<p>At least for the FAFSA, this is not true. Grad students are considered “independent” automatically. I think Harvard is the one oldball in this regard in (i.e., that it wants to see parent assets for grad school FA), but there may be a few others that do this. IMO, it’s sort of moot point because I have never heard of need-based grant aid for grad school–usually you have loans or merit-based scholarships or assistantships with a stipend and tuition waiver.</p>
<p>ETA: I have a friend who just graduated with her Masters in Education after attending full-time (while working part time). Her undergrad was in English, so she couldn’t teach with it alone.</p>
<p>I also know many people who have gotten or are getting masters degrees in social work or counseling full-time, and such programs usually don’t offer funding. Sadly, this often creates high debt loads on low salaries.</p>
<p>In general, “professional” degrees (MSW, masters in counseling, MPH, MLS, MPA, etc) are not funded or not well funded if they are, although there are some exceptions.</p>
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<p>Having lived in a very rural state with few post-secondary options (especially for grad school) and two fairly rural ones, I hate it when “live at home and commute” is used as catch-all solution. Although it may work for some, many people do not live within commuting distance of a university.</p>
<p>I’m going to a state school, whose instate graduate tuition is 13-14k, so it’s not an expensive school, but when you add in books, transportation, rent, utilities, food, etc, you get to a cost of attendance between 25-30k per year. </p>
<p>My field is education (TESOL specifically), so there isn’t as much funding as you find for STEM majors. There are two assistantship positions in my department, and I’m hoping to get one of them for the 13-14 school year, and I’m currently working a low wage 6 hour per week job in the department to get experience that will help with my application next year. That would take about 15k off the second year’s costs if I get one of the assistantships (although I can’t plan on it when I estimate my costs… counting chickens before they hatch and all). </p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your input, even the posts that were unpleasant to think about. I spoke with my father on the phone today and explained a bit of my side of the situation again. He asked to talk about it when I visit in a week. Maybe, if I’m incredibly fortunate… I’m not going to ask for the entire cost of my degree (which would feel excessive to ask for), just enough to bring my loans down to 40k or so, I could handle that amount with the income I expect to get. Otherwise, I might have to call it quits and drop out, we’ll see. I don’t think my father wants me to drop out any more than I do (and I really, really would feel like a failure, dropping out of a program I academically can handle for financial reasons).</p>
<p>PS – As far as parental income and FAFSA and such, grad students are counted as independent regardless of age, so parental income isn’t counted in that case, thus retirement wouldn’t affect that part. But I also had an extenuating circumstance that let me fill out the FAFSA without parental income for my last year of undergrad last year at the age of 22 (That year, I was able to use grants and 12k in loans rather than having to ask for help). (EDIT, psych_ beat me to the point about the FAFSA and grad students.)</p>
<p>Even if you don’t get an assistantship, why not work while getting the masters degree? More than the 6 hours and low pay that you are getting now, something that pays the rent. You are going to have living expenses no matter what, as an adult. It’s not like this is just something that will cost you because you’re in school. And sharing living space with another person (or people), will cut down the expenses significantly, costing you less than 15K/yr. Or maybe you’re just planning for worst case scenarios.</p>
<p>I hope works out for you. I am surprised by some saying that FAFSA looks at grads being independent. We are from Canada and my D has contacted 3 universities in the States over the summer to discuss the application process and scholarship / aid process. Even though she cannot apply for FA she was told that we (her parents) will have include all of our income and assets before she can be considered for any aid based scholarships / grants.</p>
<p>C’BadDad, I don’t know how much of this very lengthy thread you read, but I’m already supporting my disabled mom, who lives with me, and I might be supporting her for a while. So, yeah, if a family member of mine needed help that I could provide, I’d give it, just like I am with my mother.</p>
<p>busdriver11, I normally have a roommate, which saves me about 5k a year through rent and utilities, but that isn’t an option at the moment. See the first part of this post. And yeah, I probably will work another job if the assistantship next year doesn’t pan out, but the wages will be much lower ($10-$15 per hour part time compared to tuition discount plus stipend).</p>
<p>I’m sure your mom has looked into this, but it does seem that she would be eligible for some sort of disability and medicaid payments, which would be nice if she could contribute something towards living expenses. You may have already addressed this and I missed it, but it seems like you might be able to claim her as a dependent on your financial aid forms.</p>
<p>busdriver11: She applied earlier this year. She got a denial because one of the hospitals didn’t send a bunch of her records, so she just filed a reconsideration. We should hear back about that within six months, but disability is difficult to get, even if you really qualify for it, so we may have to file an appeal after that.</p>
<p>I wonder how long this student’s mom was married to the dad? The dad seems to have all this money, while the mom is impoverished.</p>
<p>I know that statistically, women are often impoverished after divorce, while the men’s incomes/discretionary incomes often rise. </p>
<p>Unless the parents were never married or married for a short time, I’m just really uncomfortable with the idea that the mom would actually be homeless without the D’s aid, while the dad is so swimming in the dough that he’s contemplating a very early retirement. While I don’t want to assume fraud, it just seems fishy to me. </p>
<p>I guess I’m a little suspicious because I know of someone (a friend of a friend) whose husband hid assets, etc, during their divorce (even fake “gave away” some valuable art work prior to his filing) which denied his wife her rightly share of the common assets. He also did something fishy with his 401k to keep her from getting half…before filing, borrowed against the 401k, took the cash, and then the 401k had little value. I thought that laws prevented spouses from doing such things prior to divorcing (hiding assets, giving assets away, underselling assets to friends (to buy back later on the cheap), but maybe some states don’t have such protections.</p>
<p>Something else you might consider, OP, if caring for your mom is short term, is getting a job at a community college somewhere in the country in the writing or tutoring center. Then the college could pay your tuition for going to school part-time. Lots of ESL programs at CCs.</p>
<p>MD Mom…I’m confused. The OP is looking to get a masters degree in ELL. That can’t be done at a community college. I personally don’t know any community colleges that pay for grad courses for their employees.</p>
<p>My community college pays for graduate work. My thought was to get a job at a CC, any four-year college would work as well, and then working on the master’s while working full-time.</p>
<p>My friend teaches at a CC & is entitled to have tuition-waived at any graduate courses she takes at flagship U. Perhaps this is similar to what MD Mom is talking about. Said friend teaches paralegal curriculum and is earning her PhD in multimedia curriculum, or similar, all at no tuition charge! She continues to work full-time and it is tiring, but I admire her!</p>
<p>I don’t think the original poster mentioned what field she wants to go into, but I just wanted to point out that in many healthcare or rehabilitation fields, it is sometimes not possible to get teaching assistantships or other types of assistance like that to pay for graduate school. Students in these fields get by with loans and part-time work. Also, education in healthcare fields can be very time-consuming, so you could not work full time and go to school in the evenings because you need to spend a couple of 2-3 days each week on-site at practicum sites (clinics, etc.). And further, it is hard to do these programs part-time because the courses are sequenced, and each class is a cohort going through the same thing at the same time.</p>
<p>Just to give some info for parents and students about the financial aid for grad/professional students. Most med schools require parental info on the FAFSA and the Need Access forms regardless of the age of the student if the student is seeking funds from the med school itself (institutional funds). Another poster above mentioned how Harvard grad’s schools wanted this, so do the med schools. The FAFSA takes the custodial parent info while the Need Access forms takes all the parents info similar to the College Profile. And yes there are med schools that award funds not just for merit but for need as well.</p>
<p>We went through this all as son is now an MS2 and I have filled out the FAFSA for med school twice already requiring my info.</p>