<p>Hello, I'm currently a junior who will be applying for college in the fall of 2015. My family is not in the best economic situation right now, as my mom is working a part-time job at minimum wage and my dad has been a chronic gambler for the last five years. Also, my dad has predictably not given any of the money that he's earned at his job to my mom, and racked up a bit of debt. So, I have two questions:</p>
<p>First, how does applying for financial aid work? If my parents make money, but have to use most of it to pay off bills and debts, will that be taken into consideration for a financial aid application such as the University of California's Blue and Gold Plan?</p>
<p>Second, if my mom sold a house, does the money earned from the sell count as income when applying for financial aid, even if most of it goes into paying for necessities?</p>
<p>I need to know these answers as soon as possible, as I am worried that without some large grant or scholarship, I will not be able to attend a college without the use of student loans, which I absolutely refuse to do. Getting enrolled into UCLA or Davis would mean a lot to me, and I'll need all the help I can get to pay for tuition and costs. Many thanks in advance for the time spent on your responses.</p>
<p>Colleges take into account of the income made by your family, the assets owned by your family (properties, investments, money available in the bank,…) to determine FA.</p>
<p>CA public colleges don’t count the house used by your family as main residence as asset. If your family owns a second house, it will be counted as asset.</p>
<p>Colleges take into account of certain debts.</p>
<p>If your family has low income and you have very good grades and test scores you may want to consider applying to some private colleges that give more FA than public colleges.</p>
<p>Even with the Calgrant…you will be expected to pay your EFC plus take the $5500 Direct Loan plus pay a $3000 or so student contribution.</p>
<p>So while youmsay you won’t take a student loan, the realit is that to,attend a UC or Cal State on a Calgrant…you will be required to make up the difference in costs between the Calgrant and the full cost of attendance somehow. </p>
<p>Your choices would be family finding, student loans…or you could commute from home to a four year public university to save money on room/board costs.</p>
<p>ETA…consumer debt is not considered when the financial aid calculations are made. That is considered a choice that your family has made. Debt just doesn’t factor into the calculations at all.</p>
<p>Also…if you are a junior…you might want to consider NOt graduating early and make sure your senior year grades as well as your junior year grades are top notch. This will help you with possible acceptances to other schools.</p>
<p>What is your current GPA and what is your SAT or ACT score?</p>
<p>I currently have a 3.83 GPA unweighted, but I’m taking 4 AP’s and Honors English, so it’s 4.8 weighted. I have a 2220 on the SAT, but I’m planning to retake it again soon. Also, I took the PSAT and I’m still waiting for those results, hopefully getting at least Semifinalist for the Collegeboard scholarships.</p>
<p>It’s a bit unfortunate that colleges don’t take into account debt, but they do for selling our second house. If I have to get a student loan, what choices are there for me that don’t force me to repay the college for 20 years?</p>
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<p>Think about this for a minute. If your expected contribution for college was reduced somehow because of your level of debt, wouldn’t that reward those who are living beyond their means and paying for all sorts of toys and nice stuff using credit?</p>
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<p>Most loans don’t come from the college.</p>
<p>Um wait. If you took the PSAT this fall, and hope to be a NMS finalist…then you would not be graduating from HS until June 2016.</p>
<p>@thumper1 Yes, I’m graduating in 2016, but college apps start at around fall 2015 or so, right?</p>
<p>Also, would I be eligible for grants the years after we sell the second house and I get into a college, if my parents’ annual salary is less than the upper limit of a financial aid plan?</p>
<p>Your first statement was ambiguous as to starting in fall or applying.</p>
<p>You should run the fafsa4caster which will tell you your efc, and that will let you know if you are eligible for pell grant. You can run a NPC for any college you are applying to to see the estimate of aid. You will see they don’t care about debt, only if there were medical expenses can you sometimes get an adjustment.</p>
<p>Only income from previous year counts for each years aid. </p>
<p>Almost all colleges will put federal student direct loans in your aid package if you need aid. Only a few tippy top schools don’t. But don’t have to take the loans, you can come up with the shortfall. Some people have to work first and save, or take a few classes pay as they go.</p>
<p>You may qualify for automatic merit aid at some colleges. The few that give it are listed in the financial aid threads pinned at the top of the forum.</p>
<p>Thank you for all these answers!</p>