mother wants to be a college student too - EFC help?

<p>Our family's two children will both be in college starting fall of 2006. I would like to go back to college too. If I enroll as a full time student in the fall of 2006 will the FAFSA/PROFILE numbers change enough that I would have enough money to go to school myself? Do I count as one of the family members attending college in all of these calculations?</p>

<p>it will effect YOUR EFC .. when you (as a parent) file the FAFSA, you count all family members (you, spouse and children) that are going to school at least half time.</p>

<p>It will not effect your children's EFC. When they file, they only count their immediate family members (self, spouse and children) NOT parents. </p>

<p>You used to be able to have a parent go back to school to help lower the EFC, but not anymore.</p>

<p>That is not to say that it won't award you enough money to go to school -- just go ahead and file the FAFSA. you can file without attending. The priority dates are coming up soon for filing at schools.</p>

<p>As hsmom stated only your EFC as the parent will be lower. As you already know your EFC is currently divided by 2 to reflect both of your kids being in college at the same time. </p>

<p>Your EFC will be a third (as the 2 of them will be calculated in determing your EFC).</p>

<p>Regarding the getting enough money, it all depends on the FA policy at your school. Are you going back as an undergrad or grad student?</p>

<p>As the other posters said, it will have no effect on your children's federal calculations. However, there are some schools that will individually take it into consideration. I don't know of any posted list to identify which schools do this.</p>

<p>My husband tried to go back to college last year ( he already has a bachelor's degree ) and all he got in his package were Stafford loans ( not even subsidized ) even though our D's income and low EFC gave her a lot of Federal programs . Make sure you don't already have a degree !</p>

<p>I can currently a grad student. My EFC is lower, slightly more than half of my daughters. Got some scholarship money from my employer along with my employer's tuition benefit (100% reimbursable up to $10,000/year) it is not hurting too badly.</p>

<p>Many thanks to all who have responded to my question. I do have a B.S. and an M.A. I am still a little bit confused as to whether my EFC, if I am a student at the same time as my two children. will have the effect of lowering my kids' EFC calculation. </p>

<p>In other words - a hypothetical - if my son's EFC is $11,000 and my daughter's EFC is $11,000 and I return to school at least half time- will my children's EFC be reduced?? I am aware of the suggestions from answers to my post that the FA office of my children's schools may be the determiner of this question.</p>

<p>in 99% of the cases it is not going to have any effect on your children's EFC. both Institutional Methodology and FAFSA do not take into account a parent's school status when figuring the EFC, only siblings. You can always appeal directly to a school's financial aid department, but they generally only make an adjustment if you are looking at earning your bachelors -- but if you have a BA and an MA, I don't think you are going to get any help -- in fact, you might want to be careful because they will wonder why you aren't working to contribute income with two degrees, it's going to appear to them as if you are trying to game the system.</p>

<p>Thank you hsmomstef for your detailed response to my question. I think the schools will know I'm not gaming the system. I was a teacher for 22 years, and then my husband and I adopted two children from Korea and I have spent the last 19 years at home with them. I am 62 years old which may also help decrease our children's EFC. But I am not so old I don't dream about a new and different career. </p>

<p>We had to put our dog 'down' in December of 2005 and both of our kids will be in college in the fall of 2006 - so the nest is going to be very empty. I have just started to receive social security income this year. But my guess is that we will not be able to afford college for me until our kids have graduated from college.</p>

<p>Thank you again to all who have responded to my question.</p>

<p>new/old mom -- </p>

<p>alot is going to depend on what you tell the financial aid office and how it is phrased. somehow you are going to want to communicate 2 things -- you MUST go back to school and you MUST do it now. If they see you attending school as a necessity, then they might make some allowance for the cost.</p>

<p>I am not sure how you can do that -- but maybe you can think of some way. Debt that must be paid off, a special program only available now, you need more education to make more money to increase retirement because of the college costs, I don't know. But the key is to have it make sense to the FA officers.</p>

<p>YOUR EFC will be decreased, so I would definitely fill out the FAFSA for you and look at applying for colleges. That way, you might be able to to go to school half-time. After all, I assume that you won't be living in the dorm :) So you are just looking at paying for tuition, and you will probably go to a local, in-state school. As least check it out. many schools have discounts for seniors that you may be able to take advantage of.</p>

<p>don't give up the idea until you have explored the options and have hard numbers. You should have a good ideas on the costs for the kids in the next month or two, so go ahead and do the paperwork for you and see how it turns out -- you might be pleasantly surprised.</p>

<p>Thank you hsmomstef - I'm printing your response as well as some others and I appreciate all of the great information I am getting from all those who have responded.</p>