<p>HI,
I have just completed my fafsa for a masters program, my efc is 5800. If I completed fafsa's for my children, would they have the same EFC? currently my ex does the fafsa, because according to the court he is the major support due to social security benefits, even though he lives in california and I live in pennsylvania with the children. in light of this, PHEAA does not allow my kids to apply for pennsylvania aid. I am just wondering if I should rethink this whole who is applying for the aid thing. their efc with my ex is 0, even though they get a lot of money from social security. I am really confused about what to do, and wondering if they would be better off if I do the fafsa and have an efc of 5800, and then be able to apply for pennsylvania aid. that is contingent on if they would have the same efc as me.</p>
<p>no other parents going to school the same time as their kids out there?</p>
<p>The FAFSA only counts your siblings and your children in the calcuation.</p>
<p>So -- your EFC would be cut in half if you had one child in college at the same time. BUT your child's EFC would not be cut in half -- the parent's attendance in college is not counted -- only sibling and children.</p>
<p>If your EFC is 5800 (using FAFSA) and you indicate 2 in college (you and one child) then the EFC should be 2800.</p>
<p>Right now, when you fill out YOUR FAFSA, when it asks how many in the family are in college, how do you answer?</p>
<p>I have answered 3, myself, my son, my daughter. when my ex fills it out, he answers the same, himself, daughter and son. but he has much less income than I do. It's just that social security support is so huge, he has to claim them and do the fafsa. I am starting to rethink that maybe it would be better if I do the fafsa. everytime I call fafsa and ask questions I get I don't know who and they have no answers to anything. it's really difficult when you are a divorced parent in the situation I am in.</p>
<p>no other parents going to school the same time as their kids out there?
I was for a time
My EFC was lower than my Ds, because where my EFC took, her, my dependent into account, her EFC did not take my being a college student into account.</p>
<p>Your ex is actually answering the FAFSA wrong, and if he is asked for verification from your children's schools, he will not be able to back up the numbers.</p>
<p>from the FAFSA website: "Who is counted in the "number in college"?</p>
<p>Any personnot including parentsin the household who will be attending any term of the academic year at least half time is counted. The enrolled family member must attend an eligible program at an eligible institution. You (the student) need not be enrolled half time, however, to be counted in the number in college. To be counted in the number in college, the person must also be working toward a degree or certificate leading to a recognized education credential at a postsecondary school eligible to participate in federal student aid programs."</p>
<p>so -- when you and your ex fill out the FAFSA, you need to answer "3" to that question. However, when your ex fills out the FAFSA paperwork on the two kids, the answer is "2" -- parents don't count!</p>
<p>I don't see how it would be to anyone's advantage for you to file your children's FAFSA yourself. Your EFC (which you stated was $5800) is based on your income and assets -- not your ex's or your children's. If you put down 3 under number in college, you are already splitting that number in thirds -- so you can't go lower without reducing your income and assets. Your kids EFC is $o (you stated that before) and they can't go any lower than that -- and it may be higher if filed by you with your assets and income.</p>
<p>Maybe I am missing something?</p>
<p>Stef</p>
<p>now that i read back through your original post, I see that alot of your question is in regards to pennsylvania aid.</p>
<p>with an EFC of $5800 (which might be the EFC of your children if you file with your info) your children would not fall under the Most Needs category for grants and such. depending on where they go to school, you may find the aid is basically loans.</p>
<p>Why does Pennsylvania not award aid if the kids are and have been residents of the state? Do they qualify for California aid? seems a little confusing.</p>
<p>In Colorado (where I am from) the only grants that are available for Colorado residents (other than specific college grants) are based on greatest need. Colorado state grants and colorado supplemental grants are usually reserved for those with EFC's of 0 or close to it. </p>
<p>although the formula isn't this simplistic, if your income is over $40,000 a year you will most likely not recieve any pell grants.</p>
<p>now I'm really confused. if my ex fills out the fafsa, why wouldn't he put 3 for amount of people in college since he is going full time? I don't understand that. but you are right in that my son's school decreased it to 2 automatically, and we have to send verification in for all schools my son and daughter have applied to, can't wait till my ex hears about that. I was shocked to see my EFC was 5800, our income was about 86000. I could deal with an EFC of 2800 per child or there about if I knew that's what it was going to be, but I don't know if they figure mine differently than the child, and I would rather do it and then have them get the pheaa aid. apparently california doesn't give aid to anybody but people in california, or so I have been told, and to get a hold of anybody out there must be short of a miracle, because I haven't been able to in 2 years. so....pa says I can't get aid because ex lives in california,. california says kids can't get aid because they live in pa. this whole system stinks for kids of divorced families. then when the schools want the income of ALL 3 OR 4 PARENTS OR STEPPARENTS INVOLVED, well how does that end up being at all fair, especially when some stepparents or parents won't contribute at all?</p>
<p>hmm now I see why we decided we couldnt afford to get divorced</p>
<p>wow -- with an income of $86,000, an EFC of 5800 for you and zero for the kids is a huge bargain! I think you have little to complain about.</p>
<p>First -- if you read the post I already made FAFSA DOES NOT COUNT PARENTS IN THE TOTAL OF "NUMBER IN COLLEGE". That means that your kids FAFSA's do not count your ex in their calculation. You are lucky that the schools already decreased that to 2 for them -- otherwise you could end up paying back aid that was given based on the incorrect number of 3 in the family.</p>
<p>I tried to explain it several times, you need to read clearly. When answering the question, "number in college" you can only count siblings and children. So -- since these are you children, you count yourself and your 2 kids -- thus the number in college is 3. same for your ex. For you kids -- unless they have children themselves, they can only count siblings -- NOT PARENTS. so the number for them is 2. </p>
<p>that answers your first problem -- the number in school.</p>
<p>Now -- as to EFC. If you put 3 down on your FAFSA application for the number in college, your EFC HAS ALREADY BEEN DECREASED. The original EFC for your income was $17,400. That number was then divided by three (the number you indicated as the "number in college"). If you file FAFSA for your kids, their EFC will be at least $5800 -- most likely more, since you will not factor YOU (as in "number in college) into the calculation. If they have made any money or have any savings, the amount would most likely be about $9000+.</p>
<p>I am not sure what type of aid you are referring to in Pennsylvania, but with a family income of $86,000 your children are not going to qualify for financial aid -- you would need to look for merit aid (the type of aid given based on grades and test scores). Also, with that income, they are not going to qualify for any federal grants.</p>
<p>From my point of view I can't imagine how changing who files the FAFSA will improve the situation -- i think it will be much worse.</p>
<p>As far as what to do when parents or stepparents won't pay -- that is a problem. Look for less expensive colleges, merit aid and have the kids work part-time and take out loans. </p>
<p>The Federal Government considers it the parents responsibility to pay for their children's college and offers grants only to the low-income -- generally those making less than $35,000 per year total for a family. </p>
<p>I hope that helps -- i don't mean to sound harsh, but if you read the instructions in the FAFSA and the other posts, it is pretty clear how it works.</p>
<p>man you must be some kind of fafsa expert. I think I will just keep the filing the same. My problem I think is more ethical than how it works. I don't feel my ex deserves the disability he gets, (therefore the social security my kids get), and I feel like I should be the one taking care of things. we actually had to get a judge to determine who fills out the fafsa because nobody seemed to know what to do, they live with me, he pays (or should I say every tax paying citizen) all of their support, and even the fafsa people didn't know what to do. so I'll just send my ex the 6 colleges that want verification, and smile after years of no child support or visitation or any kind of help at all. I think after all my kids have been through with their "father", this is the least they can get out of it. but to me it just doesn't feel right. emeraldkitty, you are too funny. mentally, I couldn't afford not to get divorced. hsmomstef, I truly am not a stupid person, It just took me a little to get that parent vs sibling thing, and realizing my ex wasn't filing his fafsa, but for the kids, (hence the 2 not 3). yes, sometimes there are stupid questions aren't there?</p>
<p>amith1 -- I wouldn't worry too much about the ethical thing. There are loopholes that work and as long as you are above board with everything, you are in the clear. Plus, you are going to be paying for your kids education -- even with an EFC of zero! most schools gap (don't meet 100% of need) plus part of the package will most likely include loans. </p>
<p>I didn't think you were a stupid person -- and FAFSA can be a little (LOT!) confusing. The rules used to be that you could count siblings, children and parents -- that was a while ago, but what was happening is that alot of moms were going to the local community college part time (6 hours -- and half the time not even showing up for class) just to reduce the EFC for their children, so they don't allow parents to be counted anymore.</p>