<p>In two years I will have a sophomore in college and senior in high school. My senior's plan is to take college classes. Will that count as having two college students for the FAFSA and CSS?</p>
<p>Generally No.</p>
<p>From the official 2013-14 FAFSA:</p>
<p>Include others only if they will attend, at least half-time in 2013-2014, a program that
leads to a college degree or certificate.</p>
<p>If you are applying to a CSS Profile school, some of them even ask what school the other kid is going to and how much you’re paying for it.</p>
<p>Taking classes, and being enrolled in a degree program are two different things. If your Senior is considered a college student, than when he applies to colleges he would be applying as a transfer student. If he applies as a transfer student, he won’t qualify for aid as a first-time college student (a freshman) the following year - you can’t have it both ways.</p>
<p>Thanks. I guess I was misguided by a college financial service. My boy would rather graduate sooner than later so I don’t think transfer status will matter for him. I’m not sure if merit aid is in the picture for him.</p>
<p>The most generous merit and financial aid offers are given to first time freshman students. </p>
<p>He may still be able to use some of the credits when he get to college to have advanced standing or to place out of some intro courses. Keep in mind that many selective schools will not take credits earned in college before you were a matriculated student (then like CTS stated your son would be considered a transfer student).</p>
<p>If you can avoid it, you do not want your son to give up his freshman status. Many selective schools (if you are looking at those) will be harder to gain admission as a transfer student due to the very limited number of seats available.</p>
<p>However, if your son is looking to go to grad school (especially law/medicine) most schools will want transcripts for every college course you have taken , even as a high school student. The LSAC will average those grades into the transcript that they send to the law schools.</p>
<p>Is he talking dual enrollment classes? If yes, he is not considered a degree seeking student and should not be listed as a college student on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>the FAFSA states the following</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My boy would rather graduate sooner than later so I don’t think transfer status will matter for him. I’m not sure if merit aid is in the picture for him.</p>
<p>I think you may be misunderstanding. Taking college classes as a high school student is fine. Your child still applies as an incoming frosh (not a transfer). That does NOT mean that your child won’t be able to graduate sooner. He may have “junior status” credits-wise, but he’d still be considered an incoming frosh for aid or merit consideration.</p>
<p>Your son may be eligible for merit at some schools. Depends on his test scores and GPA.</p>
<p>^^that was our experience. The concurrent classes did not change the student’s freshman status. They were added to the transcript after the student started the first semester of enrollment as an actual college student. The one thing we were warned about was taking any classes at a CC in the summer between graduating HS and starting college classes as then the CC classes and the concurrent classes would have been added together at the end of summer and could have changed the freshman status for the fall. </p>
<p>And as others have said, a HS student doing concurrent classes is not eligible for FAFSA and is not counted as one in college on a sibling’s FAFSA.</p>
<p>swimcatsmom, I did not realize about the summer classes. Thanks so much.</p>
<p>It probably varies by school, but that is what my daughter’s school told us.</p>
<p>My daughter took CC classes between 12th grade and university last summer. A lot of her friends did the same. Nothing happened to their freshman status.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact I read some ‘warnings’ at this forum and called the UT admission office myself to ask if my daughter could take CC classes or it would be a problem with her freshman status and UT scholarship. I was told it was no problem, she could take classes at CC before UT.</p>
<p>As I said, it will vary by school. At my daughter’s school it would have only been a problem if the student had enough credits (AP and/or college classes from concurrent enrollment) that added together to the summer classes put the student at the number of credits that would make them a transfer student. It wouldn’t have affected her, but they made a big point about it at a scholarship recipient program she went to. That was just at one particular school.</p>
<p>I would still prefer to give the “warning” that it may be a an issue if it saves even one student from potentially losing a valuable scholarship.</p>
<p>It’s always a good idea to check with your own school about that sort of thing. And about most anything school related for that matter. After years on CC, I am still surprised at how many variations there are from school to school.</p>
<p>It does vary by school. However, the biggest problem seems to be if the student has taken a gap year and there are post-high-school college credits on the student’s record when the student applies for college. The status at the time of application seems to be the biggest deal. If still in high school, then college credits seem ok. If out of high school, the student takes college classes, and then applies to college, then the incoming frosh status is often ruined.</p>
<p>I haven’t actually heard of a student who applies for college during senior year, gets awarded a scholarship, then takes a summer CC class, then arrive on campus and have his incoming frosh scholarship taken away. The scholarship is awarded based on the student’s status at the time of application. Losing the scholarship over a summer CC class would be a rare (but possible) event.</p>
<p>Heck, if that were going to happen, then wait a long time to send that CC transcript. That said, I’ve never heard of that actually happening to a student who is going right from spring high school grad to fall college, since the scholarship is awarded prior to that class.</p>