Money help....What to do??

Paying for College
1

<p>I just filled out the EFC calculator and was told that all we would qualify for is about $5000. My husband earns a decent salary; early 6 figures, but after insurance (which we have to pay 100%) and taxes, he brings home maybe $80,000 annually. We are not big spenders, but we have no extra money for college. We have debt as a result of a bad business deal that is being paid off as an equity (our home) line of credit. Our credit is horrible as a result of a bankruptcy 3 years ago (again due to this business deal) We have no credit card debt, but our expenses are high and there is truly nothing to cut back on. We live very frugally trying to pay back the bankruptcy debts. </p>

<p>Unfortunately none of this is reflected in the 1040 forms and this 1040 form is what FAFSA seems to use to make its decisions. </p>

<p>My DD has a free ride at the state schools, but the awards are not transferable and she has her heart set on attending a school out of the state. In the long run, because she got into the major of her choice and is therefore guaranteed her classes, school out of state could very well be a cheaper option than the state schools where she would have to apply for her major Sophomore year with no guarantee of graduating in 4 years with the degree she hopes to pursue. For us the costs are too much without FAFSA.</p>

<p>What other options are available to us??? Is there a way to make FAFSA work for us so that my DD can go to the school of her dreams? I am at a loss and completely panicked.</p>

<p>Are we the only ones in a situation like this??</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for advice, help, thoughts....whatever you have to offer.</p>

2

<p>

</p>

<p>I’m confused…How will the OOS school be less expensive? Are you assuming she will graduate in four years at the expensive OOS rate? I’m still flummoxed how that would be less expensive than a free ride instate. What am I missing?</p>

<p>Your family contribution is largely based on your income (as you saw by running that financial aid calculator). Most schools do NOT meet full need for accepted students and also package loans as part of the fnancial aid package. NO you are not the only one in the same boat.</p>

<p>BUT your daughter has an option…she already HAS a full ride at a college. Many others in your shoes do NOT have that option open to them. I know she has “dreamed” of going out of state, but if the finances can’t support it, she DOES have an option instate that IS affordable for your family.</p>

<p>The FAFSA info is the FAFSA info…I’m not sure how this can be “changed” to work for you. You are required to put the info on the FAFSA as it comes from your tax return. It is what it is.</p>

<p>Does your daughter’s “dream school” offer merit awards that are exclusive of financial need? Is she eligible for such an award? Perhaps that will help…but it won’t bring the cost down to the cost of your instate school…probably.</p>

<p>You have to decide what your budget is for college. As hard as it may seem, you have to do this and then go from there. That dream school sounds wonderful but if the cost is too high for your family, it won’t work.</p>

<p>I’d love to own a Lexus SUV…but it’s WAY to pricey for my budget. It has everything I want in it…it’s a dream car for me. It’s not going to happen because I can’t pay the bill to own it. In the meantime, I have a perfectly good car that is fully paid for…free. Until I have more money, I need to stick with that freebie and forego my dream.</p>

3

<p>FAFSA does not take into account debt. With a gross pay in six figures you will not qualify for any federal grant money. the only thing your daughter will probably be eligible for is a Stafford loan. The maximum Stafford loan for a freshman is $5500. If the parents apply for, and are denied, a PLUS loan (likely with the bankruptcy), then she will be eligible for an additional $4000 in loans in her name.</p>

<p>Even if she finds a school that meets full need, you will still have to come up with your EFC. Debt is not taken into account when determining need. </p>

<p>She could apply at schools that she may be in the running for merit aid at. maybe she will find an option that is affordable. But merit aid usually reduces need, before it reduces the EFC. Your daughter is fortunate that she has an affordable option with a full ride at a state U. If that ends up being what you can afford then she (and you) just need to get over “dreaming” of going out of state and be realistic. My daughter had a dream of going to school in Hawaii, for a while. It was just a completely unrealistic pipe dream for us. She went to our State U with a good scholarship and is just fine and will graduate with just a little debt.</p>

<p>To be blunt, you have no reason to be panicked. If there were no affordable options then I could understand this, but she has a free ride at the State school. That is wonderful. You just need to be completely straight and honest with her about what you can afford (as we were with our daughter). Be honest with her now, rather than letting her be disappointed down the road.</p>

4

<p>You say your daughter has a free ride at the state school. How can 5 years (if it takes an extra year) of “free” in-state college be more expensive than 4 years of paying tuition at an OOS school? Nothing is cheaper than “free”.</p>

<p>I think you already have your answer–if you can’t afford an OOS school then you can’t afford it. Many families have to come back down to earth after dreaming outside of the actual pocketbook reality. It’s okay…just know that this is the reality check that was probably always in the cards and the sooner you are able to help your daughter reset expectations based on actual family finances the better.</p>

5

<p>

As others have said, your options are to have your Daughter attend school in-state for free or pay to have her attend school OOS which you apparently cannot afford. There is no magic way to get financial aid to pick up the difference. And MANY people have gone through the same evaluation and made the same choice. This is where price really becomes important.</p>

6

<p>My DD has a free ride at the state schools, but the awards are not transferable and she has her heart set on attending a school out of the state. In the long run, because she got into the major of her choice and is therefore guaranteed her classes, school out of state could very well be a cheaper option than the state schools where she would have to apply for her major Sophomore year with no guarantee of graduating in 4 years with the degree she hopes to pursue. For us the costs are too much without FAFSA.</p>

<p>First of all, I think you misunderstand FAFSA…It’s never going to give you anything. Your income is waaaay too high for free federal aid. Even if you were to magically get your EFC lowered to say $10k, that’s still too high for free fed aid.</p>

<p>FAFSA is just to determined federal aid. You seem to think that it will tell colleges to charge you less and give you more money. It won’t. </p>

<p>For the schools that give great aid (such as the elites), they use CSS Profile. </p>

<p>What schools is your D applying to? If any are OOS publics then they wouldn’t give you aid even if your EFC was lower (except UNC and UVA). </p>

<p>Most schools do not have much aid to give. </p>

<p>What other options are available to us??? Is there a way to make FAFSA work for us so that my DD can go to the school of her dreams? I am at a loss and completely panicked.</p>

<p>No.</p>

<p>Does your D have a state funded scholarship…like Hope or Bright Futures? </p>

<p>Do her scholarships only pay for tuition? Will you be paying for room and board and books?</p>

<p>I dont’ see how going OOS would be “cheaper” in the long run as you’ve suggested. </p>

<p>What is your D’s major, where has she applied, and what are her stats?</p>

<p>Lastly…do not let yourself get all upset over not being able to afford your D’s dream school. Many, many parents can’t and their kids do fine. Going to a dream school is not the “end all, be all.” The “dream” is the career…not the school.</p>

7

<p>Is she going into Nursing or some other medical profession? (just guessing since nursing and I think pharmacy in some states is a program where you start in your first year and in others, you do starting your third year or later). If so, can she consider ROTC? The military is always looking for more nurses.</p>

8

<p>Good thoughts everyone. Thanks for responding. Re-reading what I wrote, it really sounds panicky. Not my intention. Just my mind was wandering everywhere and this whole FAFSA thing has me confused, although really I think I understand it and don’t like it. My the time my next child goes to college, I will be a pro at all of this. :-)</p>

<p>She is not guaranteed courses in her major at the state schools. She is not even guaranteed to graduate with her major in nursing. I know people who have had to go 5 years to get all the classes they want and that is what I was talking about as far as being more expensive. The ‘free ride’ is good for 4 years and not valid for summer or winter sessions, so if she cannot get her course work in the 4 year time, we have to pay anyway. She was accepted into a 4 year nursing program and therefore her coursework and degree are guaranteed, if she does the work and puts in the time.</p>

<p>Mom2collegekids…I like your quote about the dream being the carreer, not the school. I will need to write it 100% and then make it my mantra. Thanks.</p>

<p>MilitaryMom, thanks for the thoughts. I am not sure I see her in ROTC, but maybe. I will talk to her about it. She is beginning to understand that the acceptance is only step one in going to the school of her choice.</p>

<p>I also know that if she graduates with a nursing degree that there are programs in high need areas that will pay back her loans 20% a year for 5 years…I guess what is confusing me is how do we get her these loans, if we are unable to cosign/qualify for them??</p>

<p>Thanks again everyone.</p>

9

<p>I am no expert here by any stretch, but from what I do know, I would think that of all the majors a student could choose, nursing is the last one where he/she could justify incurring private school or out of state costs on the basis of career opportunities. </p>

<p>I don’t think it matters where your daughter goes to school. Regardless of what tuition you pay, when your daughter becomes an RN, she WILL get a job. And, her salary will have very little, if anything, to do with where she went to college. </p>

<p>Mom2collegekids: CalPoly (and other CSUs maybe?) give aid to out of state students–my son being one of them.</p>

10

<p>

</p>

<p>Do you mean her coursework/guarantee is in place at the OOS school, but not the instate one? Without knowing what school/state your instate option is, I will say that many schools offer advance registration to their honors kids first, which means they register before other students who have more credits so they get their choice of classes. Even if she’s closed out of a few, nursing and other strict-schedule programs often have some reserved seats and can force-register their kids. My D is at a large public school and this is very typical in her program, so you may want to ask these types of questions. </p>

<p>If she gets closed out of gen-eds, or has schedule constraints, it’s a good bet that your publics have course articulation with all the CC’s and each other…it’s been very easy and pretty cheap for my kids to just take a gen-ed or two over the summer. Yes, it may cost a few hundred bucks and doesn’t pad their gpa at all, but is much cheaper than going OOS!</p>

11

<p>It will still be cheaper in the long run if she goes instate for free tuition and you have to pay for some summer classes at a cc or local state school to keep up with her credits.</p>

<p>And, as mentioned earlier…if she gets into an honors program at her Florida school, she’ll have priority for registration. As for getting into nursing…it sounds like your D is a strong student, so I wouldn’t fear that she won’t get into a nursing program.</p>

12

<p>schooner quote: *Mom2collegekids: CalPoly (and other CSUs maybe?) give aid to out of state students–my son being one of them. *</p>

<p>What kind of aid did your son get? federal need based aid…fed grants? fed loans? merit aid?</p>

<p>Calif state schools generally do not give their need-based money to OOS students (I’m not talking about fed aid…I’m talking about aid from the school.). Federal aid is available to anyone and is not “from” the school. And, in the OPs case, their EFC is too high for fed grants…only loans would be available. And, fed aid doesn’t cover enough unless you go to Plus loans or Sallie Mae.</p>

13

<p>My son got private scholarships, a stafford loan, parent plus loan and cal poly’s outreach scholarship ($8K, which is need based).</p>

14

<p>To the OP…are you trying to tell us that there are NO public colleges IN YOUR STATE that offer programs in nursing? What state is this? I believe there is a public university in EVERY state that offers nursing. In fact, in our state, many RN students do their nursing training through one of the excellent community college programs…get jobs and go on to earn their BSN at the expense of an employer.</p>

<p>In addition…paying for ONE additional year at your instate school…where your kiddo has a FREE ride for four years…will cost FAR LESS than paying a huge amount PER YEAR for four years.</p>