I lost my job the week after applying for FA. After dealing with initial shock and stress, I looked at FAFSA and it has a question about a parent being a “dislocated worker”. It seems like I should not be correcting it though because I was still employed on a day I submitted FAFSA. What would be the best way to communicate my situation to the colleges?
Also, some of the schools also require CSS profile. I’m planning to contact each CSS school individually about it. Is this the right approach?
Yes. Contact each college…and ask them what to do on your situation. They will tell you.
My husband got laid off in December of our son’s freshman year in college. We contacted the college immediately. They told us what we would need to submit for a special circumstances consideration. BUT…this college would not review these things until 90 days after a layoff. The assumption was that the person would look for and get a job…which happened in our case. Hope that happens to you too.
The rub now is that financial aid is based on the 2015 income for,the 2017-2018 year. It will be based on 2016 income for the 2018-2019 school year. If you just got laid off, you had income on those two years.
Things the schools do consider…
Severance pay. This IS counted.
Some schools have a waiting period before they will review financial aid due to a job loss.
Your assets will still count.
The question about being a dislocated worker really on,y matters if you would qualify for auto $0 EFC (income below $30,000), or simplified needs test (income below $50,000). If your income is higher than that, really, for fafsa purposes, being dislocated doesn't matter at all.
Unemployment also counts...as income.
Some colleges will review this...and some won't. And for those that do, it is handled on a case by case basis.
Anyway…I hope you find a new job soon!
In the meantime…get the info you need. Just in case you need it.
I sort of doubt schools will do anything right now…your college bills aren’t due yet…and you could get another job…but maybe I’m wrong!
I found that in general, schools say you can appeal after 10 weeks of unemployment. And they want the unemployment benefits notification letters. So, basically, they want to see if your ability to pay is indeed affected. The question is - by the time your appeal the funds may no longer be available?
I’m sending the letters of special circumstance to colleges now, will see what happens. In response to the comment about 2016 income, one of the colleges says they will not look at it because the ability to pay for college is based on the current income for them. They assume the ability to pay is the same as in 2015, unless there is a way to prove otherwise. In my case, this is pretty catastrophic. If I don’t find a job, I really can’t send the kiddo to school, no matter how cheap. She will have to take a gap year and see what happens next year. Or go overseas.