FAFSA Question

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>I've been reading around and attempting to figure this out on my own but have not received a definitive answer.</p>

<p>My parents have never been married but they live together. I live in New York, however, a state that does not recognize the common law marriage. Thus, I am suppose to report on FAFSA following the divorced parents rules, I think..</p>

<p>So, in the divorced parents rules, I'm suppose to put down the parent with whom I spend the most time with. However, since we live together, the time is pretty much even.</p>

<p>Who do I put down as my custodial parent? One parent earns significantly less than the other. Ideally I would like to put down the parent with the low income to increase my chances of aid, but would that not be allowed, or in other words am I obligated to put down both? I am only a junior and truthfully am not too familiar with the FAFSA process.</p>

<p>P.S. If this matters, I believe I will be applying to many top-end schools like the Ivy League schools along with schools like Duke, Stanford, Vanderbilt, etc.</p>

2

<p>I believe you are required to list the parent who provides most of your support on the fafsa since you live with both equally. That would be the parent with the higher income. I don’t believe you can chose the parent with the lower income.</p>

<p>P.S. for those schools you are listing…they require the CSS profile. You will be required to list the income and assets of BOTH parents on the Profile to be considered for institutional need based aid at those schools.</p>

3

<p>you report the parent who makes the most money since you live with both equally. </p>

<p>I wonder if you don’t include the other parent as being in the household then? </p>

<p>I’m also wondering if the parents will be treated like separated parents living in the same household??? If so, then both parents’ incomes are used.</p>

<p>In the long run it’s not going to make much/any difference if you’re applying to elite schools. They use CSS Profile and will look at both parents incomes. since your parents live in the same household, I suspect that the CSS Profile schools will treat them as if they’re married for calculations (not two separate households).</p>

<p>So, you need to find out if your parents will pay as much as these schools will expect. For instance, if your parents earn $100k together, will they pay $30k per year?</p>

4

<p>If overall combined income is like 75,000 let’s say, do you think I would qualify for a substantial amount of aid?</p>

<p>How much my parents are willing to pay is a factor also? How does that make sense? What if my parents say they aren’t willing to pay o.O?</p>

5

<p>“If overall combined income is like 75,000 let’s say, do you think I would qualify for a substantial amount of aid?”</p>

<p>At some schools (not most), you could qualify for some aid. At a number of schools, you won’t get any free money.</p>

<p>“How much my parents are willing to pay is a factor also? How does that make sense?”</p>

<p>What do you mean??? Of course it matters if your parents will or won’t pay.</p>

<p>" What if my parents say they aren’t willing to pay o.O?" </p>

<p>If your parents aren’t willing to pay the family contribution, then you won’t be able to go to those schools. Schools don’t give more money just because parents won’t pay. Otherwise all parents would refuse.</p>

<p>how much will your parents pay? Are they saying that they won’t pay anything? </p>

<p>What are your stats (GPA and test scores)???</p>

<p>Most schools do NOT meet need. Most schools do not give much free money away.</p>

<p>If your parents won’t pay much, then be SURE to apply to some schools that will give large merit scholarships for your stats.</p>

6

<p>I have pretty good stats,</p>

<h2>As of right now a 4.0/4.0 GPA, probably will go down to a 3.9ish or something of the like at the end of this year and a 2360 SAT score.</h2>

<p>So ivy league schools with those massive endowments would not be willing to give aid to a kid like me whose family makes around 75k a year?</p>

7

<p>Also, what exactly do you mean by free money? Free as in I won’t have to pay it back? What’s money that isn’t free o.o?</p>

<p>My phrasing of the question is a little weird but I think you know what I mean? Would they give loans that I have to pay back or something?</p>

8

<p>There are two kinds of aid: need-based and merit-based.</p>

<p>The ivy league schools give need-based aid only. If you are admitted, they will provide grants to meet your financial need. (Need is based on income & assets, not parents’ willingness to pay. So if you’ve got tons of money, but your parents don’t want to pay . . . well, then you’re out of luck!)</p>

<p>Other schools provide aid based on merit. If you want merit-based aid, then apply to schools where you’re absolutely at the very tippy-top of the applicants and you’ve got a good chance of being awarded merit-aid. It does not depend on income, so you can get merit aid regardless of how much money your parents do or don’t have.</p>

<p>The need-based aid you receive at any school would ordinarily be made up of grants, loans, and work-study. Some schools offer larger grants so loans aren’t necessary . . . depends on the school.</p>

9

<p>For heavens sake sit down with your parents and find out what they can afford to pay out of savings,income & loans.
Add that to your earnings from summer /school year, +$5,500 from stafford loans and you will get better idea of where you are at.
If you are potentially a Harvard student, you also may be eligible for merit aid at some schools. However, unless school pledges to meet need, it might not be enough to meet EFC. ( & if your EFC is unaffordable, you will either need enough merit aid to cover to what you can afford - or find a school cheaper than EFC)
Offhand I don’t recall Stanford & Duke being particularly generous with merit aid.
Vanderbilt, maybe.
I would try the net price calculators on the schools web sites and see what you come up with.</p>

10

<p>*Also, what exactly do you mean by free money? Free as in I won’t have to pay it back? What’s money that isn’t free o.o?</p>

<p>My phrasing of the question is a little weird but I think you know what I mean? Would they give loans that I have to pay back or something?
*</p>

<p>Aid is a mix of things. Aid can be a mix of grants, loans, and work-study (working a school job during the school year). </p>

<p>As for whether ivies would give you aid…</p>

<p>It’s not all or nothing. There’s a difference between getting getting no aid and getting some aid. Yes, you’ll get some aid. However, your parents and YOU will likely be given a “family expected contribution”. Your parents will be expected to contribute X, and you’ll be expected to contribute Y (from a summer job). </p>

<p>For example (this is just a rough guestimate…)</p>

<p>$60,000 - Top School that Meets Need Cost of Attendance.</p>

<p>$16,000 - Family Contribution ($14,000 from parents, $2,000 from student) </p>

<p>$44,000 - Determined “Need”</p>

<p>The school will then meet that need in a variety of aid: Grants, loans and work-study.</p>

<p>So, as you can see, the family will be expected to contribute based on their income, and the elite school gives aid for the rest. It’s not “all or nothing.” </p>

<p>If your parents won’t contribute, then these schools won’t be affordable. Schools don’t give extra money because parents won’t pay…otherwise all parents would refuse.</p>

<p>Have you asked your parents how much they’ll pay? If they are saying that they can’t/won’t pay much, then you need to protect yourself and apply to several schools that will give you HUGE merit scholarships for your stats. </p>

<p>What was your PSAT? </p>

<p>However, this is only for the few schools that meet need. Most schools do NOT meet need. If you don’t get accepted to a school that meets need, your family could be expected to pay a lot more.</p>

<p>Go to Cornell’s Net Price Calculator to get an idea of what aid you’d get.
<a href=“https://cornell.studentaidcalculator.com/survey.aspx[/url]”>Unknown Address;

11

<p>magentaturtle…IF you get accepted at one of the Ivy League schools, or Stanford, you will receive very good need based aid IF your family income is really as you say ($75,000 or so a year), and you don’t have other financial things in the pot such as rental properties, a parent who is self employed or huge home equity in your home. Many of these highly competitive and generous schools offer aid packages without loans or with loan limits to lower income students. $75,000 a year is out of the threshold of income for most of these schools in terms of the MOST generous aid, so your family WOULD have a contribution of some amount. This is why folks are asking you to discuss finances with your family now.</p>

<p>BUT the first challenge is that you have to get accepted to these schools. Their acceptance rate is less than 10%…meaning that 90% do not get accepted who apply. In that mix are many very well qualified students. The reality is that these schools cannot accept all of the very well qualified students who apply each year.</p>

<p>With the stats you post, you would very much be eligible for merit aid of substance at many schools. You need to find out where these are…and don’t forget to look in your own state.</p>

<p>The amount your parents are willing to pay is NOT considered by the schools when determining your financial aid BUT it IS important for you to know. As I said, it is likely that you are not going to get a “free ride” even at Duke, Stanford, MIT or the like…IF you are accepted. At the very least, most of these schools have a student contribution.</p>

<p>Did you take the PSAT? Any chance your scores put you in the running for National Merit status?</p>

12

<p>Commended, but certainly not NMSF/NMF</p>