I understand all of you guys and completely agree. I’m pretty much close screwed when college comes. My mom is poor, but she’s not super poor to the point where I can qualify for full aid. I feel like we’re in that gray area between poor and qualified for aid and rich and well off. I need some funds to help me out when college comes around and you guys are suggesting the 529 for that reason.
My mom doesn’t have much but is willing to contribute whatever she can. I have a big issue with loans because I won’t be able to get a cosigner to qualify for one. My mom’s credit is not good because of the messy divorce. I’m concerned that I won’t even be able to get a loan to even attempt to pay for college. Most of my friends I"ve spoken too are very well off, but even then their parents are getting loans to pay off for some of their tuition.
Here’s the thing though. I’m not working that much during school because I am going to be swamped with school work. I won’t make that much money but I guess its better than nothing? I probably should’ve started saving for college years ago and I feel like its too late now.
I was confused as to why everyone was suggesting a 529 because everyone mentioned that a 529 would be accessed as parental but money in my mom’s checking would be parental as well. I didn’t understand why I should leave my money in an account where I couldn’t use it right away for any expenses (i.e my sky high car insurance). I just felt a bit selfish stashing all my money in a savings account for my college instead of helping my mom pay for MY cell phone bill and MY car insurance and MY supplies, but I guess we have to look at it in the long run.
You guys have convinced me though. I’m looking into a 529. I might keep some money from each paycheck for immediate expenses like Austin suggested.
Thank you for taking the time to deal with me.
@Madison85 If I could, I would love to go to UCSF. I was just looking at the best schools for my areas of interest. California is real nice isn’t it? Realistically, its uncertain whether or not I would be able to get into UCSF let alone afford it. I agree that VCU is a more realistic choice, but I’ll worry about grad school later.
She does need help. Like I said, alimony and child support come in. She makes little on her own. If you live around NOVA you’ll know that in some places rent is pretty high. Income wise, she is borderline poor. I’m not sure if we’re poor enough for that much aid but I assure you we aren’t well off right now. I have 2 younger siblings too.
I have looked into questbridge, but didn’t someone on this thread already say that questbridge’s partnered colleges factor in my dad’s income? My dad makes a good amount of money even though he won’t contribute anything to college and I think that would negatively affect me. Furthermore my stats are kind of low for scholarships like that. I have only a 3.7 unweighted and 30 ACT while I see most questbridge students have 3.9+ and 32+ for ACT. I don’t have any remarkable EC’s either.
I will try questbridge as you have suggested because I guess it won’t hurt. I just don’t feel like my stats and EC’s are as remarkable as many of these kids with lower incomes and much higher achievements than me. I really messed up sophomore year regarding my grades and I’ve really picked up my grades, but its too late now considering its my senior year.
Regarding EFC, Pell, and all of that I’m going to speak to someone from NOVA or GMU next week like my counselor suggested I honestly have no clue.
One school you may want to look at is Presbyterian in SC. It has a pharmacy school, and pretty good aid. It is TINY, and in a TINY town but might give you a lot of money. We liked the school, the coach, and the financial aid, but it was just too small for my daughter, but the pharmacy school was a draw.
If you make less than 6K per year, FAFSA won’t care. Use your money for part of your expenses, and you won’t be saving anything anyway.
Remember that if you are PAYING out ALL your income to help you and your mom live, that will not become an asset, it will just help you survive, money in, money out. If you have paychecks, you’ll have a record of how much you earned, and if things change in the future, your mom can give you some money to make up for your contribution.
Remember also that work study is not counted as regular income, it is free and clear according to FAFSA.
Finally, any work experience that is remotely related to your eventual career is good, even if there might be a small drop in FA. There is no way they can drop your FA for more than you are earning after taxes…
@Pho98, run the Fafsa4caster to see if you qualify for Pell. Does your state award any grants? In our state, if you qualify for Pell you can get a tuition grant to use at one of our state schools.
If your dad won’t help pay for school that eliminates any school that uses his info. I think the first thing I’d do is set a budget & find a financial safety. You can get the federal student loans ($5500 as a frosh, $6500 as a soph, & $7500/year as a junior & senior). If you qualify for Pell you may get a grant of up to ~$5k/year. Are you working during the summer? You should be able to earn ~$3k/year. So with Pell, your budget is ~$13k/year if your parents don’t contribute; without Pell it’s ~$8k. Unless your parents contribute or you get your stats up high enough to qualify for merit aid, you may have to consider commuting to school.
@rhandco I don’t get it. There’s no way I’m making over 3k before FAFSA this year. Are you saying this won’t even matter at all? With this in mind, I don’t understand the point of a 529 or the point of leaving money with my mom. I should just open my own bank account.
I’m assuming this 6k includes total income, whether or not you’ve spent it? You can’t just make $10k and spend $6k on a car right before FAFSA have it not affect financial aid correct?
I want to worry about the whole financial aid thing later. I just need to decide where to put my money from jobs right now.
Yes, I am saying that according to FAFSA info, if you make less than 6K per year, they don’t count your income when determining FA.
But if you made 3K and put it all into savings, and had it there as of the day you are filling out the FAFSA form, that 3K would be considered as accessible for you to pay your college bills.
So according to that site, 3K * 20% = $600, so you would be expected to contribute $600 more to your college costs if you had 3K in the bank instead of nothing. But if you just spent it down so you had $100 left in your account as of FAFSA filing day, the difference is only $20. And your college will likely not care one bit about that $20.
The two sources of paying for college are income and assets, but it is your family’s income and assets considered separately from your income and assets.
You have good grades and test scores. Did anyone post this link already for you? http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ If you don’t particularly care where you complete your pre-pharma coursework, there might be something here that would work for your situation.
@rhandco Less than 6k your income doesn’t matter, but if you make 3k and have it in a savings account, it affects your EFC? That makes no sense at all.
@happymomof1 I have looked at that but to be completely honest I’m not particularly interested in colleges on that list. I do qualify for most of them based on GPA and test scores.
BUT if you have $3000 of those earnings in the bank the day you file your FAFSA, that $3000 will be an asset of yours…assessed at 20% of its value towards your EFC.
Well, you might not be interested in any of those schools, but that’s where the money is. You could go to one of those for free tuition or you can borrow a bunch of money to go to the school you want. It’s up to you.
Gates millenium requires some extraordinary community service and leadership and I haven’t really done that.
Using the calculator to estimate FAFSA, I am only eligible for around 1k of pell grant. I put in 50k as my mother’s income because I included all alimony and child support. This is kind of disappointing.
I talked to my mom about my job yesterday and what i should do with the money I earn. She told me that she doesn’t need any money I earn from my job. She’s fine with opening a 529 but also told me that she has her own savings account in her name that I could put my money into.
Would this be as beneficial as a 529 or should I stick with the 529? I’m not familiar with how her specific kind of savings account works but maybe it would offer more flexibility? With a 529 I’m restricted to spending it on college expenses only while with a savings I could use it on other things I need as well. I’m sure it will still be accessed at 5.6% since it is her savings account.
Regarding alimony and child support she has it for another 2 years or so. I will be eligible for full pell grant for my junior and senior years in college.
I actually haven’t talked to my dad in forever either. I’ve been told that I should at least give him and call and see what he can contribute. I highly doubt he will contribute anything but I guess its worth a shot.
You are making this a lot more complicated than it has to be for MAYBE getting $1000 in Pell money. Most of the NPC are set with the figures from 2-3 years ago (you can look at the figure it has for tuition and see that it is out of date). One big difference for next year is the asset protection allowance (although for single parents it seems to have gone up a little).
Financial planning to get ready for college is a good thing, but in your situation with a single parent and not a ton of income is not really going to change things all that much. Your EFC may vary a few hundred dollars if you have some money saved. Your real savings is going to come in picking the right college.
@twoinanddone I know. My head hurts just thinking about this stuff. A lot of people are telling me to put it in a 529 while others are telling me to spend it.
Okay, do this. Open an account (regular savings or checking) and put your money into it. Spend it as you need to between now and Dec on insurance, bills, application fees, ACTs, sending scores, whatever, but of course try to save all your can. In Dec, anything you don’t need immediately put into a 529 so that when you file the FAFSA you won’t have any money in your savings. Then start building your savings account again and you’ll have cash for school.