Dead end?

Paying for College
1

<p>heres my situation. i was accepted to brown ED. my parents and i filled out the forms to get a read on where we might stand with financial aid, and the response was that we did not qualify for any aid. granted my parents combined income is a bit above $150,000 so i wasn't expecting to get any money. </p>

<p>my parents now inform me that they have about $15-20,000 to spend on college for the next four years. to most this may sound like a good amount but considering school will be about $40,000+ that only takes care of a just under half. we don't have any unnecessary expenditures and the reason there is not as much money for college as appears, is due to my dad who has a medical condition that makes him uninsurable, so any time he enters the hospital we pay for it out of pocket (~$15,000 each time, ~once a year).</p>

<p>now to the question. is there any way that we can qualify for financial aid under FAFSA or brown's financial aid program? on paper it may seem that we have plenty of money, but the forms do not seem to take into account the unknown expenditures similar to ours.</p>

<p>also, i know this may be a crazy idea, but i recently turned 18, so could I file as an independant with no income and possibly qualify for need based aid?</p>

<p>i am well aware of all the scholarships out there for essay writing and the such, but in reality it is unlikely i could win enough of them to cover teh difference in schooling over the next four years. loans of course would not be much of an issue to obtain, but i just want to check all of my options first.</p>

<p>Thank you so much for any help or insight you may have.</p>

2

<p>
[quote]
i know this may be a crazy idea, but i recently turned 18, so could I file as an independant with no income and possibly qualify for need based aid?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>truning 18 does not make you an independent student in the college process.</p>

<p>In order to be considered an independent student you would have to answer yes to one of the following:</p>

<p>Were you born before January 1, 1983?</p>

<p>Will you be working on a degree beyond a bachelor's degree, such as a master's or doctorate, in school year 2006-2007?</p>

<p>As of the date you will be submitting the FAFSA, are you married? (Answer yes if you are separated, but not divorced.)</p>

<p>Do you have children who receive more than half of their support from you, or do you have dependents (other than your children or spouse) who live with you and receive more than half of their support from you, now and through June 30, 2007? </p>

<p>Are you an orphan or ward of the court or were you a ward of the court until age 18?</p>

<p>Are you a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces?</p>

<p>
[quote]
my parents combined income is a bit above $150,000 so i wasn't expecting to get any money.</p>

<p>my parents now inform me that they have about $15-20,000 to spend on college for the next four years.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Let this be a cautionary tale that you need to have the money talk *** before *** you sign the ED form. If money is going to be any kind of factor (your looking for $35,000 in aid could be considered a factor) then you should not be applying ED a process which states if admitted you will attend, regardless of the amount of aid you are given.</p>

<p>
[quote]
my dad who has a medical condition that makes him uninsurable, so any time he enters the hospital we pay for it out of pocket (~$15,000 each time, ~once a year).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Did you make the FA office aware of this? Are these monies a deduction that your parents can take on their taxes as unreimbursed medical expenses? You should have your parents contact the FA office at Brown and request a financial review. They will have to submit all of the supporting documentation to the school. You probably will still have to pay out a nice chunk of money as far as your EFC is concerned, but you just may get an adjustment.</p>

3

<p>thanks for the information, obviously as you probably assumed i dont qualify to apply as an independant.</p>

<p>i am not looking to get the full difference covered just a nice chunk. i was hoping in the range of $10-15,000. do you think this is possible with the current situation.</p>

4

<p>Even if your parents make $150,000 the $15,000 that they have paid out in medical expenses probably will not radically change your FA package. </p>

<p>You may still end up close to being a full paying student because your EFC would probably still be over $33,000 just on your parents income alone. If they have a lot of home equity, savings, savings in your name, you this is also factored in to your receiving FA.</p>

5

<p>if the family income is a bit over 150,000, even if you minus the 15,000 a year that is still considerably more than most other family incomes of kids who are applying to college.</p>

<p>You can always get loans and a job. That is what most kids end up doing.
As far as FA goes, I don't think you have much of a shot at receiving 10-15 grand in grant money but try everything you and make sure you mention your situation in the add info section.
You are obviously a very smart person as is evident through your acceptance to Brown... Apply for as money scolarships as you can.</p>

6

<p>we found that when the situation changed or when there were expenses not necessarily taken into consideration on FAFSA aid offices were open to renegotiating the package.
If you have documentation of your dads medical related expenses for last year- ask the office if submission of those figures would allow reconsideration
However- even if the expenses were $15,000- it would be unusual for your aid package to then be increased by that amount- particulary as medical expenses can be taken off of taxes.
It is really a shame that your parents did not state up front the amount they were willing to pay for school- ED is not the way to go if you need aid- especially if you need merit aid to attend.( with a high EFC)
Students can earn $3,000 to $4,000 summers to apply towards tuition costs and many schools expect them to do so.
While you won't be eligible for work study- there should still be on campus jobs that could help pay expenses, at the very least, for books and personal expenses.
Try and pin your parents down to get a clearer idea of what they will commit to. There is a $5,000 difference between $15,000 and $20,000.
Thats a lot !</p>

7

<p>thanks for all the advice, we are going to sit down and do the FAFSA forms tonight, so hopefully i can get some more specific information to share with everyone so that other solutions can be reached.</p>