"Life sucks"?

Paying for College
1

<p>Well... I've had the idea that I would get a pretty big sum of financial aid since last year (Junior year). Not too long ago, councilor wanted to nominate me for the gates millennium scholarship BUT I need to qualify for the pell grant... which I come to find out just now.. that I probably don’t. </p>

<p>So from what I could tell..and from what my dad could tell me.. we only get like 30k a year or so.. BUT.. he’s self employed and it screws EVERYTHING up.</p>

<p>The problem comes because even though he is not the only owner of the business (in fact he hardly gets to make any of the financial decisions) he technically is the only owner. My uncle is the one who is really in charge but I dont believe he is a permanent resident, I'm not really sure why the restaurant is on my fathers name. </p>

<p>To sum it up, I don’t know why but I believe my fathers income is really close to 190K (before taxes) but since both my uncle and father are the "owners" of the business his income is used to pay for "business expenses", rent for both "us" and my uncle (he once told me his rent is for "low income families" or something", I think I can see why now). </p>

<p>In the end... when I asked my uncle about it... he just said I wouldn’t get any financial aid because my dad makes too much but I havent received the actual AGI number (which is what my counselor asked me in order to determine whether it was even worth applying for the scholarship). </p>

<p>I'm just upset that my uncle told me my dad makes too much for me too get FIN AID and when I told him we really don’t get that much money, that his real income should really be something around 30-40 k, but then he just said that "that's just the way life is". It's just a shame that he is right, it doesn’t matter what he really gets, but what is on paper.</p>

<p>Now, I must admit that I am upset.. but I'm here to try to find another solution to my problem, not by forcing my way to FIN AID but by finding another solution. I want to go to college, and the money will obviously not be provided for me .. not even through FIN AID. So let's just say I'm in a position where my father makes a lot of money but he wont pay a penny for college. What options do I have, if any? I'm just blank right now, because the solution I hear in this forum is usually "the money is out there" but this time I really don’t see how it will be there for me since on paper I'm technically the son of a pretty well off parent.</p>

<p>If I have to take loans out, I am willing to do this, I'm just wondering if this is an option.</p>

2

<p>Im in the same position man, my parents screwed me over from becoming elgible for any kind of financial assistance incuding the pell grant. Plus my parents wont give me one piece of copper for school. So your not the only one out there man. Just to let you know.</p>

<p>Jake</p>

3

<p>Have you thought about looking for colleges where you would stand a good chance of getting merit aid?</p>

4

<p>I live in Biloxi, Mississippi, and there is only one college that might and it is at the Univeristy of Southern Mississippi. But you have to accepted into that school, which is why im going to a community college at MGCCC (Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College). Even though the tuition cost only 745 bucks its still ex*****ive for me, thats not including fees and books. Its not fair that one of my friends parents who makes twice as much as my parents was elgible for the pell grant. I hate to say it but Im glad Katrina wiped this part of the state out. This state sucks ass, and was long overdue for a disaster waiting to happen. If i have to suffer with paying for school so will the people who lost there homes here, "Thats just the way it is". </p>

<p>Jake</p>

5

<p>I'm sort of in a similar position; my dad owns a farm and most of the money goes to farm stuff, not anything else. Last our peach crop got destroyed by hail so the government gave us money for it, but he used it only for farm stuff. So our actual income is less than it looks like.</p>

<p>But I bet if you can essentially copy and paste your post into the part on the finaid application that's like "please explain any weird circumstances" it'll be okay. I know that's on the Business/Farm supplement that some colleges require. I've actually not looked at any other aid forms.</p>

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<p>ONekid: the problem you have is that your Dad "owns" something which you say belongs, in reality to your Uncle. They simply canot have ti both ways- there must be reasons they think it works better for Dad to own the business, but can they change it to reflect the real picture? Can the money Uncle takes be paid in salary so it is not reflecting as your Dad's income?</p>

<p>If they want to take whatever advantage there is in Dad "owngin" the business, then perhpas Uncle needs to be informed that he will ahve to pony up some money towards your education, since he is the ultyimate benficiary of the set up.</p>

<p>Perhaps you could fill in a FAFSA practice sheet with what the numbers would be, if the true situation were refelcted, and see what the actual difference is, then decide how to negotiate a temporary (4 year) adjustment between brothers.</p>

<p>It is that AGI number which is criitcal and if your Dad grosses $190k in a restaurant, his bottom line may very well be only $20k or so, restaurants have a tight profit margin.</p>

<p>Ask Dad what the AGI has been runnning on his latest tax returns and try to find out what you are dealing with.</p>

<p>Here is a link which will allow you to "run" the numbers and see whether it is worth making a fuss:</p>

<p><a href="http://ifap.ed.gov/efcinformation/0506EFCFormulaGuide.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ifap.ed.gov/efcinformation/0506EFCFormulaGuide.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>