Financial Aid Help

Paying for College
1

I’m applying to a school that uses FAFSA and CSS. The school guarantees to meet full need which is a life saver to me.

My mom’s income hovers around $39,000 and I’m assuming that’s without taxes, health insurance, lost wages, etc. taken out. We receive child support so that possibly evens the total to around the price listed above.

My dad makes a good salary of around $60,000 (this is a rough estimate. He works at Amtrak). However, he pays child support for two kids, has health insurance, taxes, etc. that comes out.

My dad will contribute nothing because he believes that child support pays for everything. Mind you, he doesn’t even pay the full amount…

My EFC is 17k with my parents combined, but only 3k with my mom’s pay. My mom’s pay qualifies us for full Pell Grant loan and possibly a Perkin’s loan. The NPC didn’t factor in the Pell Grant because it was based off both incomes, I believe.

The Pell Grant could mean the difference between me going to my first choice or choosing a state school. I live in CA so my best state schools are reaches. (UCLA, UCB)

Would I still get the Pell Grant loan due to mom’s income if I fill out the FAFSA, or is my parent’s income too high combined to let me qualify? It would raise the COA to 12k which is affordable, but 17k would be stretching it.

Edit: I forgot to say that I used the net price calculator to determine the estimated cost of attendance at the school that uses both incomes. Judging by the total income of 80k, 17k a year seems right.

My mom and dad were never married and have been separated since 2003. My dad remarried, but is now getting a divorce that should be finalized in a few weeks. They filed separate taxes.

Thank you!

2

If your parents re not living together…

  1. On the FAFSA you will only use your mom's income and assets if you love mostly with her.. You will include child, and spousal support. If you don't live with your dad, you won't include his income on the fafsa all.
  2. On the Profile, you will use your mom's income and assets. For schools requiring the non-custodial parent profile...your dad would complete that with his income and assets.
3

If your biological parents are not married to each other, don’t live together, you live at least half time with your mom, and your mom is not married, THEN the FAFSA would only have your mom’s income and asset information.

4

Pell is a grant, not a loan. You do not have to pay it back. If your EFC is about $3000 (and with a $40k income and some child support, that sounds about right), you’d receive about $3000 per year as a Pell grant.

If the school meets full need, it will take that Pell grant into consideration. Your EFC probably won’t be $3000 for the school, but will be for federal aid like the Pell, SEOG, work study and subsidized student loans.

5

Yes, the big issue here is whether your dad will fill out his part of the paperwork every year. If he is not willing to do so, you need FAFSA-only schools or those that do not require a noncustodial CSS.

The CSS is detailed and time consuming. It’s not simple for him to fill it out. It’s not likely to demand a large amount of money from him, so you might be able to make up for his missing contribution by working more or taking more loans, but you will still need the forms done.

6

@AroundHere

The issue is…schools using the non-custodial parent info will use both parents…and the income is close to $100,000 a year. At some schools, that would mean a parent contribution of aboiut $25,000 or more. If the father absolutely won’t contribute…this could present an issue.

7

They don’t make an allowance for the fact that these are two separate households?

8

Yes, of course they do. An intact family making $100k combined is not the same as a divorced family having to maintain two households. However, they will consider the income of a stepparent who should be contributing to one of those households too.

9

My dad is finalizing his divorce, so his ex-wife will not be expected to contribute anything.

The school that I’m looking at is Barnard College which uses the non-custodial parent form.

They are expecting 3k from my mom and 14k from my dad.

My grandma will help me, but she makes only a little bit more than my mom.

10

Perhaps, I might’ve overestimated. Im pretty sure that my parents combined don’t make 100k…maybe around 80k, the max 88k?

11

He’s willing to fill it out.

Barnard uses both FAFSA and the CSS non-custodial profile.

However, when I used the net price calculator, the Pell Grant didn’t show up. I’m assuming why because it factorized in both incomes together, not my mom’s separately.

12

The net price cakcukator is not accurate for divorced parents. You may have to run it twice to get the EFC based on your mothers income and to get the etc based on your fathers income. Do not count yourself in your fathers household because you are already counted in your mothers. Minimally you will see how much pell you will be eligible for from your mom filing the fafsa

13

The calculator asks for both incomes though…

That’s how I got the price of 17k for our EFC

14

Yes…and the NPC asked for BOTH parents because it’s a PROFILE school that uses income from both parents. This is used to calculate their institutional need based aid.

If your parents are not married AND are separated innterms of where they live…you would only list the parent with whom you reside on the FAFSA. It’s likely the NPC doesn’t tease that out.

15

I think that combined EFC is slightly high.

My D’s FA packages definitely counted my income more heavily than her dad’s and we are in that general combined range.

Your child support will probably end when you are 18 right? Maybe your dad can contribute some to college once that ends. Just an idea :slight_smile:

16

An EFC of $17,000 on a total of $100,000 or so of income…actually sounds low to me. I would guess more in the $20,000 range.

17

OP won’t know unless she calls Barnard and/or gets in and receives an actual offer. You can try the former, first…or just apply to B and make sure you have a financial safety in case you get in and the offer isn’t what you need it to be.

My ex and I had a similar combined income D’s first year of college and net prices varied by a lot, even a few thousand between “meet full need” schools. Obviously assets and such come into play as well.