FAFSA sadness

Paying for College
101

<p>^^^</p>

<p>not if you commute. </p>

<p>SUNY’s cost about $6k in tuition/fees and about $1k in books. With a $5500 student loan and a summer job, you could have all costs covered. </p>

<p>And, some SUNYs give merit scholarships that further reduce costs.</p>

<p>And, some students can further reduce costs by starting at a CC.</p>

<p>You seem to think that going away to college is some kind of requirement. It’s not. It’s actually kind of a luxury…and such luxuries really shouldn’t be “purchased” with large loans.</p>

102

<p>There is no SUNY school I could commute to. The community colleges around where I live are a waste of money. You learn nothing.</p>

103

<p>My dad wants to take a loan since we cant qualify for FAFSA nor Cal Grant (EFC 11000). This scares me of all this talk of dept after graduation. He said he’ll help pay, but thats no guarantee (if something happens or he goes and buys a Ferrari hes been wanting for decades). And I dont like the idea of borrowing money either. My school is around 5k-6k a year. Is it risky to try the stafford loan, or should we use other options?</p>

104

<p>gawd…this thread has gone insane.</p>

105

<p>MitchKreyben
yes it has… but let us continue the insanity!@
an UPDATE to all you FOLKS!
well apparently my high GPA is overlooked at because of my high family income. so yes. no Cal Grant for me :slight_smile:
[sarcasm] i couldnt be happier not receiving free money. Because who even likes free money [/sarcasm]</p>

106

<p>^ Isn’t that what everyone here told you? Cal Grant is needs based and with a 26K EFC you don’t qualify.</p>

107

<p>spatel…</p>

<p>You DON’T qualify for need-based aid based on your GPA. </p>

<p>Merit scholarships are based on test scores and GPA…if you want free money, you should have applied to the schools that will give you merit scholarships.</p>

<p>lazzybum…no one “qualifies for FAFSA”…</p>

108

<p>“I don’t understand why people say that they are penalized for saving.”</p>

<p>Because someone else with the same income as you who lives paycheck-to-paycheck will have no savings and assets and will therefore be awarded with more financial aid. Both FAFSA and CSS require that you list all your assets. Financial aid is not awarded solely based on income.</p>

109

<p>If you have enough savings to exceed the protection allowance, then you can pay for it. Chances are, the one with the same income who didn’t save isn’t getting a pile of free money. Really, the ones who benefit from squandering money are very few and very far between.</p>

110

<p>CC has an interesting article on the savers vs the spendthrifts:</p>

<p>[Financial</a> Aid - Is Saving Penalized? - financial-aid - College Confidential](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/financial_aid/ants.htm]Financial”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/financial_aid/ants.htm)</p>

111

<p>*I don’t understand why people say that they are penalized for saving."</p>

<p>Because someone else with the same income as you who lives paycheck-to-paycheck will have no savings and assets and will therefore be awarded with more financial aid. Both FAFSA and CSS require that you list all your assets. Financial aid is not awarded solely based on income. *</p>

<p>First of all, there is some asset protection.</p>

<p>Secondly, only a small amount (about 5%) of assets above the protected amount counts.</p>

<p>thirdly…and most importantly…most schools aren’t going to give you more or less aid. Most schools give little or no aid beyond federal amounts.</p>

112

<p>Well, 5.6% X substantial savings X 4 years refutes that point. Some people have saved diligently.</p>

113

<p>yeah im kinda over not getting “free money” its not a big deal anymore, ill figure some thing out :)</p>

114

<p>Yes, some people have saved dilegently, some haven’t been able to save dilegently and some could have saved dilegently but didn’t. I’m glad I’m in the first group because both of the other two groups have much less flexibilty when it comes to paying for college. The 2nd group may get some very small federal aid. Both the 2nd and 3rd groups may get institutional need based aid but most won’t be able to cover their EFC or overcome the gap or they will have to take on bigger loans, not a good way to start out life.</p>

115

<p>*Well, 5.6% X substantial savings X 4 years refutes that point. Some people have saved diligently. *</p>

<p>Well, that’s not the equation.</p>

<p>It’s …Assets - protected amount X 5.6% …then each year, the asset amount is less, so the 5.6% amount is less. </p>

<p>Frankly, anyone who has substantial non-retirement protected assets should expect to contribute some to their kids’ college costs. </p>

<p>MisterK, I think you’re overestimating how much savings impacts EFC for a family of 4 with one in college, age of older parent 50…</p>

<p>100k in income
0 in assets
EFC - about 17,500</p>

<p>100k in income
50k in unprotected assets (non home, non farm, non retirement)
EFC - about 17,500</p>

<p>100k in income
100k in unprotected assets
EFC = about $20k</p>

<p>100k in income
200k in unprotected assets
EFC = about $26k</p>

<p>So, the difference between someone with no assets and $200k in unprotected assets is about $9k. </p>

<p>Again, these are unprotected assets…this shouldn’t be your retirement fund. If you need your assets for retirement, put a chunk in a protected acct. Also, if you have a mortgage, pay it down.</p>

<p>If you don’t want to pay much, then have your child commute to a local public or have them look for merit scholarships. </p>

<p>There are all kinds of reasons why some people have more savings than others. Some are better savers, but there can also be other factors that have hurt the ability to save. Some families have had serious medical bills, some have had periods of unemployment. On the other hand, some families have rec’d financial help, financial gifts, inheritances from parents, grandparents, etc.</p>

116

<p>Yes Mom, you are definitely rewarded for saving by having more options for paying for college - and more options for a lot of other things.</p>

117

<p>“- and more options for a lot of other things.”</p>

<p>Don’t forget that people who spend it all right away (I’m not talking about medical bills or other hardships, but spending money on pleasure purchases) also had the option to save, but chose not to do so.</p>

118

<p>* you are definitely rewarded for saving by having **more options **for paying for college *</p>

<p>And…that’s really the case. You have more options. The overwhelming majority of people who didn’t save have FEW options. The tiny few that have super stats and get into full need schools are BY FAR the exception, not the rule.</p>

<p>What I’ve noticed is this…</p>

<p>Students with good stats, but not top stats have the fewest options unless their parents can pay full-freight or near-full freight. These are the students that don’t get offered great aid packages (if they have need) and don’t get into the top “full need” schools because they don’t have the stats.</p>

<p>Instead of saying college costs $18k-55k (for privates and publics plus room, board and books), people should be saying that college costs whatever the local commuting cost of tuition and books at the local public…and any other choice is just a luxury…like choosing private K-12 education.</p>

119

<p>Yes, we have saved diligently for college. I still find it miraculous that the college looks at the savings that we have built up, (for college!) and says we expect you to use only 5.6% of that per year! Someone who has not saved might have a smaller EFC even with our same income, but they would have far fewer choices of excellent schools that they could afford. The reason we saved is that we wanted to have public and private options. I agree that private education is a luxury.</p>

<p>You know when I’m buying my groceries, I never feel penalized that someone in line ahead of me qualifies for food stamps. I can only be grateful that I can feed my family well.</p>

120

<p>I agree, best stats “usually” means better packages/schools, unless you are an athlete recruited or have something else to offer, but I have noticed a trend in our area to look beyond the names.
Many students who weren’t in the top percent, but would have floundered at a huge state school because of various reasons, found lower tier privates where they got a good education with scholarships that rivaled others. Some went further than they wanted to at first, but their parents told me it didn’t really cost that much more than our state school and the atmosphere for them was more condusive to learning. </p>

<p>Maybe this too is not common, but I have been hearing more and more, parents taking a chance out of state when they wouldn’t have tried before and being surprised at the results.</p>