure how this works out, as some wage workers will actually be making more than their wages . It is a 4 month allowance with the state plus federal benefits and then another 23 weeks of state unemployment, if needed.
It’s very noble of you to be paying your employees, we tried the same. We just learned of another added 4 weeks of shut down (may4), so while we could hold on for two-three weeks, an added four weeks is just not possible. We would be bleeding and never recover. Please look into these programs. There are restrictions regarding employees making over 100k but it is a very liberal program and designed to keep small businesses in operation through/after this.
^^^. Apps come out Friday I believe. I have an appointment with out bank tomorrow about all of this. Be kind-of silly to pass up this opportunity. I heard slightly different information then suggested above. How this all affects things like aid, tuition etc will really be interesting how the schools will make their decisions. Many families will be effected. Schools with larger endowments might have an advantage.
@Knowsstuff I’m not sure my info is 100% accurate of what the exact stipulations may be, but theres def help available to relieve some of this pressure from small businesses. Please let me know what you find out. Our acct sent dome basic info but I believe the bulk of it takes place through the bank.
@Pl1277. No one know for sure and why I am meeting with Bank of America today. We talked with our broker through Merrill Lynch yesterday. PM me as a reminder and will let you know what I find out. Not even sure the banks know 100%, yet but figured I wanted to get the inform. We already applied for a sba loan as a “just in case” scenario then this program came out. For a business this is a slam dunk. We are down to 1 day this week. We are going week by week. Crazy times.
@Knowsstuff I will pm. It is very crazy, we shut down completely as it wasn’t worth it to stay open (restaurant) and potentially unknowingly expose someone even through takeout. Plus, we figured it was a liability to our staff, which is like family to us.
The package seems very friendly to businesses. I really hope that it all pans out. We’ve been in business 45 yrs and this is the first time we’ve ever had to close. It is really devastating.
It isn’t only accepted / new enrolling students those schools are dealing with, many of those returning students who are forced to take online classes with the same tuition. Schools are working individual case by case at the same time.
Stay at home, stay healthy. Good to know there are some relief for those non-essential businesses.