Hi, all. My youngest cousin got accepted to his flagship state U last month. About a week later, his single father (mother died years ago) attempted suicide. My uncle is now in a psych hospital, and it appears he will be there for some time. While I don’t want to go into detail about his mental health, suffice to say that while there there are depressed people who try to kill themselves who are otherwise in their right mind, it has become clear that this is not the case here. This will require an extended hospitalization, and, a variety of circumstances make it possible that he may not be in a position to hold down a job ever again. My mother and two of my other cousins (his daughters, who are in their mid 20s) are in the process of getting a power of attorney; as the younger cousin turns eighteen later this month, legal guardianship isn’t an issue.
Based on the situation at the time of application, my cousin would not have been eligible for FA at a state school. As he was only applying to state schools, I’m not sure that he even filled out a FAFSA. Now, obviously, the situation has changed. Does anyone have advice for appealing to either the college or the government for a new assessment based on the changed circumstances?
For more context,the family still has enough money and he lives close enough to the school that he should be able to go as a commuter even if aid doesn’t come through, and his grades/scores would not be good enough to win significant merit at less competitive state schools; the (good but not elite) flagship wasn’t a reach, but it wasn’t a sure thing for him either.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I live too far away to offer much support to my family otherwise, so this is the one area where I felt I might be helpful.
He should go into the financial aid office and speak to them. They will be able to advise him on the appropriate procedure. He can call or e mail too, of course, but I do think there is typically more help if he is there in person.
If your cousin contacts the school financial aid office directly and explains the changes in his circumstances, they should be able to walk him through any steps he needs to take. If he’s good enough to get in to the flagship, they should be willing to work to keep him there.
Is there a school social worker or counselor who can be of some assistance in terms of navigating the process with the college? To explain the change in circumstances?
All things considered, not sure I would make this fellow responsible for dealing with FA alone. You, as a long time CC person, may be the most savvy to make the first call. You can inquire and I’d think they’d offer you background info and something about the process, even if they have privacy considerations. Then you could coach him how to approach, documentation needed, etc.
Best wishes. Glad relatives are pulling together for him.
I can’t tell from your post whether he could qualify for the last scenario, but if he can this would be the way to go. Read the part about “Changing your status” carefully. He needs to meet with someone who has the power to do this. He should bring some documentation with him–I would start with something in writing from the psych unit, stating the date of admission–so the school and can tell this is a new development and any kind of diagnosis stating what you have here re future employment. (I would NOT ask the hospital to write something new for this until after the meeting with FA, but if you have some kind of documentation, I think that would help. )
Agree he should make an appointment with the FA office.
@thumper1 right now, he is living with his older sisters at the family home, with a lot of visits from grandparents and aunts. He turns 18 in two weeks, so whatever legal concerns there might be with this situation are going to be a moot point extremely quickly. The lawyer the family has talked to about the PoA hasn’t, as far as I know, brought this up as an issue.
The helpful link that jonri posted notes that people under a legal guardianship as minors may be considered independent for the purposes of aid. The difficulty here is that if this had happened a year ago, he almost certainly would have wound up under a legal guardianship, but because of the timing, he won’t. I’ m hoping that the college acknowledges the fact that for all intents and purposes, he’s in the same situation as a student who had been placed under a guardian’s care as a minor and chooses to treat him as independent.
I agree this will take an in-person visit. I’m also hoping to get the guidance counselor on-board, although he doesn’t go to a great high school and I’m not sure how helpful she’ll be on this kind of issue.
Since it is a state school, they may not be able to do anything without a FAFSA. If the father can ‘sign’ the FAFSA, even if it is entirely filled out by someone else (and that might be very difficult right now), then they can use that filed FAFSA and appeal it. Most schools have the appeal form on the website, and consider reasons like loss of job or a medical condition or death of a parent, which it would seem both would apply in this case.
It may be that this doesn’t require immediate action. If the father becomes capable of completing the FAFSA some time in the spring, or a court order goes into effect to give someone else POA for the father, the FAFSA can be filed, and appealed, before school starts next fall. If the family has enough money to pay for the school, but the need based aid would help, then it might be worth it to wait and not rush the FAFSA (filing as independent).
If he knows which school he’s going to attend, definitely tell them and ask what they’d need to consider either a professional judgment override for Pell grants, SEOG, or state aid, or their own funds.
He should look for a link to a “Special Circumstances” form in the university website. If there isn’t a clear link, that paperwork is what he needs to ask for when he visits the financial aid office. The sooner this process begins, the better. The financial aid office may be able to take the situation into account immediately, rather than altering a package later on.
@kelsmom is a financial aid officer, and may have more ideas for you.
I’m guessing the psychiatrists will advise against bringing up the FAFSA with my uncle right now, since while he’d be capable of understanding it and signing, he shuts down at anything that causes him stress. While this is by far the most severe mental health crisis he has had, it isn’t his first, and every time, the trigger was related to finances.
The psychiatrist does think he is stable enough and would be willing to sign a power of attorney, although we have to wait for a formal evaluation. Until then, while there were enough documents around the house that we have a pretty good picture of the finances, we probably don’t have everything needed for the FAFSA quite yet.
I did find a special circumstances form on the university website, and it looks like he’d fall under multiple categories in which reconsideration is granted.
If you can get that POA…you need the 2016 tax return for the 2018-2019 FAFSA, and then any information about assets…bank a counts, etc. it would be helpful to have th 2016 W2 forms as those would also have the a,nots of contributions to tax deferred retirement accounts on them.
But you need to know who has to complete the fafsa. Student only…or student and parent (or POA for parent).
I’m not sure how POA works in terms of getting a parent FSA ID number if the parent is needed on the forms. That might be a good question when you visit the financial aid office…or a call to,the fafsa helpline.
I would not make the assumption that the father will be hospitalized a long time. The insurance and inpatient bed space limitations being what they are (at least in my city), he is may be sent home sooner and in worse shape than you might think.
I helped a friend’s parents who were left as caretakers of my friend after she had a mental breakdown. You can be sent home to family while you are still in pretty awful shape mentally.
If the son is going to have to take care of the dad, he may need a gap year. If other family members will be stepping in to care for the dad, you may want to arrange for the son to live on campus to have some space to himself away from home.
Speaking as someone with a severely mentally ill mother, please don’t put this young man in the position of being responsible in any way for his father’s well being. I agree with AroundHere that a long hospitalization is far from a given, recovery is long under the best of circumstances, and full recovery and independence is unlikely given the tragic state of our current mental health care system.
It’s very easy to put the son in the position of being a parent of sort to his father, but he must be free to focus on attaining his education and building his own life for the time being. That does not mean he can’t be loving and caring, but caretaking must fall to others.
No one is planning on my cousin assuming significant responsibility for his father, although I’m honestly not sure what happens if he is sent home prematurely and can’t really be left alone. But that’s a topic for another thread.
If he would be considered to be independent for FAFSA, at the most he would be able to get a Pell Grant of about $5,900 and a loan of $9,500.
Maybe a state Grant.
Is that enough to pay for the school?
It sounds like your cousin may be eligible for a dependency override because s/he does fall int he following categories:
parents lacking the physical or mental capacity to raise the child
parents hospitalized for an extended period
Student needs to work with HS GC, Social workers, and dad’s caseworkers to gather all documentation to support the over ride. As@mommdc stated the most student would get is a PELL Grant and an increased loan. It is not guaranteed and each school makes its own determination and the override would have to be done each year.
I hope that this helps in assisting you/your family in assisting your cousin: