How one would go about doing this...?

<p>As of today, I am not in the position I describe below, but I was wondering how I would go about finances if this does happen. </p>

<p>Let's say I'm given 10k per year for aid, 5k a semester. The EFC is 39k, and clearly not manageable as the only reason it's so high is because of the non-involved noncustodial parent who made the income extremely high with his new spouse. </p>

<p>Is it affordable with loans to attend the university for all four years? Is it possible to take out loans of that amount ( 25k after the affordable contribution) with my dependent parent, get through it all, and pay it back later after medical school? That would make an estimated 160k in loans to pay off, but is it doable on the student and parent's behalf or would attending the university be impossible? </p>

<p>Can someone please explain the basic options to me (job and loan-wise)? I'm the first to go to college in my family, and if my estimated financial aid given during early decision is lowered significantly, I will need to find a way to manage the situation. Regardless, I want to attend the institution.</p>

<p>No undergraduate degree on the planet is worth that kind of debt. Not to mention that you couldn’t borrow that much in the first place without a cosigner. On your own, you are limited to the Stafford loan maximum: $5,500 freshman, $6,500 sophomore, $7,500 junior, and $7,500 senior year.</p>

<p>I completely agree with you. I’m just trying to see what a worst case scenario would cause me to consider.</p>

<p>You would likely have in excess of $100,000 in student loans when you are done with undergrad school alone. You will NOT be able to borrow that amount of money without a cosigner.</p>

<p>Are you saying you applied Early Decision…and have a financial aid offer that makes the school unaffordable to you? If so…you will have to consider whether you can really accept that offer of admission to the school.</p>

<p>You need to have a serious talk with your parents about college financing right now.</p>

<p>Not only would it be a very bad idea to borrow that much for undergrad, but it’s worse if you have med school plans since you’d need to borrow a lot for that.</p>

<p>Besides…you can’t borrow that much. You’d need qualified co-signers. Doesn’t sound like mom will do that, nor does it sound like dad would. And, it’s a bad idea anyway.</p>

<p>Have you been accepted to Brown PLME? </p>

<p>Was this ED? If so, why would someone apply ED to a school with a NCP that wouldn’t pay?</p>

<p>Did you apply to ANY financial safety schools?</p>

<p>No, I was given a wonderful estimate when I was accepted in December. However, my noncustodial parent and his wife recently got a slight income increase and I’m now submitting my required IDOC forms and I’m a bit worried… My expected family contribution was 11k in December, but with a 10k increase, the financial aid calculator said that I was required to pay 39k. Maybe I made some type of mistake on the online calculator that seems troublesome and inaccurate already? Or did they make a mistake when looking at my CSS Profile with such a generous offer? </p>

<p>I’m just very stressed over the fact that I don’t even talk to my noncustodial parent and they’re including him in it. Would attaching a letter of special circumstances entailing noncustodial’s unstable job (construction and usually unemployed), his new wife (makes the money and doesn’t know me), his independence from her (he lives in a separate state as her and owns his own home), my medical payments (undiagnosed), indebtness of home, and supporting grandmother who is on SSI worth the effort? I’m trying all that I can to keep my EFC down. </p>

<p>I will get a job during the summer, do work-study, and maintain a job on campus. I don’t care what I have to do. I just don’t want to do that to my mom, even if she’s supporting me 100%. She agreed to do whatever it took. </p>

<p>I DID apply to safety schools and was accepted to all of them, but I had to turn down all the offers after I got a really nice package from Brown in December. I had to accept the offer within a few weeks and release my pending applications under early decision.</p>

<p>I DID apply to safety schools and was accepted to all of them, but I had to turn down all the offers after I got a really nice package from Brown in December. I had to accept the offer within a few weeks and release my pending applications under early decision.</p>

<p>=================</p>

<p>yikes. </p>

<p>Anyway…a $10k increase in income should not result in that huge increase in family contribution.</p>

<p>You need to contact Brown to get a better handle on what they expect you to pay. You need to do this so that if you need to decline Brown, you might be able resurrect a former acceptance or find somewhere else.</p>

<p>Are you a NMF?</p>

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<p>When did they get this income increase? If it was in 2011 it WILL be used to determine your financial aid for this upcoming school year. If it was in 2012, it will be used to determine your aid for NEXT school year…something you really need to think about if there is fluctuating income…will you be able to pay for this school IF that income flutuates UP?</p>

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<p>Nothing here is jumping out at me as being a “special circumstance”. Any MEDICAL issues would need to be diagnosed…and result in unreimbursed HIGH medical expenses. Your dad’s two residences are a choice. He IS married to his new wife and the schools using non-custodial parent information require the spouse income/assets to be listed. Supporting your grandparent is a choice. The “indebtedness” of your primary residence was ALREADY included on the CSS Profile.‘’</p>

<p>My opinion remains…you need to sit down and discuss the finances of college with your parents. College is FOUR years, not just the upcoming year. You want to make a good decision about being able to attend the school for ALL FOUR YEARS…not just one.</p>

<p>EDITING: I see you already accepted admission to Brown. You need to contact them as noted above…to see what they are expecting you to pay. AND you DO need to understand that if your parents (both) incomes increase, your need based aid from Brown will go DOWN. You want to make sure you will be able to pay the bills at Brown should that happen.</p>

<p>I am not, unfortunately. </p>

<p>How do I go about bringing this up? I called them up today and they simply said that everything will be assessed and included. I should attach a letter of circumstances if I have additional information. Should I ask more? I don’t know what I’m capable of doing over the phone with them on the spot. I know that they usually update our package and notify us in April/May, which is incredibly late.</p>

<p>Their income WILL NOT fluctuate that much ever again. His wife was just given a better job that she intends to stay with. It’s his that usually fluctuates and it would never fluctuate high enough to cause more stress on my package.</p>

<p>I also don’t know how my circumstances shouldn’t be considered. The guy’s never even paid my mom child support. It’s ridiculous. He could be gone tomorrow and I wouldn’t even know it.</p>

<p>popcharlie…your ED financial aid was based on estimated CSS Profile information from 2011. Are you saying that this information was NOT accurate? If so, the school WILL be updating your financial aid award. You have accepted an ED offer of acceptance. This usually means you accept the terms of admission. Your estimated Profile should have had the best estimates of your parents 2011 income/taxes. </p>

<p>You will know in April/May which is NOT incredibly late…you have already accepted their admission offer.</p>

<p>I did provide 2011 information… that’s the thing. They hadn’t filed their taxes yet, so the estimates were roughly accurate. It was slightly off and it wasn’t bad enough to indebt me as much as the calculator claims I will have to pay off. The “expected 2012” income they placed on the noncustodial portion was exactly what they earned this year, so does that mean they already considered the new income and I shouldn’t be so worried? </p>

<p>I did attach a short letter of explaining circumstances with the CSS Profile. They could have considered that as well. Will they use the CSS Profile information along with my IDOC?</p>

<p>Where did you get this new estimated “family contribution”</p>

<p>Go back to the Brown NPC and do them again…with and without the extra $10k and tell us what you get.</p>

<p>Who was going to pay the $11k?</p>

<p>Seriously, I can’t imagine ever applying to a school ED that required NCP info when the NCP has been flakey. What if he refused to fill out the paperwork next year???</p>

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<p>If the school requires your NCP information AND uses it to compute need based aid…as it appears Brown does…you are required to provide it. None of the circumstances you outlined above is unusual. </p>

<p>When do these folks plan to get their taxes done so you can submit your updated information?</p>

<p>I hate to be blunt…but if your non-custodial parent finances and contributions are/were an issue…this should have been considered BEFORE you said YES to the ED offer of acceptance.</p>

<p>The best thing to do is to get the updated information to Brown ASAP. Then just wait and see what happens. It may very well work out just fine.</p>

<p>Custodial and noncustodial taxes have been filed. I think I might have made a mistake on the calculator and it has caused me false worries… possibly. It says that I must calculate my EFC on the calculator separately for divorced parents and then add the total up together. Originally, I was doing the NPC for the parents together as parent 1 and parent 2 under one calculation, which was driving my debt up the wall. </p>

<p>Separately: </p>

<p>Custodial: NPC says 0 for family and 2400 for me.
Noncustodial: NPC says $11,893 for family and $2,450 for me. </p>

<p>This is much more manageable. Do I just add that together and that’s what I’d be paying every year? I hope Brown does it this way for sure.</p>

<p>How will you cover the $13k or so that is expected?</p>

<p>Who will cosign those loans? You need to ask your mom if she’ll co-sign (and qualify each year for FOUR years!) That’s a lot of debt!</p>

<p>13k is totally manageable for my family. The 39k was NOT. If I do take out a loan, my mom has agreed to co-sign. My mom has saved up money for a college fund since my birth, so that amount will be much better.</p>

<p>I’m correct in doing the calculations separately as the school will do that, right?</p>

<p>Did you include the college fund amount in your calculations?</p>

<p>It’s a small amount and was included in my mother’s investments. Yes. But I was right in calculating these separately?</p>

<p>BTW I know for a fact that some schools will listen to you if you call and explain these circumstances. Better yet have your mom call and explain that your father is basically a dead beat dad who had very little to do with your upbringing. Your mom can request/beg to have the school look ‘solely’ at her financials. Then they can determine the finaid according to her. I would strongly suggest calling Brown and assertively asking for your paperwork to be considered under a special circumstance. If the first person you speak to declines then ask to speak to someone higher up the ladder. Don’t give up, keep on trying. Again, I know from experience because of a family member who did this and it worked in 2 out 3 schools. (Boston College wouldnt do it but Holy Cross and Notre Dame did.) Try it,you have nothing to lose…</p>

<p>Just because your mom is approved for a loan for year one, does not mean she will be approved again for year two, let alone years three and four. You need to be fully aware of that!</p>

<p>As for repaying everything, there are good calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org)</p>

<p>If you find that this university is unaffordable, cancel your enrollment, and take a gap year to reconsider your list. Your chances of good financial aid will be much better as a freshman applicant than they will be as an I-had-to-leave-university-X-because-I-ran-out-of-money transfer applicant.</p>