<p>Certainly you can contact them. But they might not make any adjustments. Child support ends for most students at age 18. </p>
<p>I am still confused. Won’t your daughter’s 529 account pay for any school with a $30,000 a year price tag?</p>
<p>^I think OP mentioned wanting to have some of the 529 left for grad school?</p>
<p>First of all Grenmom, any asset you reported or report as the child’s asset is an auto 20% directly added to the FAFSA. The student gets zero asset protection allowance, as you, the parent does, and you only get zapped 5.6% of the asset vs 20%. The 529 is an exception. But yes, if you have the money, you do get assessed by formula as it stands and the bottom line is that the schools do not care if you want to live on that money for the rest of your life. We all want to do that. And everyone wants to save that 529 for possible grad/prof school. Doesn’t work that way.</p>
<p>For future years, make sure your DD’s assets are a zero by having her spend down her money, or have it in a joint account with your name and SSn listed first so that it’s listed as YOUR asset not hers and isn’t hit so hard. </p>
<p>As for your ex losing his job, you can contact the schools and they have procedures for that, if you are counting on child support for him for the future. Since the FAFSA does not include his income anyways, and if you have no child support requirement in place, that may not come into play. But then again, you got a large amount of support last year, and if you were expecting it this year and now it’s not going to happen…well, that all depends on the school and professional judgement. </p>
<p>But yes, you have the assets, they are even in a designated plan getting tax protection so that they are there to pay for COLLEGE first. Grad school, prof school is a maybe. College is a now. So those funds are there to for your DD’s college costs. But they are only hit up 5.6% for FAFSA purposes which is a deal, IMO, considering the whole underlying purpose of them. </p>
<p>But contact the colleges, and they will have their procedures in tersm of how to report this job loss of your ex–they will differ by school, and will also tell you what you need to send in to them. I guess the oficial child support agreement showing that this is money that is due from him next year, and now not likely to be paid because of job loss. You might want to get the court paper on that and get notarized copies to send. The schools will likely want to see proof that this was income you had good reason to expect to get this calendar year and you now are not. And then a copy of your ex’s severance notice and app for unemployment. But really, the schools have their own lists of what they want from each student whose parents lose a an expected source of income.</p>
<p>Definitely contact the schools. But, wasn’t your AGI already zero because of the rental sale loss? If so, I don’t think the loss of the child support is going to make a difference to your EFC. If the only income you reported on FAFSA was $19,200 child support that would be close to the protected income limits (around $17k for a family of 2 last year), so would probably not have affected your EFC much anyway. From your other thread, it sounds like your EFC is pretty much asset driven. </p>
<p>You should contact the schools regardless, just don’t be too shocked if it does not make a difference for the FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>(your rental sale loss is killing you as it makes you ineligible for the special needs formula where assets are disregarded - unless you meet one of the criteria other than 1040a or ez)</p>
<p>The other thing you might want to consider is having your daughter spend one day more in time with her father than with you this next year, if he would be a better custodial parent for FAFSA purposes. Maybe he quaiflies for a zero EFC or a low enough one that makes her PELL eligible. </p>
<p>The fact of the matter is, however, that at schools that do not guarantee to meet full need, it might not make any difference anyways. Need is reduced by merit first and then often met, say up to the tuition point or whatever threshhold and then, that’s it regardless of how much more need there is. It does depend upon the school. The only certainty is PELL, up to $5600 a year with a zero EFC and subsidization of the Direct loans in a given schedule. If your state has aid, that might be a guarantee too,</p>
<p>Thanks all. You are right; we all want to keep our money. I just wonder how often it is that parents of college kids are in a situation of having no expectation of being able to have liveable income (I’m almost 59 with medical issues under diagnosis and caretaker for elderly mother) but only assets used to live on for a specific time period. This will be good practice for learning to live on retirement income in 9 years. Living on assets is really a totally different way of thinking about budgeting. There is a pot of money that gets $6500 added to it each year. $200K, plus $60K ($6500ish x next 9 years) is $29K per year but costs to pay mortgage, insurance, taxes, utilities are over $30K, not including groceries. So yeah, I’m very protective of my nest egg as it is all I’m gonna have to live on for quite a while and really would like to protect it from going toward college.
<strong>I guess the oficial child support agreement showing that this is money that is due from him next year, and now not likely to be paid because of job loss. You might want to get the court paper on that and get notarized copies to send. The schools will likely want to see proof that this was income you had good reason to expect to get this calendar year and you now are not. And then a copy of your ex’s severance notice and app for unemployment.</strong></p>
<p>No official court papers about child support. This state does not have legal separation so no court-ordered child support. All I can really do is show what I have been getting, however haphazardly I’ve gotten it. No severance notice–all verbal in this relatively small business. but will be able to get unemployment app. copy.</p>
<p><strong>(your rental sale loss is killing you as it makes you ineligible for the special needs formula where assets are disregarded - unless you meet one of the criteria other than 1040a or ez)</strong>
It affected me even if I hadn’t sold it at a loss. Any rental property income/loss has to be reported on 1040. I could not persuade my sister to sell it when inherited 5 years ago. She was just sooooo certain that it was worth more than the appraisal and listed a sales price $100K over the appraisal!!! Then, refused to take offer that was $50 under the appraisal, which I wanted to do so I didn’t have to be a landlord. Then refused to sell at all for a year or two when she “borrowed” (absconded) with $100K from family to plow into her failing business, which is still a failure $300K and 3 years later. Now she is in deep financial trouble (is it any wonder?) so pressed me to sell now. I am just so glad not to have to be entangled in her finances, even though it is making things difficult with assets now. I can’t qualify for any of the other criteria for 1040A because of the assets. Maybe I’ll win the lottery and can give you all some Financial Aid!!</p>
<p>With such a low income do you qualify for anything like food stamps? Those programs can make you eligible for the simplified means tests.</p>
<p>The problem is that your issues are unlikely to be recognized. A friend of mine lost his vision, and therefore could not work in his profession, with finding other employment problematic. He shrewdly invested his money in real estate and was able to parlay it into a decent income for his family, about $60K a year. Son was accepted to Harvard, and that should have meant full fin aid. Didn’t get a penny. THough his investment property was what generated family income, and to sell or borrrow against any of it would lower said income, and it was also his retirement nest egg, none of the colleges would look at it that way. They were assets and their market value put the family out of the fin aid range. Lost all of the appeals.</p>
<p>Your situation has a number of facets, and you should give it a go wtih the fin aid offices of the schools, and hope for the best. As I’d suggested earlier, a gap year might be better for your DD; perhaps her father could then be her custodial parent and that would generate a lower EFC. </p>
<p>Unless you are declared officially disabled (as my friend was), you won’t be excused from working implicitly. Just as those with children who need daycare are also expected to work if the need is there. Your mother’s Soc Security or other payment would pay for her day care, most likely. But the bottom line is that you are probably going to have to find work of sorts. </p>
<p>The other thing is that your DD may want to stay at a local school, help out and not spend as much for college. Plenty of kids do that, as well. By not spending your assets on sleep away college, you may be able to hold onto your assets to a point where your DD is not going to have to subsidize you later in life, or not as much.</p>
<p>Gremom, the good thing is you really do NOT have to touch your $200,000 nest egg to pay college costs. You also have $125,000 in a 529 account, right? As I’ve said before, this should be able to,cover undergrad costs at any number of colleges within your state…and even other places especially if you add the $5500 direct loan to this.</p>
<p>Yes, it would be nice to have some of that 529 money for grad school. Everyone would love to,save their 529 for future expenses. But as pointed out upstream, your kiddo could get an assistantship, or fellowship for grad school. The kiddo might go,to,work and have an employer who partially funds grad school. Lots of “ifs” with grad school in the future. </p>
<p>Undergrad is NOW, and that needs to be your focus now, in my opinion. You are very fortunate to have a college fund that can fully fund an undergrad college education…very fortunate. </p>
<p>If your kiddo applied to schools with assured merit aid, you could very well have a surplus in that 529 to help with grad school.</p>
<p>We funded undergrad school for our kids. But we made it very clear that grad school was their responsibility. If you were to do this, you would not be the first parent to do so!</p>
<p>Your kiddo has the gift of leaving undergrad school with NO debt because of that 529 and the planning it took to fund that. </p>
<p>And because of that 529, YOUR $200,000 account can be used for YOUR expenses.</p>