<p>I used to work in finance, so I actually understand this stuff pretty well. I only need to know the rules for the grants. The only aid I need is the Pell grant. </p>
<p>When someone does charitable work, their situation does not fit the fafsa assumptions. I make next to nothing, but I live off next to nothing and I can afford to give more of my assets away than the fafsa formula projects. This isn’t as crazy as it looks.</p>
<p>So, does NYU use FAFSA and their own forms to determine “family contribution” (I know that they don’t use CSS)? If so, then they have the right to determine that your assets are not “hands off”.</p>
<p>However, if your FAFSA indicates an EFC that qualifies for Pell, then NYU can’t change that. Pell money comes from the federal gov’t …Its not NYU’s money…so there’s no reason for them to mess with that. It would be different if NYU was being forced to pay the Pell amount, but they aren’t…that money comes from the Feds. </p>
<p>you have to understand. FAFSA EFC is only to determine what federal aid you can get. Colleges are under NO obligation to do ANYTHING with EFC except to give you the federal aid that you qualify for. </p>
<p>They can use their own forms…which is how they learned about your assets. If they were a FAFSA-only school, they wouldn’t even know about your asssets since you would have been an auto 0 and not have given asset info. </p>
<p>But, maybe I’m not understanding…have you been filing with 1040-A and did you qualify for an auto 0??? If so, did NYU only learn about your assets from some other form? an NYU form?</p>
<p>they actually told me there objective is to minimize the financial aid any student gets, as though they thought that was their job</p>
<p>It IS their job to minimize institutional aid. That is their job. However, it’s not their job to reduce federal aid IF the student qualifies for it with a legit FAFSA and a EFC.</p>
<p>it doesn’t sound like they are changing your FAFSA EFC…so you will get Pell…it sounds like they’re changing your “NYU family contribution”. Is that right?</p>
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<p>I’m not sure what the summer school thing means, but if you’re close enough for him to commute, I assume you live in NYC. If so, make sure you also file the NYS aid app with HESC - a link will appear after you submit his FAFSA and/or they’ll email you within a few weeks to remind you to apply. The max TAP grant is around $4900, so it’ll help a bit. But NYU’s tuition alone is over $40K, so a Pell, TAP, and Stafford loan are still going to leave you over $20K/year short before you pay for a single book or subway ride. If that’s not affordable without going into huge debt, I’d have your son decline his ED admission immediately based on their estimated awards being insufficient to meet your need and quickly move on to greener pastures, like the CUNYs.</p>
<p>Still confused. Do you file a 1040a or 1040ez?</p>
<p>I am eligible to file 1040a in fafsa.</p>
<p>Did you fill out your FAFSA indicating that you’ll be filing a 1040a? If so, doesn’t that mean that you didn’t have to list assets?</p>
<p>* I’d have your son decline his ED admission immediately based on their estimated awards being insufficient to meet your need and quickly move on to greener pastures, like the CUNYs. *</p>
<p>I agree…no point in spending precious savings when there are less expensive and good alternatives…CUNYs and SUNYs.</p>
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Not necessarily. Even if the income meets the parameters for auto 0 (<$31,000) or simplified needs test (<$50,000) and the parent files a 1040a or ez, some states require that you still report assets. (our state does, no idea why).</p>
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<p>That’s not how it works. First of all, it is the STUDENT who qualifies for the Pell grant, not the parent (even though parent’s income is what goes on the FAFSA).</p>
<p>If your son qualifies for a Pell grant, he can get that and APPLY it to the tuition. So lets say that your son qualifies for a full Pell grant of $5550 – that’s $2,775 that he is entitled to per semester that can be applied to the bill.</p>
<p>So let’s say you get a bill from the bursar every semester for the total – I don’t know what that is, but let’s say hypothetically you get a bill for $20,000. The bill will probably come with a piece of paper subtracting out (or crediting) the amount that is expected to come from the Pell grant & subsidized loan – but if not, usually the form you send back with the bill has a place of you to subtract those amounts out yourself. </p>
<p>So you fill out the bill like this:</p>
<p>$20,000
<p>Balance: $15,475</p>
<p>Of course you can subtract out other sources of funds - if your son qualifies for TAP, you would subtract that. Since you have no income, you probably aren’t taking out a PLUS loan – but if you were, you could subtract out that amount. </p>
<p>Then when the money come to NYU from Pell they keep it and apply it to your account.</p>
<p>You CAN do it the other way – pay the full amount, and wait for NYU to receive funds and release them to your son, but that can result in delays – it may take weeks after they receive the money before it released. NYU would have to release the money, on request – it is money sitting on the books on your son’s account, not money they can send back to the government. Alternatively, you could simply leave the money on the account and apply it to the next semester.</p>
<p>This is very simple. NYU can give you zero. The only things you’re guaranteed are your Pell and a Stafford loan fir your son. </p>
<p>Does your son have the stats for schools that meet need? If he got into NYUbhe could surely get into some. Then he could have a normal college experience and you could relax.</p>
<p>The context where they told me their job was to minimize financial aid indicated that included reducing aid from pell grants, etc. They were intentionally overriding fafsa when filling out my NYU forms in a way that I would not qualify for them when I did. Fafsa also told me they could prevent me from receiving the grants even if I legitimately qualified for them of fafsa forms, so I was concerned.</p>
<p>So you start with 220k. 2 AP classes and 2 classes at a community college over the summer, plus employing summer school fully knocks 70 off. Add 20 for the Pell grants, 20 for some money he inherited, 15 for him working, 50 for me, 25 from another unobligated family member and he is looking at loans of 20. He graduates 1.5 years early, lives at home and works (even in a restaurant if needed) without paying rent and the debt is gone within 4 years of graduating high school. Even if a couple of things go wrong, he has a cushion. He will probably want to go to grad school in psych (1-5% chance of getting in to a phd program). NYU has the best chance of getting him in over SUNY, but he’s going to have to pay for that one on his own. If his choice of vocation changes, his choice of NYU may go with it…</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the help.</p>
<p>Steve</p>
<p>NYU does not accept too many credits from other schools if it has to do with major coursework. You should check with NYU before making the assumption.<br>
In your FA packet were the Pell Grants listed?
Also if you are a NY resident, you will be entitled to TAP.</p>
<p>I’m not a tax expert here…but I thought that if you had over a certain amount in interest or dividents, you were REQUIRED to file a regular 1040. This OP is discussing some significant assets (no income but lots of assets) that he plans to use to pay for college.</p>
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That sounds very strange. I have never hear of any school saying their job is to minimize federal aid. Schools like it when you qualify for federal aid because it helps a student to afford the school. However their job is to certainly make sure you only get any federal aid you are eligible for. If they believe something on your FAFSA is incorrect they *have * to adjust it accordingly. All schools are obliged to to the same.</p>
<p>Did you file a 1040a? There are a lot of things that make you ineligible for a 1040a or ez, from the obvious like itemizing deductions, to the more obscure like taxable state tax refunds (we had that happen one year) and certain amounts of investment income.</p>
<p>Fafsa has it’s own rules for eligibility to file 1040a. for example, if I have capital gains, the irs requires a 1040, but fafsa only requires it for 100k in income. as it turns out, I have capital losses and aboput 20k in income. NYU approves up to 2 ap classes plus 2 classes at a community college that are not needed for hs graduation.</p>
<p>My fa package does not list the grants. Fafsa shows the 0 efc, but the school has not yet changed their fa package to consider the updated fafsa. I told them this is how I would file and asked them to update it before submitting fafsa and they refused.</p>
<p>. He graduates 1.5 years early, lives at home and works (even in a restaurant if needed) without paying rent and the debt is gone within 4 years of graduating high school.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t necessarily plan on him graduating 1.5 years early. that is kind of rare. Also, any plan that includes returning to live at home while paying back loans is also short-sighted. No one knows what your child’s life will be by then. Your child may be in a committed relationship at that point and have no intention of living with a parent.</p>
<p>Also, if your child would be going off to grad school, wouldn’t he be doing so after undergrad is complete? If so, that could be more debt. </p>
<p>So you start with 220k. 2 AP classes and 2 classes at a community college over the summer, plus employing summer school fully knocks 70 off. </p>
<p>It might knock off a semester…about $55k. Does NYU charge by the class? Doesn’t it have a set rate for a “full time student” …such as one taking 12-18 credits or similar?</p>
<p>*Add 20 for the Pell grants, 20 for some money he inherited, 15 for him working, 50 for me, 25 from another unobligated family member *</p>
<p>If the relative is “unobligated,” then how can you depend on this? What if the relative decides he/she can’t give you $25k? Is this a gift of some sort?</p>
<p>he saves 25-30k for the semester. he also saves with lower costs/class over the summers and no need to spend on housing (he commutes). I programed a spreadsheet with the exact costs and came up with 70k. The unobligated relative will pay before he graduates, or he can stop attending/switch to a cheaper school. The need for their payment will not be until the end, but they will pay before that so we can avoid trouble. I know this may be uncomfortable for him lifestyle wise at certain points, but he knows it and will have to accept it versus his alternative. He will be debt free before he applies to grad school, and I suspect he will find a way to work through that to minimize debt, or he may cancel/adjust it to be reasonable.</p>
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<p>If the IRS requires a regular 1040…then you have to do a regular 1040. Perhaps Nyu made an “adjustment” because you were SUPPOSED to indicate that you needed to do a 1040 and therefore were NOT eligible for auto $0 EFC.</p>
<p>As I said, I have capital losses, not gains. I am not required to file a 1040 either by the irs or nyu.</p>
<p>Steve, how are you indicating your capital losses on your tax return if you are NOT doing a regular 1040 form. If you have significant investments, perhaps you are REQUIRED to file a regular 1040 form.</p>
<p>This all doesn’t matter anyway. NYU is not obligated to meet your full need. If they decided to give you $5000 in Pell money they would well subtract $5000 in their grant offerings. NYU does NOT guarantee to meet full need…they just don’t.</p>
<p>I understand that you really want to make this all happen for your son, but I believe you are wishing for something that is NOT going to happen…and is not REQUIRED to happen. NYU does not have to give you a nickel of their own money…not a cent. The federally funded aid and the TAP totalled are a drop in the bucket for the total cost of attending NYU. </p>
<p>As a resident of NY state, your son has many fine SUNY choices. You need to resolve this issue ASAP so your son can get applications done for affordable schools.</p>
<p>According to the IRS, I am not obligated to file a 1040 because the only purpose for doing so is to reduce my taxes. I will therefore file a 1040 to save the taxes, but I am eligible to file a 1040a if I wish according to the irs. As for fafsa, they seem to have dripped the capital gains criteria in the definition of eligible to file a 1040a. The 4 criteria are earning less than 100k, do not itemize, did not receive income from your own company and did not receive alimony. I clearly fit all 4, so I am eligible to file a 1040a accoring to fafsa requirements.</p>
<p>I don’t need any funding from nyu, only the pell grant. I checked and can rpobably get 2-3k in tap, so that eases things slightly more. Sometimes if you want something and you think you CAN do it, you work at it until you find a way and it happens…</p>