<p>When filling out the FAFSA I noticed it asked how many in the household were in college. What overall difference does that make if the parent is taking courses and what is the financial benefit? How many courses does a parent need to be taking to have this count? Can they be random courses or do you have to be enrolled in a degree program?</p>
<p>I have a graduate degree and don't really want/need another one. I'd like to take some courses in things that always interested me but really have nothing to do with my profession. </p>
<p>Like so many others, the FAFSA thinks we can afford all of DD's college expenses. We don't take luxury vacations, our cars are all old, and we bought our house so long ago we have quite a bit of equity and are using the equity line for her college.</p>
<p>So my bottom line, if I do take a course or two or more, what is the best way do do it financially?</p>
<p>From what I have read the only way a school might make a professional judgement adjustment to include a parent in number of household in college is if they are in college at least half time, working toward a degree, training for re-entering the workforce etc etc. It sounds like it would be pretty hard for you to meet the very stringent requirements. here is a link to a previous discussion on the subject.</p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=341351%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=341351</a></p>
<p>you can't count parents in the count of "number in household in college" so it would have no benefit. </p>
<p>This changed in the early nineties specifically because parents were taking a few classes they didn't need in order to get better FA for their child.</p>
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So my bottom line, if I do take a course or two or more, what is the best way do do it financially?
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<p>If your employer has a tuition aid policy that will allow you to take a course or 2 and be reimbursed back for the tuition , this would be the way to go. Otherwise, students get no benefit from having a parent in college. However, parents get a slight benefit on their own fafsa by having a child who is also in college.</p>