<p>My daughter's college changedinformation on the FAFSA. The family contribution was $5900, and I am a single parent with 3 full time students. The college changed the FAFSA to one full time student. I questioned it and they added another one. I advisedthatI was also attending college full time and theyadvised thatusually hurts more than it helps. So I verifiedthatI was a f/tstudent and when they added it the EFC dropped to $999. This has been going on for the past two years, and I have several loans taken out because I was expected to pay so much. Are they actually allowed to change information without verifying?</p>
<p>Yes, they can change information. The problem may be that you could be missing a step – some (perhaps most) colleges want to see verification of enrollment for the sibling. At least in my case, that meant that at a time when my son was not receiving aid at his in-state public college, he had to go to the financial aid department and submit a form from my daughter’s out-of-state private, to be sent to them. (I always appreciated the fact that he did this very promptly, within a day or so after I sent him the form).</p>
<p>It always helps to be very proactive about documentation.</p>
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<p>Do you have 3 dependent children attending college? Not sure what they mean when they say it hurts more than it helps. There is no penalty for the dependent student if the parent is also a student, but there is no extra exemption given either. For FAFSA, a parent attending college does not count for their children’s FAFSA number in college (question 76). The children attending college do count for the parent’s EFC calculation (independent student, question 97).</p>
<p><a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/CompletingtheFAFSA09-10.pdf[/url]”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/CompletingtheFAFSA09-10.pdf</a></p>
<p>College advised that when a parent claims to be going to college that it actually would lessen the chance for aid. I have 2 in college plus myself. I just don’t understand why colleges would change the number attending college prior to any verification, I just feel they should have asked for verification if there was anything in question. Well…they did asked for verification and then they took it off. So my question would be why ask for verification and THEN remove once it is verified . Why did I even answer the questions if someone was going to change it? Wasted time! At least I did catch it and verified that I answered honestly, and am know aware that the colleges manipulate the forms to lessen aid (to even the ones who need it).</p>
<p>For your two dependent children, the number in college for FAFSA should be 2. On your own FAFSA, the number in college should be 3. If that’s what the SARs read now, then they may have realized they made a mistake in adding you as a student to your child’s FAFSA. Parents do not count as students on their dependents’ FAFSA.</p>
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For purposes of sibling enrollment, “verification” means a document received from the sibling’s college confirming enrollment; at least in my daughter’s case, her college also wanted documentation from my son’s school showing the COA. I had to get that in September, after the start of the term – and the financial aid award was written up as if my son were not enrolled in college until that was done. (It was o.k. with me because I had discussed the handling of it in detail with the financial aid people in advance - they told me the grant would be increased once they got the documents, and in fact it was).</p>
<p>I change number in college when I verify. As others have pointed out, a parent who is attending college does NOT count in the dependent student’s number in college. In addition, many colleges do not allow the inclusion of a sibling who is independent by financial aid rules (age, grad student) in the # in college (we do not). We HAVE to abide by the rules; it’s not a choice.</p>