<p>My husband's ex-wife just lost her job this month, though the income on her 2012 and 2011 tax return is high.</p>
<p>My step daughter has applied for financial aid. Based on our 2012 and 2011 tax return and her tax return, my step daughter will not get a lot financial support from the schools.</p>
<p>What should we do now? Should we contact the schools that admitted her to let them know the changes? Would it be too late?</p>
<p>Dddby, yes, contact the financial aid offices,but it is not going to make a difference. The aid will be based on last years income numbers. I believe dislocated workers are given some more of an asset allowance, Kelsmom would know specifically. Also the job loss has to be over time, not just a few weeks in most cases before any adjustment would be made.</p>
<p>But all that said, there is no reason not to let the schools know and say that this is having an impact on what funds were expected as the uncertainty of how long this situation is going to last and the very natural instinct and wise move in such a case is to preserve assets, and the income is drastically cut so what was supposed to come from there is not. Let them know and see what happens.</p>
<p>The FAO at my school told us that you had to be unemployed for 10 weeks, and then they would look again at the financial aide package. There is a form to fill out (at least at my school) if circumstances change like a job loss. You just have to prove that you are not working, like proof of unemployment benefits. Definitely do it as soon as possible, especially if you haven’t yet committed to any of the schools.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot cptofthehouse and McKinster! </p>
<p>We will try to contact the schools as soon as possible then.</p>
<p>I believe dislocated workers only benefit IF their income is below a certain threshold and I think it is $30,000. Kelsmom would be able to verify this.</p>
<p>If this is an incoming freshman, you can let them know. We were in the same situation when DS was a freshman. The school had a three month wait on considering this because there was the possibility the parent could get a new job (which happened). </p>
<p>Also, did this person get any severance or vacation pay? Those count too!</p>
<p>Thanks thumper1.</p>
<p>My step daughter is an incoming freshman. She has got admission from a couple of schools and still waiting to see whether she would get others.</p>
<p>I believe her mom didn’t get any severance or vacation pay because she worked in another country. They have different policy on those.</p>
<p>Each institution should have a “Special Condition” form that you can find somewhere in the Financial Aid pages. Take a look at those to see what is required. In our case (continuing student at a FAFSA-only in-state public U) we needed to provide copies of our tax return, copies of the student’s tax return, copies of the final pay stub that indicated that all severance had been received, and a copy of the letter indicating the unemployment benefits.</p>
<p>Given this change in family circumstances, it would probably be well for all of those involved to re-consider the student’s list. Delaying enrollment for a year could make a big difference in the aid packages depending on whether the institutions use just the FAFSA or also the CSS, and who is the parent (or who could be the parent) for Fin Aid purposes.</p>
<p>Thanks happymomof1. McKinster also mentioned a form. We will check the financial aid pages of those school.</p>
<p>BTW, should we contact the schools that she is still waiting for admission as well?</p>
<p>No, but get ready to do so. You will probably learn from your encounters with the batch of schools you do contact and can use that knowledge and experience with the next batch.</p>
<p>Got it! Thanks cptofthehouse!</p>
<p>You don’t have much time anyways. All of the accepts will be out soon. No sense wasting time talking to schools where she was not admitted.</p>
<p>Did your step-daughter use only her mom’s income? If not, who is the custodial parent? If it’s the ex, it might make a big difference … if it’s your H, it might not (depending on how schools use the Non-custodial info). If it’s a FAFSA-only school, or if it’s a school that required Profile and/or its own finaid form but didn’t request Non-custodial parent info, and if you are the custodial parents, it won’t make any difference … so skip the request at those schools.</p>
<p>Asset protection for dislocated worker is for $50k or less AGI. However, again, much depends on who is the custodial parent. If it’s you & your H, your assets wouldn’t be ignored … and with Profile, the school doesn’t necessarily ignore assets for dislocated workers, anyway. That is just for federal aid purposes. For institutional aid, schools can do whatever they want.</p>
<p>My husband’s ex-wife is the custodial parent。 We have agreed that we will pay half of the college cost for the kid. Though if she can’t find a job soon, we will end up paying the whole thing. :)</p>
<p>The schools my step-daughter got admitted are Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, Swarthmore and UCLA. She is still waiting for a couple of ivy league schools’ decision. </p>
<p>I don’t know how these schools handle the custodial , non custodial thing. 
I just start to check on these information. Thanks a lot for all your answers.</p>
<p>I believe Northwestern, Swat and Carnegie M use the profile and the FAFSA. Did you (the non-custodial parent) submit the non-custodial parent Profile to these schools? </p>
<p>UCLA is FAFSA only, I believe, but unless you are an instate resident, you can count on at LEAST paying the difference between the in and out of state costs…unless your kiddo gets merit aid.</p>
<p>Kelsmom, it sounds like the only benefit to being a dislocated worker is that assets are not counted for incomes less than $50,000. Is that correct?</p>
<p>The custodial parent sounds like the mom…so you all would not be on the FAFSA at all.</p>
<p>Just checked with my husband, we did submitted non-custodial parent Profile to Northwestern, Swat and Carnegie M.</p>
<p>We don’t live in CA and the kid is not interested in UCLA that much, so we might not need to consider UCLA any more.</p>
<p>Your step daughter’s mom needs to do the contacting. She will be amending HER forms, something you can’t do or request.</p>
<p>The “reconsideration” form I mentioned was given to me by the FAO after we discussed my mom’s lay off. We attended the admitted students’ day and had an appointment scheduled. It may be something you need to get from the FA office itself, rather than find it on the website. It seems like something they might not want to “advertise”</p>
<p>My husband will talk with his ex-wife today. Hopefully she would take some action soon.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip, Mckinster. Will see what happens and I will update it here.</p>