<p>I have a question about the part of the FAFSA that asks about your housing plans. There are three options - On-Campus, Off-Campus and With Parents. I am married and living in my wife's grandparents house, and we plan to continue living there during grad school. (The grandparents live in Florida most of the year so they are not around.) They do not charge us rent or utilities. Which of the three selections should I put down? As I understand it, "Off-Campus" means that you are paying rent, so that wouldn't be correct. But "With Parents" doesn't seem right either, since it implies that we are completely supported by parents.</p>
<p>Or since my EFC will probably end up as zero or close to zero either way - I finished undergrad last year and my wife and I were unemployed most of the rest of the year - does it even matter? Especially considering that the grad schools I'm applying to charge $30-45K a year for tuition.</p>
<p>Whether it makes a difference or not depends on the school. Some schools have a different COA for on campus, off campus with parents, off campus not with parents. Many do not (my daughter’s school just had the one COA whatever the living arrangements). FA is based on the COA, so it can make a difference.</p>
<p>Obviously you should not put on campus. I would suggest off campus not with parents. That is the truth, always the best answer. Most grad school aid consists of loans and possibly a stipend from the school for acting as a TA (my son in law gets a tuition waiver and a stipend in his program, none of it related to FAFSA) or other sources of school funding. As you probably know, there is no federal grant aid for grad school, only unsubsidized loans.</p>
<p>maybe instead of “with parents”, colleges should use something else to indicate a “non rent” situation. </p>
<p>This may all be for naught if this school is only going to be giving federal grad school loans. If so, the student’s tuition will “eat up” all the grad school money. What is the yearly amount for federal loans for grad school?</p>