<p>Will this affect my EFC in any way? It only happened less than a month ago, if that clarifies anything.</p>
<p>You need to contact your school. </p>
<p>At this point, they may not do anything since your parent may find employment soon.</p>
<p>Also, your parent still earned money this year…maybe a good amount.</p>
<p>Did your parent get a severance check?<br>
Did your parent get any unused vacation paid? </p>
<p>Schools sometimes wait until the parent has been unemployed for awhile to change anything.</p>
<p>Was the the primary breadwinner? If not, then the “family income” for this year may still be too high for much/any change.</p>
<p>What school are you attending? Is it an OOS public?</p>
<p>Edited to add…</p>
<p>I see that you’re a rising senior in high school. Protect yourself and be sure to apply to some schools that will give you large merit for your stats.</p>
<p>your FAFSA EFC and your CSS Profile numbers may still be high because of the combo of dad’s income and 7 months of your mom’s income.</p>
<ol>
<li>True, especially since she made it more than halfway through the year.</li>
</ol>
<p>2 & 3. Idk. I’ll have to ask</p>
<ol>
<li><p>No, not really. My household income was split roughly 38:62, and she was the 38.</p></li>
<li><p>Nope. OOS publics aren’t very good with fin. aid</p></li>
<li><p>I know. About half of my college list I’m currently thinking of is composed of schools with merit aid I can potentially get.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I guess the bigger question is what your family income is without that second income. It is possible that the remaining income is high enough that you would not get need based aid anyway. </p>
<p>I would strongly suggest that you run the net price calculators for all of the schools you might apply to. This will give you an estimate of what they will expect your family to pay, and your aid amount…but it is only an estimate.</p>
<p>“4. No, not really. My household income was split roughly 38:62, and she was the 38.”</p>
<p>Well, as Thumper says, if your dad’s income is strong, then you might not have qualified for much or any aid anyway…especially at schools that don’t meet need.</p>
<p>Your 2012 income will still include at least 6 months of your mom’s earnings. Added to your dad’s earnings, your EFC may still be high.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that your mom is currently looking for another job? I don’t know what kind of work she does, but if she’s willing and doesn’t find anything else, many department stores will be hiring Christmas help soon. </p>
<p>OOS publics aren’t typically good with aid, but some give HUGE merit scholarships. If you have the stats, you should apply to a couple of OOS publics that give HUGE merit scholarships for your stats…those can be your back up schools.</p>
<p>Have your parents said how much they’ll pay for college? If not, ask them. You need to know that.</p>
<p>You say that your list consists of schools that might give you merit. Getting small to medium-sized amounts of merit probably isn’t going to help. And, it doesn’t sound like you have any ASSURED HUGE merit candidates on your list. </p>
<p>What schools are you looking at and how much merit might your receive at each school? </p>
<p>For instance…if your family has an EFC of $20k and a private costs $55K per year, but you only get $15k per year in merit, then that will get applied to “need” and won’t reduce what your parents have to pay.</p>
<p>If you need to reduce how much your parents will have to pay, then you need to get huge merit, so that the REMAINING costs will be small enough that you can cover it will a small student loan and your family contribution. If you got a full tuition scholarship, then with a 5500 student loan and $10k from your parents, you’d have all costs covered. If your parents can’t pay that much, then a summer job could bring in a few thousand as well.</p>
<p>What schools are you applying to and what are your test scores and GPA?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Even with my mom’s salary, I would still qualify for financial aid; not much, but something. Without it, my family is probably looking at around 80K (my dad’s income).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>About 20K per year, max.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My safeties are currently the UT’s, St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, and Trinity University. My cousin just graduated from St. Mary’s, and she had a full ride due to her grades and test scores (well, 5K of that aid was musical talent). My grades and test scores are higher than hers, so yeah.</p>
<p>The next bracket of schools include Tulane, UMiami, Loyola Chicago, and probably Hamilton (no scholarships, I know). </p>
<p>My reaches would be Duke, WUSTL, Dartmouth, and Yale. I know 3 outta 4 doesn’t give scholarships (and I don’t even conceive the idea of a Robertson or A.B. Scholarship happening any day), and 1 is about as hard as undertaking another Odyssey. Quite frankly, about 40% of my reasons for choosing Yale is because if I do get accepted, I am completely taken care of in regards to FA.</p>
<p>And yes, I’m fully aware that scholarships and merit aid don’t mean lower EFC and that whatever merit aid I get has to exceed my EFC in order to actually reduce out-of-pocket costs.</p>
<p>*Even with my mom’s salary, I would still qualify for financial aid; not much, but something. Without it, my family is probably looking at around 80K (my dad’s income).</p>
<p>Quote:
Have your parents said how much they’ll pay for college?
About 20K per year, max.</p>
<p>Quote:
*</p>
<p>??? Would that still be true? If your family’s income drops to $80k per year, how would they pay $20k per year for college? Do they have a large college savings acct? Did you ask your parents how much they’ll pay SINCE the layoff?</p>
<p>What are your test scores and GPA?</p>
<p>And yes, I’m fully aware that scholarships and merit aid don’t mean lower EFC and that whatever merit aid I get has to exceed my EFC in order to actually reduce out-of-pocket costs.</p>
<p>No, that’s not true.</p>
<p>The issue is not getting merit that exceeds EFC. The issue would be getting merit aid that exceeds NEED.</p>
<p>For instance…</p>
<p>COA = $60k
EFC = $15k
Nees = $45k</p>
<p>Getting merit that exceeds your EFC, (for instance, getting $20k in merit) would NOT reduce "out-of-pocket costs.). In this scenario, EFC would still be $15k.</p>
<p>*<a href=“Academics | St. Mary's University | San Antonio, Texas”>Academics | St. Mary's University | San Antonio, Texas;
<p>the full-ride scholarship at St. Mary’s is highly competitive so you can’t be assured of getting it no matter what your stats are. And, it looks like you have to be a business major.</p>
<p>*The Greehey Scholars Program is a highly competitive program that guarantees funding for tuition, fees, room, board, books and notebook computer. Students who meet specific academic requirements and declare an intent to enter the Bill Greehey School of Business are invited to apply to this program at the time of admission. *</p>
<p>Somethings don’t add up…</p>
<p>*Thanks a bunch, guys. I recently talked to my parents about if they had any money to save for college; they didn’t but I thought that was expected since they don’t have a lot of money leftover after paying for my and my brother’s schools (I’m already on fin aid for my high school). It confuses me, though, because they make 130K a year. Still, my school wouldn’t have given us financial aid if they thought we could afford full price (which we can’t).</p>
<p>How much my parents pay for each [child’s Catholic school tuition]: 7k (me), 6k (my brother)
*</p>
<p>If with a former income of $130k your parents (according to you) needed FA to afford your Catholic school tuition to get costs down to $7k for you and $6k for your sibling, the HOW can they pay $20k for you, while still paying $6k for your sibling when your family income will now be much lower (now $80k). According to your posts, your mom was earning about $50k per year.</p>
<p>Something is not adding up. you need to talk to your parents.</p>
<p>I had a feeling. I’ll talk to them asap. I honestly think that they said 20K just to quell the anxiety.</p>
<p>btw, my cousin was a bio major.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>The point is that there are no assured “full rides” (tuition, room, board, etc.) at St. Marys.</p>
<p>You have a well balanced list, that should net you a variety of costs. Do make sure you have a local public option available as well as a true safety, if things are such that commuting and going to a state school turn out to be the best course of action. My cousin’s son had 3 such local options, a state ancillary school, a private catholic college and community college. The community college turned out to be the priciest of those three, since the other two offered him free tuition. He ended up with good enough aid packages with a family income similar to yours, to go to a private school, though it did mean parents and he had to come up with some money and borrow as well.</p>
<p>For now, it’s all a matter of you keeping more options open, as your mother could get another job before your aid packages are released next year. But when you do apply to the colleges, you can let them know that your mother is a dislocated worker so that if she is still unemployed as of the end of the year, some schools might ignore her salary for 2012 as it is not going to happen for 2013 unless she finds another job. How much of a difference that will make for some schools, could be negligible because your dad’s income alone excludes you from things like PELL. I don’t know what state options you might have at his income level alone. In NY, for example, $80K is the cut off for TAP awards. </p>
<p>Also, if your mother, as an unemployed person applies for a Direct Loan, she would be highly likely to be turned down, netting you an additional $4500 in what you can borrow from the Stafford loans under your name alone. Only one parent has to apply and be turned down to get the extra. Otherwise you get $5500 you can borrow from student Direct loans (Staffords).</p>
<p>Also, if your mother, as an unemployed person applies for a Direct Loan, she would be highly likely to be turned down, netting you an additional $4500 in what you can borrow from the Stafford loans under your name alone</p>
<p>No. Direct Plus loans don’t look at employment. It only looks at credit. As long as mom doesn’t have 30 day lates, etc, she’d get approved. Being unemployed (like many housewives) does not mean denial for Plus loans.</p>