<p>Okay, so I’ve been accepted to UCLA (#1) and now have been looking at financial aid and scholarships.</p>
<p>The FAFSA does not reflect the financial trouble we are in right now… my dad was recently diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s) and my mom only works part time (basically, we have gone from an approximate 150k family to around 45k since my dad is now on disability.<br>
Since this diagnosis was around application time (October-November), he was still able to work for a few months, completing the 2008 year. Anyways, once we did the FAFSA and stuff, our EFC was really high, around 10k over the UCLA tuition cost, meaning that we would get nothing in terms of grants and aid.</p>
<p>Now… I have two options…</p>
<li>Write a letter to UCLA financial aid and present evidence and the circumstances that would almost show my FAFSA is null and void. (Would this even work?)</li>
<li>Use most of my college fund (which sucks right now since its in the market, it was at one time up 50%, now only around 1%) for my first year, maybe a small loan, and then declare myself as independent, where I would only make around 8-10k for 2009, and hopefully getting and super low EFC for 2010.</li>
</ol>
<p>The one thing I can say is that next year you would not be able to claim yourself as independent unless you got married, had a baby, joined the military or turn 24.</p>
<p>Some colleges will look at special circumstances and some won’t. They figure if your family was making $150K last year and every year before that, then they should have been saving money for your college expenses.</p>
<p>You should contact UCLA. You need to find out how to file a request for special circumstances. Your dad’s loss of income is because of a medical situation. You will be asked (probably) to document your dad’s medical situation, and the fact that he cannot work any longer. You may be required to show verification of his disability status. UCLA will tell you how to proceed in terms of dealing with this.</p>
<p>I don’t know UCLAs policy on dealing with special circumstances requests. This is up to each college to decide on a case by case basis. </p>
<p>Call first thing tomorrow morning to find out what to do. Some schools actually have forms for you to complete.</p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Oh and agreed with the above poster. You probably will not be able to just declare yourself as “independent”.</p>
<p>In any case, you will have to use your available college funds at some point. Use those funds this year and next year your FAFSA will reflect your situation and you may qualify for more aid. But, you have nothing to lose by letting UCLA know about your situation. I think there may be a way to amend the information or to file an appeal based on changed circumstances. The FA person at UCLA should be able to point you in the right direction.</p>
<p>You definitely will not be able to declare yourself independent.</p>
<p>Adjusting income based on special circumstances cannot be predicted - each school will handle each individual case differently. I would say that your particular case is a bit different than the student whose parent loses a job — your dad CANNOT get another job this year, so you shouldn’t have to wait long for a decision — often job loss adjustments must wait until closer to the start of the new school year in case the parent gets a job in the interim. You will want to make sure that you note very prominently on the special circumstances form/letter that this is due to sudden disability due to major illness. That will help keep it on the top of the pile.</p>
<p>Your dad’s diagnosis is a difficult one for your whole family. My best to you and your family as you cope with this situation.</p>
<p>UCLA may be able to direct you to non-fafsa based scholarship opportunities (alumni, etc) once they know your situation and that may help you raise more money. Also, please share this with your high school counselor so they have the opportunity to help if they can.</p>
<p>UCLA fin aid may be able to adjust your EFC based on an updated adjustment for future income, given a letter from your Dad’s physician.?? You could ask, they may not be able to do that until you have a year of his lower income, so 2009 tax return, though, so it might be better to take a gap year. I would call in and ask for some one who handles unusual circumstances, explain your situation and ask their advice.</p>
<p>Absolutely let UCLA financial aid know about your situation. Fin aid officers are allowed under certain situations to adjust the FAFSA numbers. It may also put you in better position in line to get university money.</p>
<p>binks, I’m so sorry about your dad’s diagnosis; to say it stinks is an understatement.</p>
<p>Others have already provided suggestions re: financial aid, so my only suggestion is to consider using a loan for the first year and your college fund for the second/subsequent years. Of course, this means that you are banking on a recovery of the economy; I don’t know whether you’d be comfortable with that.</p>
<p>(I am doing that for my S – paying next year’s tuition out of funds other than the college fund to try to give the college fund some time to recover.)</p>
<p>We recently did this for my son’s final two college choices. I have a great deal of medical issues and expenses that are not reflected on the FASFA form. Both schools’ FAO were very nice and did try to help us out. They really could not though because in 2008 our medical expenses were not 7% (a figure both schools used). Also be aware that both schools also verified our taxes right away when we made the request. It was obvious that this was not often, but both were very accomodating. I wish you and your family the best</p>