<p>I am the mother of 3 daughters. One is a Junior undergrad, one will be a freshman undergrad this fall, and one will be a high school senior this fall. My question is related to fall of 2010 when all will be in college at the same time. My oldest is an accounting major and is planning on finishing her MBA at her current school which offers a 5 year MBA. If everything works out with her internship this summer, she is planning on working for the MBA through the summer summer accounting program. So my question is about how FA will work for us with 1 in grad school. My main question is will we still be able to file for FA for the oldest or is this her responsiblity now that she is a grad student?</p>
<p>We are in that situation for the upcoming school year. Here is what happens. The student in grad school files FAFSA as an independent; no information about parental resources is submitted. When the younger siblings file their FAFSAs, parental financial information is provided. If you are supporting your graduate student financially, you may include that student when asked for the nuimber of family members in college. It is at the discretion of the schools where the undergraduate siblings attend as to whether they will consider the graduate school sibling when determining the family’s need. In our case, my youngest child’s number one choice school does not take our contribution to our graduate student’s schooling into account. Their position is that as a grad student, she is eligible to borrow up to her COA and if we decide to help her so that she doesn’t incur huge loans that is our choice.</p>
<p>Does this work out better for your family or not. I would think your grad student’s EFC would be very low if it is based on her finances only.</p>
<p>We are in the same boat this coming school year. My oldest son is entering grad school and I have two undergrad daughters. The son filed his FAFSA as an independent and his EFC is 0 because of lack of income and assets. The good news is that he got full fellowship, so he does not need any other financial aid. He is counted as one of the sibling in school for the daughters’ FAFSA, total of 3 in school. I believe UC’s will allow the grad student in the calculation of EFC.</p>
<p>You will need to ask each school whether they “count” grad school students when they calculate financial aid. Some do and some don’t. The school DD attends DID count her grad school brother. BUT two other schools to which she applied told us very clearly that they would NOT. This varies by school…you’ll need to ask each school.</p>
<p>Also check and see whether the 5th year program is really considered graduate school – at our local U, students in the five year program get both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the same time. That might be beneficial for your family.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great info everyone.</p>
<p>One thing to remember about grad students…yes, they are independent…but their EFC is basically meaningless. There are Stafford loans available to them (up to the cost of attendance)…but that really is it for federal money. There are no Pell grants, SEOG, or other grant monies for grad students. Grad student financial aid, if received, is in the form of scholarships or assistantships based on merit…and the school’s desire to have a student enroll. There really isn’t any “need based” financial aid…no schools that meet full need…like for undergrad.</p>