Need help understanding EFC and FAFSA

Ok…so the parents are divorced. The FAFSA EFC would still be only for federally funded grant money…and the FAFSA EFC is too high for that.

UNC, Vandy, and Richmond are Profile schools. UNC and Richmond require non-custodial parent Profile.

My understanding about Vandy is they don’t, but can ask for that information if they choose to.

I got a full ride at Alabama plus 2,500 which is why I applied there.
I already completed the CSS Profile.
Both parents are not remarried and I have lived equally with both parents.
I live in Maryland.

A full ride…or full tuition at Alabama?

If you loved equally with both parents, you are supposed to use the parent who contributes most to your support as your custodial parent on the FAFSA and Profile. Usually this is the parent with the higher income.

Did your non-custodial parent submit the non-custodial Profile where required?

Full tuition.
I did use my father, who has the higher income.
My mom hasnt finished the non-custodial section yet.
and also no, they’re not self employed or business owners

Your award from Alabama is excellent. You can also get the $5500 Direct Loan. Will that and any parent contribution make the school affordable? Are you by any chance in the running for their free ride scholarship?

No i didn’t know about the free ride scholarship. Is this the only school that will be affordable for me? I am majoring in engineering so wouldn’t it be not as difficult to pay off the loans that I would have to take out?

The question is…who,will cosign loans above the Direct Loan amount?

At this point…wait and see what happens. You have this one good acceptance…and offer.

Now, just wait and see what happens.

Count up the number of nights with each parent. If you did spend more nights with your mother, even one night more, it would be more advantageous for you to use her lower income to fill out the FAFSA. Don’t add both incomes on FAFSA, it is either your mother or father. With $30k only, you’d likely get a pell grant and maybe some SEOG from a school. That with your $5500 loan might be enough for your R&B. The FAFSA is really important to get right in your case because it can mean a difference of several thousand in pell grants.

I know that your parents are divorced. Are they living in separate households or in one home?

Debt isn’t considered for aid.

If your parents live in separate homes, then you need to add up the number of nights you lived with each this past year. Do you live with your mom during the school week and your dad on weekends?

Is it possible that you spent more nights with mom?

PLEASE do yourself a favor and count up how many nights you spent with each parent! If you spent one more night with mom than dad you will have a much lower FAFSA EFC.

Maybe your dad mistakenly believes that since you are his tax dependent and claimed on his 1040 that he must be your “FAFSA Parent”.

It is not too late to correct your FAFSA and use your mom’s $30k income instead of your dad’s $60k income, if you spent at least one more night in the past 12 months with mom than dad!

According to the court we have equal custody, I’m with my dad Wednesday and Thursday and my mom Monday and Tuesday and alternating Friday’s and weekends. But the thing is even if I did spend more nights with my mom, she lives thirty minutes from the school I go to so if I put her down as the custodial parent then it might seem as if we were lying. But for taxes, we are filed as her dependents rather than my dads. Should I make my mom fill out the fafsa even if I’m not sure who I spent more nights with? My dad also pays her child support, will this help my case as well?

What is the amount of child support? That will need to be reported on your mom’s FAFSA.

The Profile schools will want info from both parents.

Financially, you are a lot better off using your mother’s info. Your parents seem to be cooperative. Tell your father you need to spend one extra weekend with your mother. That’s all it takes, one extra night, one extra weekend. The schools will not judge that your school is closer to your father’s house, they won’t even think about it.

I don’t understand how they will know if I spent an extra night with my mom though? If it’s exactly equal according to the court won’t they look at that? The child support is 90$ a week.

You count the nights up and tell them. That’s how they will know.

Use your mother’s income.

Are you eligible for free or reduced lunch now? With you mon’s income you probably will be. Just be being eligible for free lunch you would be able to get a sat fee waiver which would get you 4 free college fee waivers an 8 CSS profile fee waiver

If you have time you may still be able to toss an application at Vanderbikt and UChicago who do not use non/custodial information.

While it would be a reach with your parent making less than 100k you should probably roll the dice at some deep pocket schools (Dartmouth is still taking applications and if accepted you would probably get free tuition)

With your EFC a lot of that can be made up by you working assuming you get into a school that will meet the rest of your need. My son got a financial aid package that expects him to earn around $2000 during the summer and around $3000 during the school year. A lot of the on campus jobs pay $10-15 an hour where he is planning to go so he won’t have to work that many hours per week to make up for what his financial aid doesn’t cover.