<p>Hey guys, I'm kind of in a messy situation about whether or not to submit the Request for Waiver of College Application Fees form. The thing is, college board says that you're eligible if you have used SAT fee waivers before. Well, my school issues SAT waivers to anybody who is on the Free/Reduced school lunch program in my school district. Every year my district, we are required to fill out a form asking about our income, and they decide if we are eligible for free lunch. </p>
<p>The thing is, my dad is out of work so when we filled that out, we put 0 as our income, which basically automatically gave me free school lunch (and in turn, free AP's ;P), but I'm not sure we really deserve that. Although our income is still zero (and has been for about 2 years, since my mother can't find work), we have savings of course, and we have several small houses that we currently rent out. Because of our income, paying for college is an issue for my sister, but because of our assets we appear a lot more wealthy (even though we can't just take a chunk out of one of our rent properties as if it were cash, and then use it to pay for a semester of classes).</p>
<p>Nevertheless, because I'm eligible to waive fees, my mom is pressuring me to use the fee waiver. I guess I'm just having an ethical dilemma as to whether or not I think it really "would cause financial hardship for my family to pay for college applications", as college board puts it. Also, beyond the ethical side of it, I am slightly nervous that the schools that I choose to send the waiver to will waive my fee, and then when they receive my fafsa info will see that my parents have a lot of money in assets. Could this cause problems?</p>
<p>Have you spoken to your school counselor? I feel that he/she would be able to give you a sound answer, or you could repost this in the Parents forum also. Best of luck! :)</p>
<p>It wouldn’t cause a functional problem, as both organizations’ fee waivers have receiving free/reduced lunch as a qualification, even without a certain income guide.</p>
<p>As for ethical… Is your family sustained by rental payments? If they are constantly eating away at savings and having difficulties paying for college, I think you should use the waiver request forms.</p>
<p>Exactly, rental income is income. I would not ask for waivers. When you submit financial aid paperwork, they will see the assets and know you were not qualified for a waiver. Unfortunately colleges do look at rental houses as a source of money for a family as they can be sold or borrowed against to pay for college.</p>
<p>Well between 3 small houses I think we get about 3000 a month (part of which goes to pay for the house that we live in). By my school district’s standards even that qualifies for free/reduced lunch.</p>
<p>I realize that when colleges eventually look at my financial info to give me an aid package, they’ll see that my parents have more assets than that of most people with our “income” level… </p>
<p>“As for ethical… Is your family sustained by rental payments? If they are constantly eating away at savings and having difficulties paying for college, I think you should use the waiver request forms.”</p>
<p>Redroses: I understand that colleges look at everything, believe me, that’s why my sister got very little aid from fafsa. What I’m trying to decide though is whether colleges will just accept that I fit the stated qualifications for a fee waiver, or if they will be outraged that I managed to use a fee waiver even though I technically have UNofficial income, and have several decent assets.</p>
<p>I mean, think about it, if colleges wanted to only give waivers to those who had little income and little assets, wouldn’t they have made an effort to work that into the eligibility guidelines for waivers? I may not get any sympathy later on from fafsa, but what I honestly think, given the amount of pure cash that we have, is that dropping about 70 bucks each for 9 applications would be a financial strain.</p>
<p>Well between 3 small houses I think we get about 3000 a month (part of which goes to pay for the house that we live in). By my school district’s standards even that qualifies for free/reduced lunch.</p>
<p>Fine…but why say you have 0 income? You do have an income. AND EVERYONE’S income goes towards their housing…nothing unique about that.</p>
<p>I said I have zero income I suppose because I’ve never though of our rental income as income. I realize that’s not accurate, but I guess going from having a father working as a full time accountant to getting our only influx of cash from rent houses made me feel that we had lost our income. Plus I don’t consider rental income to be as steady as a job, considering my father kept the same job for my whole life, whereas we’ve gone through quite a few tenants, and thus quite a few periods without income from one or more of our houses.</p>
<p>Also I should note that the free/reduced lunch form doesn’t specifically ask for “income”. It has forms where you fill in the names of each person in the family, their occupation, and their salary. I just abbreviated that in this thread by saying income. Sorry for the mixup.</p>
<p>Also, I specified that some money went toward our house because it’s not paid off. Our rent houses have no mortgage, but our primary one does… seemed like a significant thing to note.</p>
<p>Hi, i’m a new member. i’m pretty sure i’m eligible for NACAC fee waivers, and i want to get them attested and send to the colleges, but i only had one question- do i send them in along with my application? or do i send them beforehand and then see if the the college accepted the waiver? cause i’ve heard that if they reject it, then i have to pay the app fee anyway…? sounds like a little stupid question, but a little help please.
thank!</p>
<p>That’s unfortunate as the equity in your primary home is excluded for FAFSA and mortgage(s) would reduce the value of the rental assets.Do you know if you will qualify for the simplified EFC formula when you file FAFSA? It sounds as if your sister did not.</p>
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<p>Are you mailing paper apps? If so, include the waiver. If not, I think I’ve seen waiver instructions somewhere in the Common App instructions. If applying on the college’s own website, use their search function to find instructions on using a waiver or email the admissions office. I would not send it in advance…I believe that most schools will honor the CollegeBoard/NACAC waivers and, if not, you have the option of paying the fee or withdrawing your app.</p>
<p>Michael, in my opinion you should absolutely not apply for waivers, you are not who they’re meant for. The wealthiest people in the country often don’t work, they live on income from assets as your family does. Income is not only what you make from working.</p>
<p>Waivers are there for those who have no access to money. Colleges will feel your family should leverage a property to pay for applications and tuition. They could sell one of the houses or borrow against it. While most families prefer not to do this, that is the expectation.</p>
<p>Asking for waivers is not kosher here. If I were your counselor, I would not sign off.</p>
<p>RedRoses, why do you think he is not eligible? He seems to meet the criteria set forth by NACAC…are you saying there is also an asset limit? If so, that should exclude kids whose parents are low income but have retirement savings. </p>
<p>The criteria for an NACAC fee waiver seems to be entirely income dependent, as are the standards for free/reduced shool lunch. In fact, the fee waiver form includes this statement, “The term low-income individual means an individual whose familys taxable income for the preceding year did not exceed 150% of the poverty-level amount.
The figures shown under family income represent amounts equal to 150% of the family income levels established by the Census Bureau for determining poverty status.” I didn’t see anything about assets on their FAQ page either:</p>
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<p>We know nothing about how this family came to have these rental properties but we do know that his parents have been unwillingly unemployed for more than a year and that they are supporting four properties and a family on $36K a year. It’s very difficult to leverage property these days when you don’t have sufficient income and selling might be very difficult right now…it’s possible that neither would make much financial sense for this family. If his mom thinks they need to use the fee waivers, I’d be inclined to think she knows what is best.</p>
<p>Looks to me like the form has a place to check the AGI for your family to see if you qualify. So if all of your tax returns add up to less than the AGI for the number in your family, then you can request free application to any college who is a member. If they do not accept the request, they are suppose to notify you to pay. Your counselor is to stamp the form with the school seal. You are to directly mail the form to the university even if you apply online.</p>
<p>I’m glad I read this board or I never would have known this. My son has already sent one of his applications and I am beginning to realize how much all of this process is going to cost, with all the other tests and fees. I was going to limit his applications but now I may let him apply to some “reach” schools.</p>
<p>What I have seen is colleges upset if as a counselor I signed off and the family has significant assets. If you have significant money in non retirement assets, you don’t need a fee waiver. It’s absurd.</p>
