I could use some advise on last minute FA

Paying for College
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<p>My son recieved a congressional appointment to one of the US Military Academies and started there earlier this month. He was then injured during basic training to the point that he will no longer be able to attend that school. Since the Academies are/were "free" we had not put much college money aside and are now scrambling to find the best route to pay for a traditional college. </p>

<p>Our EFC is around $ 24K and we're looking at an annual bill of about $ 29K. The out-of-state University that he'll attend two months from now (luckily we had this in place as a backup plan) has only offered a few thousand in Federal DL loans, leaving the rest up to us to finance. I am just starting to read thru all of the great threads here on the CC FA Forum but wanted to ask for direct advise also;</p>

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<p>When thinking this thru keep in mind we're hoping that future years will be partially covered by ROTC scholarships but it's doubtful they'll cover more than $ 15K of the $ 29K bill.... </p>

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<p>I know alot of this has probably been covered before but with only a month or so before the bills start showing up I was hoping for some "fast hints" on what to do next. I hate being late on planning, but the Academy-to-College injury forced switch has got us scrambling. Thanks for any advise you can post!</p>

<p>Dknightfam</p>

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<p>We have the same type of savings for our kids. With stocks going downhill fast, I think I will leave the stock fund for later on, but take some out of the grandparents 529 (it is mostly bonds). Also, when you sell those stocks, you have to pay income tax on the difference between what you bought them for and what you sell them for. The rest will be made up in Stafford loans. I hope your S is doing well, that is awful to be injured and then have to change plans, but good for you for having a back-up!</p>

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<p>You may want to deplete the stock fund first, either by having son reimburse you for expenses you pay by just changing the name of the stock to your ownership or selling outright. I say this because when you fill out the FAFSA next year, your son will be assessed about 20% for his assets, wheres you, as parents are only assessed 5%. The 529, if not in his name will not be considered his asset. If in his name, it will be. That can make a difference in terms of financial aid.</p>

<p>However, with an EFC at your level, the only thing your son is likely to get from the government is subsidized Stafford loans. Your EFC is too high for Pell grant eligibility. If your state has some grants for college kids, he may be eliglbe for those. Delaware is not known to be generous and meet full aid, particularly for out of staters. And that is where the aid needs to come from, other than from private scholarships. </p>

<p>The main case against taking home equity loans over the PLUS loan is that if you should need to go into your home equity for other non school reasons (say, home repair), you have diminished your account. And then you will not be able to get the PLUS loan as that is only available for school and you have a limited window in which to borrow those fund. For that reason, I would go with PLUS. You can always repay PLUS with home equity later. You cannot do the reverse if you should want to do so. </p>

<p>Will your son be able to get ROTC funds due to his injury?</p>

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<p>The knee injury is something that hopefully will slowly heal. Not fast enough to make it back to the Academy (which started last week) but soon enough to start the ROTC process we think...</p>

<p>Thanks for the advise - looks to be all on the mark.</p>

<p>DKnightfam</p>

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<p>Use the funds on hand first, your EFC may decrease a bit once those funds are gone....</p>

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<p>Hi DKnightfam-</p>

<p>Have a son that is a mid and other kiddos at other colleges. Understand about the back-up as we did the same, just in case.</p>

<p>Was reading your post and thinking. Other son was also admitted to SA and offered ROTC scholarships so he did a bunch of research on where to best use his ROTC scholies. His NROTC ended up at MIT but had also looked at other schools. He ended up elsewhere with a different outside scholarship.</p>

<p>Does your son really want to attend U of Del? Maybe buying him some time to reorganize his college strategy might be beneficial. Maybe a gap year working for [AmeriCorps[/url</a>] or maybe attending the local CC taking Calc, Chem, English and hopefully pulling great grades would allow for transfer with a merit scholarship + ROTC. There are universities/colleges that accept ROTC for full payment for tuition and the college covers the room and board.</p>

<p>With 4 kiddos in college (1 just graduated) I've been through this over and over and over!!</p>

<p>Also there are other schools still accepting students (and some great schools) so he isn't "locked" into U of Del. </p>

<p>[url=<a href="http://www.nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/spaceavailabilityresults.htm%5DNACAC"&gt;http://www.nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/spaceavailabilityresults.htm]NACAC&lt;/a> 2008 Space Availability Survey Results](<a href="http://www.americorps.gov/for_individuals/ready/index.asp%5DAmeriCorps%5B/url"&gt;http://www.americorps.gov/for_individuals/ready/index.asp)&lt;/p>

<p>You can search which schools are still taking students. If his stats where good enough for the SA he stands great shot at merit money at other schools. Just one example:</p>

<p>The</a> Amigo Scholars Program
Amigo</a> Transfer Scholarship Program and they are still accepting apps</p>

<p>There is an on-going running list on either the parent's board or FA board with a whole slew of similar schools and scholarships.</p>

<p>Hope this helps. Please feel free to pm me!</p>

<p>Kat</p>