<p>I need some advice, Our daughter is a senior at a University in Ireland she received a Pell Grant on her FAFSA but could not accept it as she is a full time student overseas, not an exchange student. Second daughter did not receive a Pell, is there a way to take advantage of the Pell grant for the second daughter? No one seems to be able to help</p>
<p>Individual circumstances vary, and they vary from year to year. If D2 isn’t eligible, there must be something different than the info used for D1. If the FAFSA was completed correctly, and if she isn’t eligible, that’s all there is to it.</p>
<p>If you were asking if D2 could use D1’s Pell, no.</p>
<p>Does D2 have a lot more income and/or assets than D1? If so then that could be why she is not eligible for the Pell. If not then there may be some input error on her FAFSA (or on D1s FAFSA).</p>
<p>I would think that the reality is that if a family for whatever reasons has a high debt load, they won’t be able to afford the “standard” family contribution. At that point, the school can either work with the family or not.</p>
<p>Let me ask a rhetorical question? Family A and B have the same income…Family A “does the right thing” and pays down the mortgage when they can, sacrifices and saves for their kid’s education whereas Family B is irresponsible, never saves a dime and repeatedly borrows equity from their home and spends it on fancy cars and vacations. They both show up in the college financial aid system with Family A at EFC of $40K in PROFILE/IM methodology and Family B at $15K. Family A could have a $15K EFC if they lived like Family B. </p>
<p>Is it “fair” that Family B gets their need met at private institution X whereas Family A doesn’t get aid and decides they cannot afford the $40K sticker price?</p>
<p>How about this scenario? Child is an orphan and their aunt/uncle is her guardian. Child is bright student, has overcome the tragic death of her parents as a child and most schools would love to have her. Guardians have no means of paying for college and as a result the only approach they know (via high school counselor) is to apply to public schools in their state (sticker price $25K). Even though EFC is $0 (Child is independent for FA purposes), the only money she could reasonably get is government free money, max Pell Grant perhaps and a comparable state need grant. That leaves a remaining bill of $15K+ per year which the guardians cannot afford (or don’t think they can). As a result, the Child either tries to goes the “hard way” with daunting odds or does not go at all as 30-35% of our kids that graduate from HS do!</p>
<p>Wouldn’t a “financial aid” counselor be helpful to these 2 families?</p>
<p>OK, this is completely off-topic, but immoral to shop at Goodwill? Amazing! I don’t shop there because I have no patience for sifting through cast-offs of others, but I have friends who do. My one friend buys a lot of books there. Is that OK, or is she depriving a poor child of reading material? I believe the Goodwill stores exist to raise money and provide jobs for needy people, not to supply them with clothes cheap. There are Goodwill stores in affluent areas also.</p>
<p>It’s immoral to have a dollar to buy a book at Goodwill. You should have given it away.</p>
<p>For those so quick to criticize the “professionals”…</p>
<p>Stop doing your taxes, because with a little more research and extra time, you can certainly do your own books and taxes.</p>
<p>Stop going to the grocery store. All you need is to put in a garden and start canning. You can go shoot your meat every fall and butcher it yourself.</p>
<p>Stop using the garbage man. Just throw it in your trunk and drive it to the dump yourself.</p>
<p>Stop using the exterminator. Lowes has a whole section of pesticides. Go get yourself a bottle and start spraying.</p>
<p>Take your children our out of school. Don’t you know you can homeschool? You don’t need to be supporting some professional to teach your own kids when you could be doing it yourself.</p>
<p>Stay away from the doctor. All you need is a few good manuals and the internet. Shoot… bone up on your chemistry and you can make those drugs you need.</p>
<p>Stop using lawyers. All the law is published anyway, and all they do is just apply that law to your situation. Just start reading.</p>
<p>Don’t hire a painter. You can paint your house or that room on your own. Heck that one doesn’t even require much skill.</p>
<p>I think I’ll stop there.</p>
<p>Now, would someone like to explain why all the above ideas would not work in their situation. As soon as you answer for one, you will know why some people like to use professionals.</p>
<p>For the OP… you do not have to go get a professional. Sounds like you have a good case for an appeal. Fill out the forms as you typically would. Explain your situation on the Profile (assuming you’re filing a profile) where provided. Prepare a letter describing your family’s medical problems and how it has affected you. Then contact each school directly.</p>
<p>Really? It is a stretch to compare giving financial aid advice with being a doctor or a lawyer. A painter, pretty close. Understanding the prep work options, tools and supplies available for painting a house or a room is pretty similar to understanding the FAFSA and Profile. Maybe you should have stopped before that one.</p>
<p>I included that one specifically to show the range of services that people pay for.</p>
<p>The financial aid process can be pretty complicated. Nothing wrong with hiring someone to help you navigate through it.</p>
<p>We found that we had the time and inclination to self educate, starting with reading “Paying for College Without Going Broke.” About $12 on Amazon, and worth every penny. That plus participating here regularly, made the process much more understandable.</p>
<p>But some people don’t have the time or inclination to get themselves up to speed on the minutea of the process, so hiring someone to help makes sense in some cases, and can end up saving money.</p>
<p>+1! Well-stated…</p>
<p>I think the trouble is that the people who could use the help the most don’t know enough to know they need the help.</p>
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<p>yeah… I kind of screwed that one up.</p>