<p>I'm eager to hear some experiences from others who had to apply for FAFSA and need-based aid from a university with similar financial backgrounds.</p>
<p>My father receives receives approximately ~$27,500 in disability. Currently it is our only source of income in the household of three (or four from the beginning of this year, my older brother). Please note that with disability, he is not required to submit a tax return. How would that work out when applying for aid?</p>
<p>Other info:
Current residence is in an apartment in Kalamazoo, MI. No savings/assets.
Highest level of education for my parents is some college/university (no degree).</p>
<p>Where I'm applying:
*University of Michigan
*Michigan State University
University of Detroit - Mercy
Oakland University
Western Michigan University
*University of Chicago
*New York University
College of William and Mary
*Pennsylvania State University</p>
<p>-(*) indicates high interest in attending.</p>
<p>Anyone can share their story or experiences here. I'm just curious to see if anyone who has attended any of these and receive any aid packages. Also, my intended major is Accounting and secondary interest is really anything business related. If you know of a good college/university who offers great financial aid packages with a great business program, please say! (GPA: 3.4, ACT 25 Comp)</p>
<p>Did you run NPCs? That will give you ideas how things would work for you.My understanding is that Disability payments do have to be reported on FAFSA as other income. My guess is that with 3 children and that income level as you report it, the EFC is going to be very low, maybe even zero. If zero, you would be entitled to up to $5700 in PELL grants and access to $5500 in loans with up to $3500 of it subsidized. The rest would be up to the individual schools. About half of the schools you list, do not guarantee to meet full need, and do not do so most of the time. I do not know what Michigan has in financial aid for their residents. IF you are in the running for schools like Uchicago, then you may also be eligible for merit money as well. The question is what your bottom line will be. </p>
<p>The schools on your list that guarantee to meet full need as they define it are UMIch and UCh. THough both schools do have required student contributions, unless you get big merit awards from the FAFSA only schools, they are likely your best bets for the most amount of money, IF you get acccepted to them.</p>
<p>PSU, NYU, Wm&Mary do NOT guarantee to meet full need. Unlikely you will get more money from them than you would fro UM and UCh. But sometimes it happens. I know some kids who got their best awards from NYU, for example, but the odds are not good that’s going to happen.</p>
<p>If you have some state schools within commuting range, this is a good list, IMO. The problem would be getting full rides for going away to school or getting into the full need met schools. You need to have schools you know you will be able to afford.</p>
<p>Each school has its own way of doing verification, particularly those schools using PROFILE in addition to FAFSA. It often makes it a lot simpler to get verified if your parents do file tax returns even if they do not have to do so.</p>
<p>Students with your income can get full ride pretty much from ‘guaranteed meets full needs’ schools like Chicago but you are not competitive gpa and ACT for that school. Penn State is not affordable at all. Get online and crunch the numbers. You need to get rid of the colleges that won’t give you enough money or admit you so you can get a better list. Your list has too many over reaches. Hopefully some of your instate publics will come through. You are a good student but unfortunately not quite at the level of your reaches. Try some of the Colleges that Change Lives.</p>
<p>Jesuit schools usually have good business departments, but I’m not sure how the aid would be. Crunch numbers in their NPCs</p>
<p>You will have to submit a nonfiler form if no tax return is to be filed. Make sure you are allowed to report the brother, if he is over 18. He may be a household member but not a dependent for financial aid reporting.</p>
<p>Make sure you get some application waivers. Ask your GC.</p>
<p>25 is iffy for UM, but you never know. If you do get accepted to UM, you will most likely get a great financial aid package - they have excellent aid for instate low income students.</p>
<p>I ran the NPC for MSU, and it looks like there would be a gap even after sub, unsub, and Perkins loans. I am pretty sure OU would have a gap, too.</p>
<p>What about Western? You could live at home …</p>
<p>You’d need to apply for both need-based and merit aid at the state schools (except Umich). You wouldn’t be competitive for merit at MSu though and they’d likely gap you.
For OOS schools, apply to private universities, since publics won’t give you financial aid.
While your GPA/ACT is low for it, URichmond meets full need and has a top business school. it’d be a good OOS reach.
I second momofthreeboys’ question: do you benefit from the Kalamazoo Promise?</p>
<p>OP more on the Kalamazoo Promise - if you’ve been in K-12 every single year in Kalamazoo public schools the Kalamazoo Promise can pay upwards of 100% of your tuition and fees at both Michigan public and private colleges and universities. </p>
<p>The Kalamazoo Promise Application is submitted when a student becomes a senior, typically as early as possible in their senior year. It is done by completing and mailing a form.</p>