<p>hello! everyone here seems to know what they're doing, so i would love to get some help with my situation.</p>
<p>i live with my mother, two siblings, and my boyfriend also lives with us.</p>
<p>my mom's annual income is ~125k. she gets child support from my dad, but it's not really that much and he refuses to contribue towards my educational expenses. he moved overseas in 2005 and we have not been in contact since. he and my mother occasionally talk (or yell and fight, rather) about finances, so i also cannot get his tax and income information. </p>
<p>i filled out fafsa and all of the forms my school requires, but despite my mom's high income, i need a lot of help paying for school. my parents' divorce process was lengthy and left my mom in a lot of debt (~500k from loans that my dad took out and forged her signature on; it's really complicated. we can't go back to court because it drained all of our savings the first time around and my mom doesn't think it will do any good) and so a lot of her earnings go towards paying that off. we wrote a letter explaining this and we sent a budget to show our monthly break down, but i'm not sure what to expect. </p>
<p>using numbers only, the online efc calculator said we'd be expected to contribute about 22k each year. my mom said that this is doable, but i'm really worried about the loan part, as i doubt that the rest will be covered in grants.</p>
<p>if i don't get enough aid, what should i do? what else could i send my school to appeal their aid decision? is it common for people who have strange circumstances to get good aid?</p>
<p>This is a clear indication taht you might need to take a few gap years and reapply as an independent student. Once you turn twenty four, your mother’s financial information wont be take into account when doing your EFC; your information wil be, but it’s unlikely that you will make nearly as much so you will have a lower EFC and be eligible for Pell grants, workstudy, and subsidized loans. Many people end up having to either take 4 gap years and enter the workforce immediately, or start working part time to pay your way to your nearby community college for a year or two with intent to transfer out. If that isn’t palatable, then you have ltitle recourse except privat eloans, which can be very beneficial due to favorable interest rates and the relative ease of obtaining a cosigner since your mother has a high income.</p>
<p>You need to be a little more specific on what schools you are considering, with the COA (cost of attendance is), a little bit about your profile etc. If finances are problem, you may need to think of other schools, or other choices. Do schools see unusual situations? Yes all the time, but how they deal with that is school specific and dependent on what is strange. Some schools are more flexible than others. Some schools may make make exceptions based on a combination of your academic record and your situation etc. So it all depends.</p>
<p>There’s no need for the OP to take 6 or 7 years off until he/she is 24. If the mother is comfortable paying 22K/year, there is a world of possibilities available among public colleges and privates that give good merit aid.</p>
<p>I disagree. There are many other options the OP should consider. If her parent is able and willing to pay $20K per year…or so…this would likely cover most of the costs at a public university within her home state. OR the OP could take the first two years of general education requirements at a community college with good articulation agreements with four year schools…and then finish a bachelors at a four year public university. </p>
<p>OR the OP might have the GPA/SAT scores to garner merit aid at some school which would offset the full cost of attendance.</p>
<p>OP…you say you filled out the FAFSA etc and are waiting for info. When did you do this? If you are a high school senior and have gotten your acceptances, you should also have gotten your financial aid from those schools…assuming you filled everything out in a timely fashion. Perhaps you can clarify this.</p>
<p>In any event…the OP has options other than taking time off until age 24. If he/she wants to attend college NOW there are ways to do so.</p>
<p>i actually am already a transfer. i spent 2 years commuting to a local state school, so only 2 years of tuition will need to be covered. i applied only to cornell, because eventually my mom will take my dad back to court and technically he is only required to pay for half of what a SUNY school costs, as per their divorce settlement. the land-grant part of cornell counts as a SUNY, so i got lucky in that i can still go to a good school but get a tuition break. the COA is ~40k. if he had been paying his half all along, then i would have no problems. </p>
<p>i’m also already here. my mom didn’t want me to apply for finaid during the application process because she didn’t want it to hinder my application, even though cornell says they’re need-blind. she said the semesters i spent at home helped tremendously and she knows how hard it was for me to be forced to go there, so she wanted me here no matter what. we paid this semester out of pocket, but that doesn’t change her ability to pay for our efc if it is in the ~22k range. i won’t find out about what they give me until june or so. </p>
<p>i guess i’m just bitter because i feel like my father really should be helping to pay. he is at the ripe old age of 55 and has been retired for 2 years already, as is his new wife, who is just turning 40. so maybe if i can’t get more financial aid necessarily, does anyone have experience going after someone who is overseas and hiding his assets?</p>
<p>Well, two years is a whole lot better than four years if you need to take on some debt, and your mom too.</p>
<p>I’m sorry about the situation with your dad. But sometimes you need to decide if putting your energy into that is worth what you’re likely to get out of it. Unless he has assets here in the US, I’m guessing that it will be very, very hard to force him to pay what he apparently owns. Maybe it is time to move on. His life – and his wife – are out of your control.</p>
<p>I’m still perplexed as to how your mom is going to pay for this last two years of school for you if she’s already so extended on the prior debt. You’ll only qualify for the Stafford loans. Maybe Cornell will come through with aid for you, but that seems like a risky proposition – what if they don’t?</p>
<p>So you’re a junior at Cornell now and looking for FA for your senior year? Pretty sure Cornell still guarantees to meet full need after the family pays their (Profile) EFC and a small student contribution and limits student loans to under $5K…you should probably explore whether there are additional restrictions. But, in a worst case scenario, since you’re a NY resident at one of the land grant schools, the approx. $35K (billable) COA - $22K EFC only leaves you with around $13K to come up with. You’d at least be eligible for a $7500 Stafford loan and, if you’re not living on campus, the R&B number included in their COA is likely to drop significantly.</p>
<p>I don’t think you will gain much by going after your dad but you could at least stop paying his debt. If this is true, that he forged her signature, then I don’t think she is responsible for it and I don’t know why she feels like she has to pay it. If she stops paying his debt that will help with the family finances considerably.</p>
<p>If your mother’s signature was forged, then she should report identity theft to the police and send in the police report to whomever she is paying the debt to – and stop paying it.</p>
<p>If your mom has that kind of debt ($500k) and is only making about $125k per year, how can she afford to pay $22k each year for college?</p>
<p>It sounds like you’re depending on your dad to come up with the equivalent of 1/2 of a SUNY. He’s in another country and has left your mom with huge debt. WHY would you think that he would pay that half? That’s a pipe dream.</p>
<p>your mom was wrong not to have you apply for financial aid. </p>
<p>How are you paying for Cornell NOW? I don’t get it. Or, have you been accepted at Cornell for the fall?</p>
<p>i transferred in this spring. my mom had enough to pay out of pocket for this semester and can still pay for the next 2 year if my efc is about 22k. and i know things are very weird with me lol, hence the title of my thread. i appreciate all of the input. i will keep trying to make things as clear as possible and provide you with enough info to get a good idea of what to do</p>
<p>also, the reason that all of our savings were drained was because as part of their divorce it was basically my parents suing each other. my mom brought all of those forged signatures, etc in as evidence but she still came out with the crappy end of the stick. she’s a good lady; i feel really bad for her. in any case, she doesn’t have more extra money to pay for both court and school. if we were to lose again, she’d be completely done. i think she’d rather be able to help me and my siblings than potentially fail in court again</p>
<p>i think her pride is getting in her way. my grandma offered to foot the bill for everything and also for grad school. i don’t really have an issue with my grandma putting me through school, so i guess worst case scenario this would happen. my mom makes the final choice though, so if i can get cornell to help me out as much as possible, then my mom won’t feel hurt and i can still finish up strong.</p>
<p>another thing that complicates this is that one of the things (i forget which) asked for both 2008 and for 2009’s tax info. my mom made 240k in 2008 because she had a different job and also consulted on the side. for 2009, she made 160k. the problem is, she got a new job so her income for this year will be what i said, which is 125k. so if they go based off of the higher numbers, then i don’t know what i’m going to say to show that it changed. i’m including a pay stub in our “additional info” packet.</p>
<p>i also am getting a third party to write a letter for me saying that my dad has no involvement and hasn’t been in contact with us for some years. is there anything else i should ask to be included in the letter?</p>
<p>Sorry, as stated by a couple of folks so far…your situation doesn’t add up!! Cornell is essentially a 100% need met school so IF your EFC is $22k and COA is $40K (as a NY resident)…you should get enough financial aid to get you to about $22K or so per year. Did you apply for aid? If so, get help fixing it. If not, you should let the financial aid office know immediately to see if they can help you immediately.</p>
<p>Further, assuming the father/forgery is for real, you MUST explain to Cornell for further help…they can use “professional judgment” to further help you beyond EFC…</p>
<p>I don’t think you have a problem. Your grandmother can pay if all else fails. The divorce is complicated and your father does not want to pay. </p>
<p>My advice is to not tell the story to financial aid with such detail. It is too complicated. It raises too many questions. Stick to the facts and to information that can be documented. Provide information that can be supported, such as pay stubs and divorce decrees. Stop explaining and let the facts speak for you. </p>
<p>Example: “My parents divorced in 2008.I have lived with my mother and siblings for X number of years and my mother supports us from her work as a (whatever). My father lives in (wherever) and is not in our lives, does not contact us nor does he provide any financial support. I am attaching my parents’ divorce decree, my mother’s income taxes for 2008 and 2009, and a letter from our pastor verifying my father’s lack of participation in our lives. Thank you for your help.”</p>
<p>You are not responsible for your parents’ divorce. </p>
<p>I don’t know about Cornell, but I know that Brown will not award financial aid if a student doesn’t apply at the time of admission application, even if the student’s circumstances change.</p>
<p>I would imagine Cornell is similar. </p>
<p>Only certain programs of Cornell are land grant programs, so also ensure that you are applying to one of those. The remaining programs are as expensive as any other ivy.</p>
<p>Susgeek, the student is already enrolled at Cornell in one of the land grant colleges. Cornell is strictly need blind and will award financial aid to students who initially did not need/apply for it. </p>
<p>OP, I feel for your mom but she likely does have recourse through NY’s laws on identity theft. She should at least fill out a police report and send it to the lenders…I don’t know what type of debt this is or what their marital status was when it was incurred, but generally lenders must remove her name from those accounts if there was a legal separation in place and she did not cosign the applications. From personal experience I know that a police report is not even required for some types of accounts, such as credit card and consumer accounts, much less an attorney! If she encounters resistance on the part of the lender or has questions on this she can contact the NY Attorney General’s office for assistance.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the Cornell financial aid pledge appears to apply to families with incomes up to $120K per year Meanwhile, you obviously have unusual family financial circumstances and should work directly with Cornell’s FA office to see what your options are. Your grandmother’s generous offer is a great “safety net” but the school should not consider her finances in any case so there’s probably no need to mention her in any appeal you may have to make. Perhaps a good way to ensure there are no hurt feelings (or impact to your EFC the following year due to “outside support”) would be for you to borrow the additional amount you need with the understanding that Grandma could pay off the loans when you graduate.</p>
i really appreciate it. </p>
Meanwhile, you obviously have unusual family financial circumstances and should work directly with Cornell’s FA office to see what your options are. Your grandmother’s generous offer is a great “safety net” but the school should not consider her finances in any case so there’s probably no need to mention her in any appeal you may have to make. Perhaps a good way to ensure there are no hurt feelings (or impact to your EFC the following year due to “outside support”) would be for you to borrow the additional amount you need with the understanding that Grandma could pay off the loans when you graduate.</p>