I know is a topic where people will say “Oh just do it, you never know!” However, my Mom WILL NOT do the FAFSA. She claims it’s a waste of time to fill out a huge application form when she hardly even has time to finish her own work. She said she already knows we won’t get any money, so it would be pointless and unnecessary to do it. I would like to know if there is any compelling arguments I can make to her, in order for her to even consider doing it.
My mom earns 250k (physician) annually, and my stepdad’s salary is 20-25k (part-time home inspector). I live with them in Michigan, with my brother (13).
My dad (divorced parents) is retired and lives across the country in California. He receives 31k a year.
My dad has never paid for child support. However, he has already paid 12k (last year), and will hopefully pay 38k by the beginning of next summer. This equals to 50k, which is the amount of money my mom will match. This means that when I start college, I’ll have 100k in money that I can pay (if I unfortunately don’t get any money from scholarships). However, since my plans are to go to medical school, I truly wanna use as little of this amount as possible, so I won’t have that much in loans.
I can provide any information necessary to those who would like it, in order to determine whether I can make any arguments, proving her that filling out the FAFSA is plausible… or if she was right to not even think about filling it out. What do you think? Should I do it? Is it worth it (at least in MY situation)?
So your total family income is 275k. The only real reason I see for applying is if a scholarship requires it.
Do you have any other siblings in college? Are you looking at expensive private schools? If both of the answers to those are a yes, maybe it would be worth it.
You’re very luck to have 100k set aside for your college.
Do you have your stats? We can recommend some schools where you’d have a good shot at merit aid.
In some cases merit scholarship applications require the FAFSA (even if it shows no financial need, and even if demonstrated need is not a requirement for the scholarship). Check the requirements for all the merit scholarships you will apply for, and show your mom the relevant info if any require a FAFSA on file. Your mom is probably correct that you are really unlikely to qualify for any need based aid though. Our family income is also high, and when S applies to schools next year we don’t plan to fill out the FAFSA unless it is necessary for merit scholarships.
Yes, I agree you won’t get ‘need’ based aid, but in our research, many colleges do require it for merit aid. So, check the schools financial aid/merit aid/scholarship policies for what they require.
@Jpgranier No siblings in college, just me and my brother. Since I’m a Michigan resident, I’m only applying to schools in-state. Even though I’m not applying to any “expensive private schools”, the two big schools are Michigan State and the University of Michigan. I already got into State, and have applied for an exclusive scholarship only available to some kids (Since I live in the Upper Penninsula), which I will get the result of in Feb. Also, I haven’t gotten any other scholarship offers because I was just accepted, so maybe I will get some offers based off my merit in the next month or so.
Otherwise, UMich doesn’t have any I can directly apply to, and since I haven’t gotten my decision yet, I can’t be automatically considered for any yet. Furthermore, if I do get accepted, I know they are kinda stingy with their aid, and I really don’t want to decline attendance to the school due to financial means. (Which is another reason I want to see if doing the FAFSA could help me get some money from UMich if I could possibly qualify).
As for other schools, MSU and UMich are my top. I also applied to smaller schools that are more generous, which I have also done scholarship competitions for. I don’t plan to apply to anymore.
@traveler98 Thanks. I didn’t think about that, but will look into it. Some I already know don’t require it, but I know that some competitions I’m doing weigh in financial need in order to award the money…
@greenteen17 what schools give need based aid to families with $275,000 in income…do tell? Plus those generous schools will also consider the non-custodial parent in most cases…taking the income to $300,000.
I don’t know of one single college that gives need based aid to families with $$275,000 in income…or more.
Also, just as a side note, some colleges I applied to require the CSS (Like University of Michigan). Would this end up being viable to do, meaning I would do the FAFSA as well? Based on my knowledge, the CSS is usually for that “other” parent (divorced, doesn’t live in same household, etc.) Since my parents are divorced, and my dad is retired, should I do this, or is it probably useless either way?
@thumper1 if OP had a sibling in college, he very well could have qualified for a small amount of financial aid at a 100% needs met, 50k tuition school
If your mother won’t fill in the FAFSA, she’s not going to fill in the CSS. The CSS would require your mother and stepfather’s income and assets, and your non-custodial father’s.
I think it will be the same result, that you’ll have no financial need. If the scholarships require either the FAFSA or CSS and you don’t complete them, you probably won’t get the scholarships.
@thumper1 in a financial aid information pamphlet that Princeton sent me, it has the financial aid for students admitted to the class of 2019. It’s a chart of income range and financial aid awards. In the 250,000+ row, the average grant was 19,000. It states beneath that most who qualified had at least two children in college.
This poster has already said…there will only be ONE kid in college. With one kid in college…and that income of $275,000, there is NO COLLEGE where this student will receive need based aid.
Then why are you doing those? There will be no need based aid available. You’ll need to look for merit aid. Schools that will require you to fill out the FAFSA for scholarships will let you know that. Otherwise the only reason to fill it out is to get the Direct Loan which you may Need if your mom sticks to the $50K match. She could fill out the FAFSA each year and you could get $27K over the four years.
The FAFSA is not particularly onerous; the CSS Profile is more time consuming. If you are interested in direct loans, the FAFSA is required. But as has been established, you won’t be eligible for need-based aid at the Michigan publics.
However, it looks like there are many merit scholarships offered by Michigan State that do not have a need component and for which you are considered automatically. I hope you get one of them!
My dad has never paid for child support. However, he has already paid 12k (last year), and will hopefully pay 38k by the beginning of next summer. This equals to 50k, which is the amount of money my mom will match. This means that when I start college, I'll have 100k in money that I can pay (if I unfortunately don't get any money from scholarships). However, since my plans are to go to medical school, I truly wanna use as little of this amount as possible, so I won't have that much in loans.
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What are the chances that your low-income dad will pay an add’l $38k by summer??? He paid $12k last year, which sounds like maybe some/all from savings??
What if your dad only pays $6k between now and summer. Does that mean that your mom will only match $18k???
I now see how doing the FAFSA and CSS are both pretty useless in my situation, so my mom did end up being right (aren’t they always?? :D)
I have looked into the merit-based scholarships, so hopefully I may get offers soon. All I can do is wait now. Financial need-based is most likely irrelevant.
@mom2collegekids
Well, the 38k is most likely what he has saved since I was born. He would have paid more than the 12k last year, but that’s all my mom asked for last year from him (I don’t know why).
No. I probably didn’t make myself clear earlier, but it’s not that my mom will match him, but when I was younger they agreed to pay for half of my college (assuming 100k will pay for all 4 years), meaning she would pay 50k and he would pay 50k. She has the 50k already, so she wants 38k more from my dad. If he only pays 6k, I’ll probably have 68k. But, my mom threatened a lawsuit for the many years of not paying any child support since the divorce, so he probably will pay up.
@thumper1
I’m assuming my mom’s, because she is paying for my college so…
So, your mom is now saying that she’ll pay for your college? Awhile ago you said that your mom was not going to pay for your college because she paid for her college.
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Well, the 38k is most likely what he has saved since I was born
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? Can you clarify? Just because he wasn’t paying child support doesn’t mean that he was “saving” that money to be given later.
In all honesty, any previous posts about financial aid that have been posted can be completely ignored, because that was just me being a child and overreacting with what if situations (a.k.a. “what if parents don’t wanna pay” or “what if this, what if that” stuff). So, this thread is complete 100% truth. So, yes, the answer to your question is that she will.
Well I do not know the exact details of all arrangements they made after their divorce, but I do know they had an agreement, like I said, that they would each contribute 50k for my schooling. This means that for 10+ years he had already known he was supposed to give this money to my mom when I go to college, and he probably had whatever money he was saving beforehands, but knew it had to eventually add up to 50k by 2017 (first year I start college). Since they made this agreement, my mom let the child support situation go because she trusted him and knew he would pay up when it was critically needed. So, even though he wasn’t paying child support, it was only because he was supposed to save up the money (50k) to pay out to me for college costs.
Does that happen to make more sense? And, if you don’t mind me asking, how can you tie in these questions of yours to my previous question about filling FAFSA and whatnot? Maybe I’m being dumb, but I don’t see the correlation. Can you reflect further? Thanks
Until the money is IN the bank account from both of your parents (I would,strongly suggest a 529 because that will be used for educational expenses), don’t count on it.
