<p>Hello. I am a 20 year old sophomore in college. I will be getting married this June. Both my wife and I will be full time students with minimal income, i.e under 10K and year combined. We will be living off of our savings accounts, which were invested in over the first 20 years of our lives. I am trying to figure out the basics of federal aid and FAFSA and want to make sure I get whatever aid that I can, since we don't have much money. I have reviewed the site, but am not entirely sure what to do. I am a good student, with a 3.9 GPA, if that makes any difference. Is the FAFSA all I need to do, or do I have to specifically apply to scholarships. Also, is it possible to apply now for this year, or do I have to wait to apply until next year. If so, when next year, summer winter etc. </p>
<p>Would becoming an independent for tax purposes now, rather than waiting until married make any difference, as in possibly get aid for this current semester. </p>
<p>I know this is a lot of questions, but I truly appreciate the help.</p>
<p>Independence for tax purposes makes no difference whatsoever for FA purposes. </p>
<p>Have you never filed for FA before? If you want aid for this semester you would have to file the 2010-2011 FAFSA which would require your parents’ and your 2009 tax info plus any current assets.</p>
<p>If you are getting married in June, file the 2011-2012 FAFSA after you get married to be considered independent. (If you file before you are married you will be considered a dependent for the entire 2011-2012 school year.) Your combined 2010 incomes will have to be reported. Your combined assets as of the date of filing will also be reported. However if you both file 1040A or ez returns and your combined AGIs are less than $50k, you will be eligible for the simplified needs where assets are ignored in the EFC calculation.</p>
<p>Unless either set of parents is low enough income to qualify for the auto 0 EFC, you are likely to have a lower EFC as a married person. (My son’s EFC was actually lower as a dependent because my husband is retired and out income is low enough to qualify for the auto 0.)</p>
<p>Tax dependency and FAFSA dependency are different so what your parents declare or don’t declare isn’t always relevant. Second point, when you file this winter your status is “at the time of filing” so you would be filing as not married and I don’t believe you can change this until the following year…what is your school’s deadline, can you file in June after the marriage without risking any potential aid? Have you talked to your school’s financial aid office? </p>
<p>Are you both planning on continuing in the same college? How is your current college education being funded? Are you at a 2-yr college or a 4-year or more institution? Private or public? Are you both receiving aid now? Is that aid just federal aid or do you have college granted aid (scholarships, grants, etc.? This type of information will yield much better responses.</p>
<p>You cannot apply as an independent student now unless you meet the criteria to do so…which is unlikely since you’re not married or over 24. You should both complete FAFSA now for the 11/12 academic year (btw, you can still apply for the 10/11 year if you haven’t already done so). Next year, when you actually are married, you will both apply as independent students (for FAFSA, marital status is as of the date you file and is not amended for mid-year marraiges). Or, you can wait until after the happy day and file your 11/12 FAFSAs if you will need the financial aid…but I would run through the various scenarios to see what waiting will do. Other than Pell, Stafford, and some state aid, you may find that schools have little or no campus-based aid left by summer. Scholarships for returning students may be awarded by the college/department, but may require a separate application…check with your school. Outside scholarships, of course, always require a separate app.</p>
<p>You should familiarize yourself with FAFSA and how the EFC formula works. Finaid.org has a lot of good information about student aid and loans. The EFC formula guide and FAFSA instructions will get you into the “nuts and bolts” of the process:</p>
<p>Depending on how much you have in the bank, you may want to look into moving that money into a student owned 529 account. Dependent students have no asset protection allowance and their assets are assessed at 20% toward EFC each year. Savings in 529 accounts are available to pay for almost everything in the normal COA (except transportation and personal expenses) but are assessed at the lower parent rate of 5.6%. I don’t know how that affects independent students though…worth looking into.</p>
No, don’t do that. If you file the 2011-12 now you will have to report parent income. If you are getting married in June, wait until after you are married to file (unless your parents are low income).</p>
<p>What is unclear…what kind of financial aid do these two students qualify for as unmarried dependent students. For example, if they qualify for significant aid as dependent students, maybe they should file for financial aid before they get married. If their situation will be improved by waiting…they should wait.</p>
<p>Whatever they do first will be how they will be viewed for the whole upcoming academic year.</p>
<p>I think swimcatsmom means the combined 2010 incomes will be used for the 11/12 FAFSA.</p>
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<p>Lots of x-posting! I was in the process of editing to add the caveat that waiting may lower EFC, but also may result in no campus-based aid. We don’t know what school they attend, or what the parent EFC is like…so it’s pretty hard to say at this point. Not meeting the priority deadline for institutional aid could mean giving up far more than what Pell is worth…YMMV</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help. So if I understand correctly, I will wait and apply for the 11-12 school year in mid July, after I am married. However, this will be late and I will probably not recieve much. Out of curiosity when do the applications for the 12-13 year open.</p>
<p>Here’s a little bit of background, if it makes any difference. Both of out parents are quite wealthy, however they will not be supporting us once married. I currently have around 75% of tuition and housing covered on a merit scholarship, she has no scholarships. I attend a large midwestern 4 year university. If it makes a difference, it is probably one of the two most reputable public schools in the midwest.</p>
It depends on the aid. Some federal aid does not have a deadline - for instance the Pell grant does not. If you are eligible for that then you will still get it. Other limited campus based federal aid will probably have run out. For instance even if you are eligible, the SEOG your school has will probably have been fully awarded. Institutional and/or state aid will depend on the institution/state.</p>
<p>2012-13 FAFSA form becomes available Jan 1st 2012. It is for aid for the 2012-2013 school year (fall 2012 on).</p>
<p>Ok, thank you. So I will apply this July for aid for this fall. Once declared a low income independent, will the wealth of my parents have any bearing on the aid I receive. It sounds like the Pell Grant is what I am shooting for, so what about for this. Again, I truly appreciate all the insight.</p>
<p>In that case, definitely wait til after you’re married to file your FAFSAs. What is your 2010 income, combined? How much do you anticipate having in your combined savings after the wedding? Does your housing award cover only on-campus housing and does your school have housing for married students?</p>
<p>Also, if you have residency in that state, you might want to look into whatever state aid programs/applications are available and what the deadlines for those are.</p>
<p>As sk8 said, check your state deadlines. The only 2 state programs I know anything about have earlyish deadlines (March 2 for CA, April 1 for our state).</p>
<p>A married independent student where both students are enrolled at leas half time has income protection $8550. In addition to that you would have allowances for taxes if you had any. If you both work you would get some additional allowance against income for work related expenses. Any income over the protected income 50% goes to the EFC. If your combined incomes were in the $10,000 range you should both be eligible for the Pell.</p>
<p>But 20% of your assets go to the EFC but with income below $50k and if you both file a 1040a/ez (or are not required to file) you should be eligible for simplified needs where assets are ignored.</p>
<p>2010 income is essentially non-existent, maybe 2K. I take a full 18 credit course load in the hard sciences, so am very busy. We anticipate around 15 thousand in savings after the wedding. Our parents will informally loan us money for whatever college costs that we cannot cover, however I would obviously rather pay it off with grants/scholarships. I just looked, and after the expected tuition increase my merit award will only cover tuition and university fees, not housing. My school does have apartments, which some married students stay in(although its not exclusively for married students). We found an offcampus apartment that is 150 a month less, so we will be staying there. We both have instate residency(Indiana).</p>
<p>swimcats, looks like we can add IN to the list of early deadline states…FAFSA has to be filed March 10th for their need-based grant program:
[SSACI:</a> Frank O’Bannon Grant Program](<a href=“CHE: Home”>CHE: Home)</p>
<p>I didn’t look through all of their programs though…you might want to spend some time on that site, chrisski.</p>
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<p>Don’t forget to factor in heat, electricity, cable, internet, etc…if the off-campus doesn’t provide those it might actually be cheaper to stay on campus (especially if you need a car to live off campus).</p>
<p>I checked the 529 idea out with the FAFSA instructions and that won’t work…independent students have to report it as a regular asset. But, if both of you TOGETHER, only earned $2K in 2010, your income will not be contributing anything toward your EFC (that sounds very low for two students though…neither of you worked last summer?).</p>
<p>1040A/EZ are TAX forms…you have to complete and submit them if you’re required to, which you can check on irs.gov. The FAFSA is the application for federal student aid (and your state/university aid programs)…so no separate app is used for Stafford loans, Pell, etc.</p>
<p>Forgot about simplified needs for independent students … that would apply. However, the most important thing is to meet the deadline for the state grant, as this sounds like it nets more money than a Pell would bring to the table. Are you receiving the grant referenced above? If not, then you don’t need to worry about that deadline, as you won’t be married by that deadline, anyway. If you are, you will want to meet the deadline.</p>
<p>^I don’t think she/they could qualify for that next year though…since they would have to file FAFSA by 3/10 and would still be dependent students. I forgot about the simplified EFC formula for them too! Chrisski, your savings would not impact your EFC (the number that FAFSA produces that determines the amount of Pell, etc.) as it sounds like you will meet this criteria:</p>