<p>Okay, as of right now my parents are paying my college tutiton but, I want to get married. My parents will not continue paying for my college unless I wait until after I graduate to get married. So I was wondering, if i get married now or this summer will I be eligible for pell grants, or more finacial aid/student loans since I will be married or independant? </p>
<p>My fiance is a high school teacher and he will be our only source of income until I graduate. </p>
<p>I would love to go ahead and get married, but don't want to start off our marriage with financial troubles. If anyone has any answers to if I will eligible for grants or any other form of monies, it'd be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>You have a lifetime ahead of you…most likely more years than you’ve been alive. As a parent I’d say wait until you have finished your degree. Get engaged and plan a wedding for the summer after your college graduation. If it’s meant to be he’ll stick around.</p>
<p>^^^
momofthreeboys: As a parent I agree with you and her parents. However the OP did not solicit advice about whether to get married, she asked a financial aid question on the financial aid forum.</p>
<p>I know it would be easier to wait to get married, and I know he would stick around but we both feel like we are wasting time being apart, so that’s why I’m looking for more information so i will be able to make the best decision for myself. there are also certain circumstances with my family I didn’t list, like my awful relationship with my father.</p>
<p>Sit down with your fiance, and put together a 2009 income tax return as though you were already married, then run some of the financial aid calculators (there are good ones at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and at [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your College Costs – BigFuture | College Board)). That should give you some idea about what your married COA would look like. Then stop by your college’s financial aid office and ask what will happen to your aid package if you are married and this is your COA. You won’t be the first person who has ever asked them this question.</p>
<p>Allykate - I think you are wise to worry about starting a marriage with financial troubles. That is an extra stress on a young marriage. Beware also of rushing into a young marriage to escape family problems. Been there, done that, didn’t work out.</p>
<p>I think a trip to your financial aid office with a list of questions is in order. Might as well take advantage of the counseling center to get a handle on those dad issues too - you don’t want to drag those into your marriage.</p>
<p>Happymom is correct. Run your finances through 2009 income tax software then go to the FAFSA calculators and see where you end us. Thumper is correct and a teachers’s salary probably will not be low enough for a family of 2 to qualify for much, if any, Pell. This leaves you with Staffords and any merit scholarships you have been already been awarded. I don’t know if a spouse can take a PLUS loan out or not. Take your calculations to the finaid office and see what they say. I’m already on record as Aglages points out for what I think about getting married now, there is no “time being wasted” frankly, but best of luck on the financial end, a college degree is something that is yours and only yours, is transportable through life and can never be taken away from you.</p>
<p>So figure out how to be together. It’s no fun to be apart so be together without getting married. It’s really important that you finish college. It will be much easier to do now when you are young and your parents are footing the bill. There shouldn’t be a rush about getting married as long as you can be together.</p>
<p>The difference in what you’re eligible for will be based upon your fiance’s income.</p>
<p>I’m assuming as a teacher he makes around $35-40K a year. Given that, unless he has very large assets your EFC is probably going to be around $9-10K per year.</p>
<p>As was already mentioned on a teacher’s salary you’ll probably not be eligible for Pell grants, and even if you get one it will likely be very small. You will be eligible for more Stafford loan money as an independent student, and some of it may be subsidized. Independent students are eligible for</p>
<p>$9,500 in their first year ($3500 subsidized if they qualify)
$10,5000 in their second year ($4,500 sub)
$12,500 in their third year and beyond ($5,500 subsidized)</p>
<p>That’s about $4-5K more per year than the dependent limits.</p>
<p>If you go to a school that covers 100% of your financial need then you can probably meet your EFC using Stafford loans, but that’s just in my rough estimation.</p>
<p>I also agree with Pea. Is there a way that you can be together without getting married for now?</p>
<p>I don’t think the parents will pay if she spends more time with her fiance…as in living together…or practically living together. I could be wrong, but that’s the feeling I’m getting.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that part of the stress at home is that the parents want to control how much time she is with her fiance…which would end if she got married…but would also end their support.</p>
<p>I could be wrong. It’s just that if the parents were approving of her spending lots of time with her fiance, why wouldn’t they continue paying her tuition if she were to marry him? I don’t think I would ever tell my kid, “You can (essentially) live with your BF/GF and I’ll pay, but I won’t pay if you marry.” That just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids – I don’t mean to quibble with you but</p>
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<p>That is exactly what I would say. People who get married are on their own, they are adults, they get to make their own decisions and they get to finance them. It’s not clear to me what the OP’s parents would say about the couple living together, I don’t know. But I’d never pay for my married kid to go to school, he or she needs to work that out with their spouse. I might help some with tuition but they would be on their own for the bulk of it. I’m not saying that my point of view is the right one necessarily, I’m just saying I can see where her parents are coming from.</p>
<p>In any event, good luck to the original poster. One of my friends married during her sophomore year of college. She did finish her degree and 30 years later she is still married to her husband.</p>
<p>I guess I’m different. I would never tell my kid, “I’ll pay for your tuition if you live with your BF or GF, but I won’t pay if you marry.” To me, that would be encouraging behavior that my H and I do not support. </p>
<p>My parents paid for my sister’s tuition after she married. They would have refused if she had chosen to shack up instead.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s not clear what the OP’s situation is. That’s why I said that I was guessing that perhaps marriage was being considered because the parents were trying to control or limit the amount of time she was spending with her fiance.</p>
<p>I would probably still help my kids with tuition if they got married, however, I’d sure try to get them to postpone marriage with that financial leverage of helping with tuition. In other words, I’d offer to pay them to shack up if it meant postponing marriage.</p>
<p>As others have said, it is unlikely you will become eligible for Pell grants. Your husbands income would have to be reported on your FAFSA (as well as any income you have). Income protection for an independent student is around $12,000 (that is for your combined incomes) plus allowances for taxes, FICA etc. 50% of income over that goes to the EFC. The max EFC for any pell is 4617. So your combined income would have to be in the low $20ks to qualify for the Pell.</p>
<p>How long do you have left of school? And how much do your parents pay now versus how much aid do you get now? If you are getting by on need-based aid, you may be able to marry your senior year since your package would have been determined. If mom and dad are footing the bill, you will have a hard time getting enough financial aid to duplicate their lifelong college savings for you. Of course, you and your dh may be able to foot the bill. If you are attending a state school, you may be able to pay for tuition out of his current earnings. Does he want to marry now and foot the bill?</p>