<p>Thank you, dodgersmom, for your insight. I stumbled upon this forum just a few days ago looking for answers to my conundrum. I did not expect people to pass judgement on my current predicament and even accuse me of gaming the system. I am not asking for handouts from taxpayers but a solution for funding my daughter’s college education. She applied to private (and some public) colleges and we were told our FAFSA application will determine her financial aid from public and private money. </p>
<p>You see I was making good money as a director in an IT firm which went bankrupt earlier this year and I have funded my two older boys’ college without help. I am new to FAFSA because I never bothered to fill one out with my two older boys. Let me make this clear: I am not abandoning my daughter. I will do whatever it takes to assure her a bright future just as I have done to my two older boys who have now a bright future of their own in another state. My mortgage is paid off so my wife and my daughter will not be left homeless. I just want to maximize financial aid before tapping into my retirement account. I have little or no money left in my savings from being unemployed for quite some time. The company I will be working with abroad is a start-up so there is no guarantee that I can help with my daughter’s education in the near term. So there.</p>