<p>I filled out my fafsa and my parents make 130K combined, and my EFC is a little more than 28000 but my parents already pretty much set it in stone that theyre not helping me out at all, so as far as my fafsa form goes...should i change my parents info or...what? ive applied for scolarships, havnt gotten anything, but for the fafsa, if theyre definately not doing anything, what should i fill in? or am i pretty much screwed out of fafsa help?</p>
<p>The FAFSA asks about your parents’ income and assets. It doesn’t ask how much they’re willing to pay. (Can you imagine if it did? Wouldn’t everyone put “0”?)</p>
<p>So, unfortunately, yeah you’re stuck with that EFC. You will be eligible to borrow $5500 for filing the FAFSA regardless of your EFC. That’s usually enough for a year’s tuition and fees (and probably books too) at a community college, and it can come pretty close to tuition & fees at a regional state univ. that is a commutable distance from home. You can also earn a couple thousand more during summers and work a few hours a week during the school term for spending money.</p>
<p>Once you add on the idea of living away from home, though, the costs can get unmanageable. If that’s something you’re shooting for, try doing the first two years locally and then transfer. You won’t have as large a debt at graduation that way.</p>
<p>You can’t change your parent info I’m afraid. Your FAFSA EFC and financial aid eligibility is based on your parent’s income and assets, not on their willingness to pay.</p>
<p>There isn’t any info to change. You have to submit their info.</p>
<p>I’m sorry that they won’t help at all. (Are they aware of the long-term results of their decision)?</p>
<p>What schools did you apply to? Did you apply to any financial safety schools?
What are your stats?</p>
<p>Like the other posters said, you still have to put down their info. Your EFC is based on what your parents COULD pay, not what they will pay. :(</p>
<p>If I were you, I would be scoping out three kinds of schools . . . community colleges, cheap public in-state schools, and schools (private or public) that give GREAT financial aid packages, preferably ones with more grants/scholarships than loans. You will probably have to take out some loans anyway, but you don’t want to go to a $50k school and graduate with $200,000 of loans . . .</p>
<p>Best of luck, I know it’s a hard road!</p>
<p>^^^^
I agree with the above except would add the following clarification… Since you have a high EFC that won’t be covered, applying to schools known to give GREAT financial aid packages won’t help because you’d have at least a $28k gap each year.</p>
<p>The second part is correct…look for schools that will give scholarships. I would add…look for schools that give HUGE scholarships for your stats. </p>
<p>What are your stats? GPA? ACT and SAT (including breakdown).</p>
<p>I really struggle to understand why parents who could afford to help pay for education would make a decision not to help at all. Perhaps there are some extenuating circumstances … otherwise that’s just a shame.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>I agree. IF there aren’t extenuating circumstances that are reasonable, then I think such parents are being short-sighted about the long-term resentment the decision not to help can cause.</p>
<p>It’s not hard to understand what might be going on with these parents. At their income level, they may be among the most vulnerable in the work force. And we have no idea what their debt load is; if there are mortgage payments, car payments, and credit card debt, it’s not hard to imagine that they are incapable of helping at all, let alone at the $28K level.</p>
<p>so . . . financial aid safety schools?</p>
<p>Kei</p>
<p>P.S. Here are schools where 40% or more of students get non-need based aid:</p>
<p>Finlandia University Hancock, MI
Cooper Union New York, NY
University of Colorado–Denver Denver, CO
New College of Florida Sarasota, FL
Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ
Denison University Granville, OH
University of Florida Gainesville, FL
Hampden-Sydney College Hampden-Sydney, VA
DePauw University Greencastle, IN
Truman State University Kirksville, MO
University of Nevada–Reno Reno, NV
University of Dayton Dayton, OH
University of Wyoming Laramie, WY
Longy School of Music Cambridge, MA
Hendrix College Conway, AR
Rhodes College Memphis, TN
College of Wooster Wooster, OH
Sweet Briar College Sweet Briar, VA
Millsaps College Jackson, MS</p>
<p>Cooper Union is especially sweet. If you are planning a major in engineering, art, or a architecture, and you get in, you <em>automatically</em> get a scholarship that covers your tuition and fees. Every Cooper Union student gets this. They get 2700-3000 applications a year and accept 275 people, so the admissions rate is on par with the Ivies at around 7-10%.</p>
<p>*Tuition is listed at $35,000 per year. Every student receives a full tuition scholarship and is not responsible for tuition-related costs.</p>
<p>Cooper Union students are responsible for living and miscellaneous expenses. These include mandatory student fees (totaling $1,600 per year), room and board (about $14,000 per year), books and supplies (about $1,000-1,800 per year), and general living expenses (about $2,000-3,000 per year), totaling approximately $19,000 per year. In addition, international students are assessed a $1,800/year filing fee. All students must prove medical insurance coverage or participate in our medical insurance plan for a health services fee of $1,466/year.*</p>
<p>A more detailed budget is available by accessing the Office of Financial Aid Web site or by viewing the ca</p>
<p>Are any of the above-listed schools still accepting applications and will consider the student for merit?</p>
<p>Vosser, I don’t know your stats. If they are very solid, but do not stand out to land something like a full ride, or full tuition scholarship, you might want to consider community college first. Don’t put yourself in debt with private loans. Even if schools offfer merit aid to half of their students, if a COA is 45,000 and the school is going to offer a merit award of 15,000, you are still going to be debt for 30,000 EACH YEAR. That is just an amount of debt that you should not take on. Also, if you find a school with a sticker price of 35,000 per year, and they offer as much as 12,000 in merit aid, your debt is still 23,000/year. How much is your instate public school? Public schools in our state run well over 20,000/year as well. Some states cost 12,000 year (including room and board). 50,000 (12,000 x4 and not including tuition increases while your there) in debt is a quite a lot, but it isn’t the same as taking on 120,000 in debt for the 4 years.</p>