<p>ok so i talked with my dad about the FAFSA and he told me that i shouldnt do the FAFSA. he said that since we make a lot of money (100k) i probably wont get any money. so why waste time.
he just doesnt want to release his income information or something (i really dont get that part)
he just said that we go with scholarships (if i get any) and then the student loan...</p>
<p>any tips or something... is this a good path.</p>
<p>**also my GPA is pretty high. weighted it is about 4.25ish, and i have turned in the CAL GPA Grant form. but i need the FAFSA completed... sigh... i dont know what to do or say....</p>
<p>Well…the “student loans” that are in your name only are the Stafford loans. To get those you MUST complete a FAFSA.</p>
<p>If the FAFSA is required for the Cal Grant, you will not receive THAT either without completion of the form.</p>
<p>Your dad is risking being a FULL PAY, meaning you will be paying the full cost of attending the schools. Especially if the FAFSA is required for the CA money…you MUST get it done.</p>
<p>Alas, this is his call. You might ask him to look at the book by Khany “How to pay for college without going broke” and to go with you to talk to a local financial aid officer. If you are the first kid in the family to go to college there may be a lot your Dad doesn’t know. </p>
<p>Things have changed a great deal in the last thirty years. For many colleges, they have the FAFSA as a requirement to be considered for ANY scholarship. So, depending on the college, you may get something if you fill out the FAFSA --and you will surely get zero if you don’t. </p>
<p>Be sure your Dad knows 1) $100K is a lot of money but there ARE families that are in that bracket that get aid and/or scholarships and 2) just what a stack of private loans will do to your future. </p>
<p>Quite frankly, the best loans are through the Federal Government (Stafford) and I don’t think you qualify for those unless you have filled out the FAFSA. (Another parent may know if I am correct on this . . .)</p>
<p>Anyway, for sure, you want to take as few loans as possible and get the best rate possible (get your dad to agree on that point and move forward from there). </p>
<p>Here’s what is likely to happen if you just pop off to a bank and ask for college loan money:
They’ll likely ask your Dad to co sign – then he’s on the hook, even if you die (ugh, but true)
They’ll make it really, really easy for you to sign off on bucket loads of loans (“Sign here”) and you may not realize how hard it is to pay that off. MSNBC recently ran a special on college debt and it showed one couple who had racked up $250,000 for their two degrees. They’re on the hook for $1700 a month for twenty years. That means not being able to buy a house – or do other things that a young couple might dream about doing. </p>
<p>So, ask your Dad to please help you be smart about paying for college. Ask him to help you look at the Cost of Attendance for the college you like and talk about what that would look like. If it is $20K a year, would he pay half? All? None? If you have to borrow, will he co-sign? If not, what does he suggest you do? Join the military? Join the National Guard? Don’t be snide or whiney – just be professional and explore this like a business deal. If nothing else, he’ll respect your intellect and professionalism. </p>
<p>It may be you are in for some hard news. Maybe he won’t pay or won’t co sign. But you are better off figuring that out now rather than in tears later. Good luck</p>
<p>Many of the very informed finaid families on CC have incomes around 100k. Or, maybe 80 or 120- but the point is, no matter what this affords you in your home town, it can still be in the target pool for finaid, depending on other assets, family expenses and etc.
Why not go for it? (Unless he has full tuition stashed away already.)</p>
<p>Your dad’s financial information isn’t as private as he thinks. There are plenty of places that already know a scary amount about him; giving the info to a few colleges is not going to risk anything. It’s not like they publish it on their web site. As long as his tax returns are accurate there is little down side.</p>
<p>$100K in income will not allow him to pay $50,000+ for a private school, and even $25K for an in-state will be hard.</p>
<p>I think it is important to emphasize, as others have mentioned, that without the FAFSA you can’t get Stafford loans (which are the best ones to get), and many schools require FAFSA to get merit scholarships.</p>
<p>To cut off these funding sources over some non-existent privacy issue is just not smart.</p>
<p>*my dad said we will go to a bank or something and get a loan there… *</p>
<p>Well, if you’re talking about a UC, then it’s probably very true that you won’t get any free money from them because your income is too high for UC aid.</p>
<p>That said…about bank loans…</p>
<p>1) WHO is going to be responsible for paying back those loans? You? or your DAD???</p>
<p>2) UCs have a COA of about $30k per year, so are you (or your dad) borrowing the entire amount (well over $100k) for undergrad? If so, that is a lot…and it’s WAAAAAY too much for YOU to be responsible for. </p>
<p>3) If you will be responsible for the loans, THEN how much money will your parents contribute each year for college? If you don’t know, then ask.</p>
<p>i used the fin aid calculator at a site and these were the results:
Estimated Expected Family Contribution (EFC):
Parents’ Contribution 9308
Student’s Contribution 0</p>
<p>TOTAL ESTIMATED FAMILY CONTRIBUTION: 9308</p>
<p>With this EFC, you probably do not qualify for a Pell Grant. However, almost every student qualifies for an unsubsidized Stafford loan regardless of need, so you should still file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).</p>
He’s going to have to spill his financial guts to the bank to get a loan. How is that any different than filling out the FAFSA?</p>
<p>Staffords are way better than private loans because you can defer the interest while you are in school (can’t do that with private loans), you can get them regardless of your financial situation (not true with private loans), they don’t require a parent as a co-signer or you parent to actually take the loan (your dad should really appreciate that), and generally the interest rate is lower.</p>
<p>Think of the FAFSA as the loan application for a Stafford.</p>
<p>*i used the fin aid calculator at a site and these were the results:
Estimated Expected Family Contribution (EFC):
Parents’ Contribution 9308
Student’s Contribution 0
*</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Unless you have a sibling in college and/or you have a large family, your EFC should be much higher with an income of at least $100k per year.</p>
<p>For instance, with a family of 4, with one in college, the EFC is around $17,000.</p>
<p>BTW…who is going to have to pay back all these loans?</p>
<p>Maybe Dad isn’t so worried about his financial info- but IS worried about some stigma for you (and the family) as a kid with financial aid. Does he somehow think you would be publicly identified or treated as less than other students? Maybe he thinks of “scholarships” in terms of merit aid- which would be a source of pride, not embarassment. Perhaps he thinks loans through a bank or lending institution would be more private. Could there be some cultural thing going on? If so, perhaps you can tackle that.</p>
<p>Have your dad read everyone’s comments. If your EFC is really less than $10k then you are making a big financial mistake by not doing the FAFSA.</p>
<p>it should be less than $10k
i do have a sibling going to college… and i dont have a job… i do in a sense, but that is sort of saved money that my dad holds on to (like i work in the family business, so i do have a percentage, but i dont spend it, my parents take care of it…)</p>
<p>my chosen career is to be a pharmacist, major is pharmacological sciences (or something really closely related like biochem)
now as far as who is going to pay it back, i really have no clue, i havent had a huge chance to talk to my dad about it, as i have been busy with school work and the FAFSA just came out… but i do plan to talk to him tomorrow or so…</p>
</p>