Newbie looking for answers/suggstions

Paying for College
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<p>I thought we were ahead of the game here with S going off to be a freshman this fall, but we are not. I was shocked to see that even with 5 kids and a salary of $53K (one worker), we did not qualify for a PELL grant thanks in part to about $9K in child support that will be shrinking as the oldest turns 18 in July. This will leave one kid (15 yo) on child support for 3 more years, the 3 youngest are ours (7,4,3). </p>

<p>I have a couple of questions. I should say up front that merit aid of any type is almost 100% not a factor. We were happy to have him accepted at the three schools he has narrowed down to. His grades and tests scores are very average, at best.</p>

<p>SO far we have gotten one Financial Aid Package with 2 more expected this week. With an EFC of 6200, S was told he was not eligible for FWS at college #1. The college has a COA of $23,400. He got Stafford for 2625, a need based school grant for 5900 and expected PHEAA (state grant) of 3200. This leaves us gapped about 5500 in addition to the 6200 EFC. Does this sound bad?</p>

<p>Waiting on the other packages, does the FWS depend on the school for eligibility? Will most schools look at the loss of child support as a factor? Who determines availability of a Perkins loan, and are there specific requirements? </p>

<p>Also, we checked that we filed 1040 and that 1040A was not possible as that is what we filed, but I guess we really didn’t need to as we did not have enough mortgage interest/RE taxes and just used the standard deduction. Our other adjustments were for the child tax credit. We have no assets at all, so did that matter? Does it need changed?</p>

<p>All in all, it never occurred to me that a family that gets back 100% of the federal and state income taxes paid and then some thanks to the child tax credit, and was eligible for reduced lunches at school would be over 50% over the threshold for PELL. I certainly am not complaining about getting tax refunds, but was told by several people in FA offices that with 5 kids we would be fine for PELL/aid, so this is surprising to say the least. S has had no jobs to date as he is an athlete and competes in his sport year round. He will be competing in college as well, NCAA D3 though, so no aid there. Although not a stellar student, he has improved his GPA from 2.2 in 9th to a cumulative 2.9 now, and has a 3.5 this year. He is also being recruited fairly heavily at the D3 level as a potential 4 year starter, so he does have something going for him, I would think. I know it helped him get admitted at least.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for answers or suggestions.</p>

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<p>theres a lot of questions here I will try to answer best I can
first workstudy
<a href="http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/student_guide/2005-2006/english/types-fed-workstudy.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/student_guide/2005-2006/english/types-fed-workstudy.htm&lt;/a>
I think it depends on school- our EFC is not quite double your families and our daughter recieves work study - however- there should be work on campus, but you are right workstudy is preferable, because it is not added back in to your FAFSA.</p>

<p>Pell grants are for people whose EFC is less than $4,000 since that is maximum award.</p>

<p>* suggestion- for students who might benefit from being in a more supportive smaller environment- community colleges are a great way to take entry level college courses and build on academic skills as well as saving a heck of a lot of money*</p>

<p>Many schools gap- unfortunately- , the stronger students have the most choices. The schools that meet 100% of need are often quite competitive and are so rigourous that just being accepted is often considered merit aid right there. Merit aid offered at other schools is also, quite competitive.
So a student for whom a 100% need school isn't appropriate, but has difficulty getting merit aid, his tuition may be as expensive as someone attending a more "prestigous" school.
But to get back to your question gapping of less than $6,000, is acutally not that bad. I would like to see some reason why they didn't qualify for FWS though- I assume all forms were sent in on time?</p>

<p>Perkins loans are through the school.
As I said our EFC is higher , ( we have a much smaller family), but D gets a $1,000 Perkins loan every year. But it again depends on the school- some don't participate
<a href="http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/student_guide/2005-2006/english/types-perkinsandstaffordloans.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/student_guide/2005-2006/english/types-perkinsandstaffordloans.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>It does seem to make a big difference whether you filed 1040A or 1040- one year we filed A and got a bit more in grants. BUt usually we can't.</p>

<p>I can't speak to sports recruiting, and I know that for some students sports is very important even if not at top level, but it is a fine line between playing sports and letting it affect your school work. I know that for my younger daughter, it is very difficult seeing her spend so much time at practices etc, when she is far from being a straight A student, but it is a large part of her identity and important to how she does in school, even if I have to closely monitor time spent on homework, and cut back on sports if school work is affected too badly.
Your son may also find, that as a college student, that it takes way more time than he anticipated for his classes, and that sports might have to be cut back for him as well.
It sounds like you have to make some trade offs- If his studies start to be affected by his time playing sports, he isn't getting any scholarships and it even cuts into time summers when he could be working earning money for college, are sports really where he wants to be putting his efforts?</p>

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<p>Thanks for your help/insight,</p>

<p>All forms were in on time for priority. Some background is that S is actually my stepson. He had little interest in school prior to moving in with me in 8th grade. In 9th grade he became interested in wrestling and has really excelled. Since then, wrestling has pretty much driven his school-work and his career path, because low grades gets you kicked out of sports. His goal now is to become an elementary teacher and wrestling coach. Having been a youth and HS coach myself, I can tell that he has a perfect personality for both coaching and teaching. To remove the wrestling is to remove the drive, and indeed some of the training he is going to school for. I feel very confident that he has turned the corner and will be able to handle the academics and wrestling in a small college. It is unfortunate for him that the schools really don't seem to care about the improvement he has shown, from nearly failing 8th grade to being a solid honors student because of the cumulative. The first FAP was from choice #2, so hopefully choice #1 will be better</p>

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<p>that is too bad I agree- he has had a great deal of improvement, even without taking into consideration that high school gets progressively more difficult as they head into the upper grades.
Im glad that the grade requirements that they have for sports has motivated him. I did wonder however, how he would be able to teach both elementary school and coach wrestling, since that seems like at minimum a middle school sport?
HOpe the next school has a more workable plan</p>

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<p>Perkins --the school decides who get the Perkin loans depending on the availabilty distributed . I heard that the earlier you file the FAFSA , the more likely your chances .</p>

<p>Husband & I do not even claim deductions ( mortgage interests , local taxes , ect . ) because we want to be able to check off that we filed a 1040A at FAFSA time . Someone told it it was better to do it this way , even if you pay a little more in taxes - it may reap you more in FA.</p>

<p>If you can get your income under $50,000 next year , that would make it better . You can hold off work bonuses , ect . </p>

<p>You better filed for Reduced Lunch at your school for the rest of the kids as it will get you 1 ) Fee waiver for SATs 2 ) Four college applications fees waived 3 ) Discounts for AP exam fees</p>

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<p>emerald,</p>

<p>It would appear to be a less than perfect combination at first blush, but very doable here in PA. He our 6th grade (elementary cert) is in the middle school, and even so many elementary H/PE teachers are varsity coaches. It is not that bad to work out. Our varsity coach is a MS teacher, and the MS coach is an elementary teacher.</p>

<p>edim,</p>

<p>I think another correction to the FAFSA is in order by the sounds of it. We were probably eligible for 1040A, just used 1040 by force of habit. It was actually our accountant, although I think it may be because of the refund of state taxes, I have to look over the 1040A or email him tonight and recheck the FAFSA to see the exact language.</p>