My spouse is entering a 15-month accelerated nursing program in fall 2019 and we will also have 2 kids in college at that time. It appears that the FAFSA does not take into account college expense for a parent and we were also told via a phone call to a State school’s financial office that no consideration will be given to that $30k educational expense. Will this be true for all colleges - public and private? We have also submitted a FAFSA for my spouse. Any advice would be appreciated.
Yes, this is true. You spouse gets to put on her FAFSA , that you have 2 kids in college, but it does not work the other way around. You will get no consideration for your spouse being in school at the same time as your kids
^^. True.
Someone once mentioned that many years ago, FAFSA used to take into account parents attending college, but it was abused. Parents would sign up for cheap/free CC classes and then drop out, get their money back, but their kids would get the benefit of a split EFC, often resulting in a Pell Grant.
Wow. I can see how that would be a problem. Even without strict FAFSA consideration, then, if we show that she has been taking her pre-requisites for two semesters, would a financial aid office have any discretion to consider it? I’m also wondering if there is any difference in public versus private college policy…
No, the FA office has no choice. They have to follow fed rules…and that means parents attending college do not count as students in school.
An extremely generous private college may decide to award some aid, but they will not be allowed to adjust EFC. So there could be no Pell award to your kids simply because parent is in college. And any WS or other fed aid would disappear.
Is this really an issue? Do these schools promise to “meet need”. At many schools, once you’re beyond a Pell EFC, you don’t get much aid (free money) anyway.
What is each child’s EFC?
What is your wife’s EFC?