<p>If only 1 of my parents works by choice then would my finaid be lower than someone whose parents total income is the same as my parents but both parents work?</p>
<p>All that matters is your family income net of any allowances that formula gives. It doesn’t matter if both parents work or just the one. It’s just that bottom line income number that determjins EFC for FAFSA.</p>
<p>There is some movement towards expecting both able bodied parents to be attempting to work at some private schools for financial aid purposes, don’t know about colleges. But this is not a big mainstream issue yet. In the last few years, it’s been a problem for many households for ANYONE to have a job.</p>
<p>Ok thank you. Since my dad is the only one who works it make me eligible for the much needed aid. My dad came up with the idea of ‘retiring’ early or for a short time to increase aid. Would this work and how far in advance would you have to do it?</p>
<p>You won’t get less aid because only one parent works, but since most schools don’t “meet need” you may still not get enough money to pay for college. When that happens, sometimes the other parent goes back to work to help pay.</p>
<p>What schools are you applying to? You have an ACT 30 which could get you some merit at some schools, but that will get applied to need first.</p>
<p>My parents and I haven’t talked hard numbers but I’ve seen the numbers and with my sister coming along, 25k would be pushing it.</p>
<p>Two months ago, you said that you’d like to keep costs between $10k-20k, but you hadn’t asked your parents. What have your parents said now about how much they’ll pay?</p>
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<p>Your ability to pay is determined by the prior year’s income. So, for example, if you were completing FAFSA this coming January, the schools would look at your family’s income from 2013.</p>
<p>Bear in mind that financial aid eligibility is redetermined each year . . . so he’d have to remain retired for several years in order for his plan to work. And since schools are going to consider your family’s assets, as well, the substantial savings you’d need in order to survive for several years with no income are going to impact your eligibility for aid.</p>
<p>Also the schools that give the most generous aid ask to review the family’s income for sometimes 2 to 3 years prior to enrolling.</p>
<p>With your sister coming along in a couple of years, this means your dad must plan on being out of the work force for ~10 years</p>
<p>You’re asking about FAFSA…that is for federal aid, which isn’t much.</p>
<p>Families need to be VERY careful with financial gymnastics. Some make crazy decisions thinking that they’ll get “more aid”, but then they find out that their schools don’t give much aid to begin with.</p>
<p>Retiring early isn’t probably a good idea. You and your sister are going to be in college for about 6 years +. Your parents are going to need the money to help pay for that. </p>
<p>Your stats, while good, aren’t likely going to get you into the best schools that give the best need-based aid…so the danger of being gapped is a huge risk. </p>
<p>So, if you were to somehow get your EFC down to - say - $6000 per year, but your choice is a school that costs $40k and doesn’t meet need, you may find yourself scrambling to come up with $25k+ to pay for the school…even tho your EFC may be $6k.</p>
<p>FAFSA EFC is rather meaningless when it comes to paying for college.</p>
<p>Give us a better idea of what your situation is: </p>
<p>What schools are you applying to?</p>
<p>Estimate of family income?</p>
<p>Do your parents have assets?</p>
<p>What is your home state?</p>
<p>What is your major/career goal?</p>
<p>Since my dad is the only one who works it make me eligible for the much needed aid</p>
<p>??? That isn’t a given at all! It depends on his income and it depends on the types of schools you’re interested in.</p>
<p>Retiring early isn’t a great idea…besides, what would your family live on during all the years that you and your sibling are in college???</p>
<p>It was a thought hes brought up and looks like a bad idea. If it was that easy then i guess everyone would be doing it.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids. Im still searching for schools to apply to but ive looked into Alabama, Louisville, Rutgers, SUNYs, as well as possibly Pittsburgh and Miami (Fl).</p>
<p>I was just in NY and checked out Cornell and Syracuse but would need some help at those schools. However i do believe i will shoot for the stars and apply to Cornell and possibly Brown. My estimated income is in the low six-figures. Im not at home right now so i dont want to give you wrong estimates on the assets as they are hidden all over the place and i have to check the accounts. Im currently from a midwest state but have decided im going OOS. As for major, possibly a social science or economics but still pretty undecided.</p>
<p>However ive considered engineering at Alabama since it would get me full-tuition</p>
<p>Do you have any personal recommendations since you know my profile quite well?</p>
<p>You should run the net pice calculators for EACH college that you are considering. This will give you an idea of the costs.</p>
<p>Re: your dad not working…if he is the ONLY one with an income, what would your family use to pay their bills if he quit working…I’m talking food, utilities, health insurance, car insurance, rent/mortgage, taxes, etc? If your family income is $0, the colleges will certainly ask how you are paying your bills.</p>
<p>If you have sufficient assets…money in the bank…to pay bills for years, it is very possible you would not qualify for need based aid at all.</p>
<p>You have a good balanced list that includes some financial safety schools on it. Just make sure you have a plan for paying your college costs at all of the schools to which you apply.</p>
<p>I heard somewhere that fafsa doesnt look into your parents retirement fund. Is this true because most of my parents assets lies there?</p>
<p>If the money is in a true retirement fund (IRA, 401K) then yes. IIRC, the contributions for the prior year are added back but funds already in the retirement accounts are not considered. That will not necessarily be the case for Profile schools.</p>
<p>Ok that is good since my parents have been maxing it out every year for a while now.</p>
<p>Btw what is a profile school?</p>
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<p>This means that the money that your parents have been using to max out their retirement accounts will be added back in as income on the FAFSA. </p>
<p>While the FAFSA does not ask about monies already in the retirement account, the CSS profile does look at monies in the retirement accounts (as parents can draw on those monies either as low interest loans or can take the monies as hardhsip withdrawls to pay for college).</p>
<p>But that is only for this year correct? Would you recommend not putting $ into retirement funds this year to increase aid? Also was is CSS? Is it similar to FAFSA but just a different formula used by some colleges?</p>
<p>A profile school is a school that uses the CSS Profile finaid application in addition to FAFSA to determine what institutional aid the school will give you. There are also schools that have their own finaid forms. Profile and school’s own forms ask much more detailed info about your family’s financial situation than does FAFSA. Each school will use the info collected on these forms in their own way with their own formulas in deciding how much, if any, institutional aid to offer you.</p>
<p>Ok thank you i know this is me being lazy but do you by chance have a link to a list of these schools?</p>