<p>I'm filing for FAFSA for the first time after 2 years in community college. I could not do it before because I just now got my green card.
Anyway, I filed my 2009 tax return as single, since at that time I wasn't married yet.
My gross income was $17,399 for 2009, my husband's income for 2009 is $17,727 (he's in the military if that matters at all).</p>
<p>So in my FAFSA, I put "married". But do I still have to combine our incomes even though in 2009 we were NOT married and obviously didn't share any funds???
It's stupid, because with our total income being a little over $35k, I'm disqualified from the Pell Grant. </p>
<p>If you weren’t married when you filed in 2009, you would not include your husband’s income on FAFSA. You only report your adjusted gross income for 2009.</p>
<p>Yes you have to report both your incomes. What matters to FAFSA is our marital status on the date you file FAFSA. If you were married the date you filed then you file as married. If you file as married then you report the combined incomes.</p>
<p>What matters is your marital status the day you filed your FAFSA. As noted by the others…if you were married the day you filed your FAFSA, then you are required to list both your 2009 income and your spouse’s 2009 income.</p>
<p>This is so ridiculous: 2 people have earned 35k when they weren’t married. So no common savings or anything…</p>
<p>I paid for my own housing here in LA, my car payment, food etc, have literally a few hundred in savings, so does my husband (he helps his single mother a lot).</p>
<p>How do they expect I can pay the estimated cost of attendance (about 30k here in LA) with no help???
I work full time and go to school full time, it’s exhausting!!! I need to be able to concentrate on my school more (i am an honors student with 4.0 transferrable GPA and President’s roll, Dean’s list etc awards, but it took long sleepless nights and no play time on weekends to achieve that). I need some rest, so I’m looking into quitting the full-time manager position that I have to do some more self-education (i’m interested in doing some volunteer work as well, but I have no time at all!). But apparently, I can’t…I have to continue working I guess?</p>
<p>Smartpants…this is the way the system works for all married students. You are not being singled out in any way. You now have a husband who presumably is contributing to your living expenses with his income combined with yours. You didn’t have that before you married but you have it NOW and NOW is when you are going to college for this year’s financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>Here is a thought…and I’m sure the others will correct me if I’m wrong…if this is the first year you’ve had a green card, you were not eligible for the Pell or any other federally funded aid until this year. So…you would be eligible (I think) for a Stafford loan. This is $7500 I think for juniors. That is more than the Pell grant. Yes…it’s a loan but you didn’t qualify for this in the past…or the Pell.</p>
<p>Stafford loans are fairly low interest loans and are in your name.</p>
<p>Your EFC is the same regardless of the cost of attending the college. Your college costs are NOT factored into the EFC at all.</p>
<p>$30,000? Is this a public university? Do you have instate residency status? If not, taking a year off, working and establishing residency might be worth considering.</p>
<p>It actually does seem a bit unfair that if the OP had filed FAFSA in Feb 2010 rather than waiting until July 2010, she could have filed as “single” rather than “married”. Perhaps her green card didn’t come through until after her wedding, but the rule should be consistent for a given filing year - she’s either married or not.</p>
<p>I guess what I meant by that is - if the cost of attendance is $30k, then I would get the difference between $30k and $6k? right?
and if it’s $60k, I should get aid for the gap between $60k and $6k of EFC???
I mean, why do they calculate the EFC for?</p>
<p>This is ONLY true if your college guarantees to meet the full need of ALL accepted students. Most schools do NOT meet full need and there can be a significant gap between the cost of attendance, EFC and the financial aid offered. Even then, these schools have a student contribution that can be an several thousand dollars for juniors.</p>
<p>Have you received your financial aid package for the 2010-2011 school year yet?</p>
<p>What school are you attending? I know of no school with a cost of attendance of $30K that meets full need.</p>
<p>It’s my last semester (fall '10) at the community college district (will be talking a full-time load at 3 different campuses).
Here’s the ECA for one of them [Fees</a> & Tuition: West Los Angeles College](<a href=“http://www.wlac.edu/financialaid/index.html]Fees”>http://www.wlac.edu/financialaid/index.html), which is $23k.
I’ll also be applying to 4-year universities this fall for fall '11, which include UC Berkeley, Cornell, UCLA, USC, UC Irvine and UCSD.
By the way, when do I apply for finaid for those schools? This fall along with the application, or next spring by the deadline? </p>
<p>None of these schools guarantees to meet the full need of it’s accepted students. Neither does the community college. If the cost of attendance is $23,000, and your EFC is $6000…you will have to pay AT LEAST $6000. I do not know the ins and outs of CA Cal grants and establishing residency for them. I don’t even know if Green Card holders are eligible for the Cal grant.</p>
<p>BUT are you a CA resident? If not, you will be facing out of state college tuition costs. I’m not sure you can establish residency in CA WHILE you are attending a community college…maybe you can…I don’t know,.</p>
<p>Re: when to apply for aid for the 2011-2012 school year…the FAFSA for that school year becomes available for filing on January 1, 2011…and you want to complete it as soon as possible after that. In addition, you want to look for ALL other deadlines for aid applications for which you might be eligible.</p>
<p>$23K for a community college in California? Were you paying tuition as an international student at $200/credit hour? How does this add up to $23K?</p>
<p>If you’ll be attending college in the Fall of 2011, you’d fill out the 2011-2012 FAFSA in January 2011.</p>
<p>Don’t confuse cost of attendance with mere tuition. COA includes room/board/fees etc.
I am a CA resident, established in May 2008, paying resident tuition. So for a community college the major cost is living in West Los Angeles area, tuition is about $1000 a year, plus $1000 for books.</p>
<p>Smartpants…another thing you need to know…any grants you receive that are used for room/board/personal expenses are considered taxable income for you. Only financial aid used for tuition and fees is non-taxable.</p>
<p>Just an FYI.</p>
<p>Where does your husband live? Aren’t you living with him? Why are the expenses more for living expenses than when you were not married. Most of the time, when two folks move under ONE household, their expenses are reduced. If your husband HAD a place and was already living there and paying rent, your income could be used for other college expenses.</p>
<p>What am I missing? I seem to be seeing this differently.</p>
<p>oh - he’s in the military, stationed in San Diego. I live in Los Angeles due to my college and work location…
So separate housing arrangements…He comes here for only 2 days (weekend)</p>
<p>Smartpants, I know this isn’t “ideal” for a newly married couple, but is it possible for you to reduce your housing costs? I don’t know what you are doing now, but if you’re not already doing this, just rent a room…one room, not an apartment. You are right, your housing costs will be high.</p>
<p>Is your husband done with the military after this year? Will you be able to have ONE residence? That would be something to aim for…save on housing AND travel costs to visit.</p>
<p>Cornell does guarantee to meet full need and does not require loans for families with incomes under $75K. They do require that you file the CSS Profile though it’s unlikely your EFC is going to be much, if any, higher. If you can get into Cornell, that will certainly be a blessing financially!</p>
)</p>