Hi all,
As you can probably get by the title, my dad lost his job yesterday. Both parents work, but my dad makes 85k out of our 99-101k net income.
Is there a way to report this (and should I)? We have no idea where he’s going to get a new job and we’re fairly in debt. We’re struggling, but hopefully we’ll slide through. I applied to Stanford EA.
Thanks
Sorry to hear about the job loss. Right now, financial aid is based on prior, prior. This means that your aid will be based on your family’s 2015 income. Since this is also December, by the time your dad gets paid severance, he will be pretty much be made whole for tax year 2016(which will be the basis for aid in 2018-2019).
The best that you can do is if you get accepted into Stanford and get a financial aid package, is to appeal and let them know this new piece of information. Keep in mind that it may not have any bearing on the financial aid package that you receive.
You absolutely should report this to the financial aid office, as this is a significant change in the household status. This would be reported on the CSS profile, but since you have already submitted it, it would be fine to contact the FA dept to ask their suggestion. Even though this is new for your family, virtually every school will have dealt with this sort of thing. Even though they are now using prior prior, they do have significant judgment they can apply - because they had to have a mechanism in place when they were using prior. Next year your family’s income is very much unknown - chances are that your family is unable to plan on contributing close to what they would have if your dad was still working.
Best of luck to you.
Once again, it is really too early in the process.
Since Stanford is non-binding, they probably won’t entertain your appeal until next spring (by this time hopefully, your father will have found other employment).
Financial will not make any adjustments on a recent ob loss until after a package has been submitted and you supply documentation.
Still, your father has pretty much been made whole for the tax year 2016, with there being 1 month left to the year.
While your dad has had a full income for 2015 (for prior prior), he has also had a full income for 2016.
Schools will want to see what severance package he is receiving if any and the length of unemployment.
With this new piece of information, one of the best things that you can do is have real talk with your parents about finances. If you are a competitive candidate for Stanford, then you are probably a competitive candidate for Merit money. Check schools where you are still viable candidate for merit money now as many will close on December 1.
I think colleges expect that parents will look for a new job and won’t adjust aid unless the person has been out of work for several months. If the dad still isn’t working in March/April then it’s reasonable to appeal financial aid packages, but I wouldn’t do it before then.
Since you already submittd the CSS profile, you need to contact Admissions and report that, as of now, your 2015 income doesn’t reflect your current income due to your dad losing his job. Your 2015 income basically reflects your 2016 income, but won’t reflect your 2017 incom since, as I understand it, you went from about 90k to 25K, which is huge. Ask Admissions what thy suggest you do.
(Is your dad considered a dislocated worker? Check.)
Wrt Stanford, in both cases it means you don’t have to pay tuition (their threshold is 125K) but it’ll affect the rest of your financial aid package.
What you will be asking for is a special circumstance consideration. At this point, all you really can do is contact the colleges and find out THEIR processes for filing a special circumstances consideration. The schools will tell you what to do, and when to do it, when they will consider these, and IF they consider these.
Things to know:
1 Some colleges won’t review this for a certain time period…because they assume your parent will get a new job.
If you get accepted at Stanford, wouldn’t you have tuition mostly covered with their need based aid? Can you cover room/board?
Also, you might want to put in applications to some more affordable places…if you are really a competitive applicant for Stanford, you should be able to get decent merit aid elsewhere…and that is not income dependent.
What state do you live in? How is the job market for what your dad does? Can your mom also search for a higher paying job?
Hi everyone,
Okay I’m a little lost right now.
So should I send the Stanford Fin. Aid office an email right now or do I wait until after I get a decision (rumored to be next friday)?
I think I’m a pretty competitive applicant.
I’m from TX. Don’t know how the job market is tbh, he’s an environmental engineer. I’m not sure about my mom.
Stanford probably is not going to do anything regarding a job loss until April when they send out the RD decision. Hopefully your dad will have another job. If not they will probably want to know how much he is receiving in severance, when the severance runs out and how much he will receive from unemployment. Right now it is too soon for Stanford to do anything with the information,especially because they are non binding and youhave until May 1 to accept
It can’t hurt to send a message to the financial aid office. They may tell you to wait until acceptance or may give you the forms to prepare. If your family income is under $125k even with the job, it may make no difference for Stanford, you may get full financial aid anyway.
Just make sure your dad saves everything - notice of lay off, any letters about unemployment or severance, final pay stub.
If you read Stanfords FAQs, a request for revision is for newly admitted students Question 20).
When you do submit your information use their document upload and send the information only once
form (form for 2017-2018 is not even up yet, only 2016-2017):
Hey OP, listen to sybbie and you won’t go wrong.
Just furthering Sybbie’s point - I had a friend in this situation where her father lost his job and the financial aid office was able to help them. She had to submit information to back it up but still, it proved worth it! Good luck.
This poster needs to contact HER colleges to find out the procedure for a special circumstances consideration.
Read my previous response…and @sybbie719 responses.
@scholarshiptips YMMV depending on the college. While your friend got some help, there is NO guarantee that this student will.
Sorry about your dad’s job loss. Before notifying any schools, you might consider if they are need-blind (which could affect admissions decisions) and when they notify about financial aid packages.
Stanford says they are need-blind and they notify successful EA applicants about FA awards on Dec. 15. So I doubt there is any advantage or disadvantage in giving them all the details now. I can’t imagine they will increase a package significantly (or at all) based on a week of unemployment, when your dad may have a new job in two months. Waiting a week or more to tell them is not likely to hurt.
Have you run the NPC for Stanford? My guess is that at most you would have to pay the equivalent of room and board (and maybe do work-study for expenses). It might well cost less than that. If you do get into Stanford next week with the equivalent of a full tuition (or a bit more) scholarship, I’m sure you can work it out somehow. Stanford doesn’t have loans in their packages, so you can borrow at least part of what your parents are expected to pay.