<p>Kdog,</p>
<p>Yes line 1 on 1040ez (line 7 on 1040).</p>
<p>Also, are you sure that payroll taxes are not deducted from work-study paychecks? I have to dig out my tax return from way back and take a look at w2, but I am convinced that I paid payroll taxes.</p>
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Correct, and that is the only real benefit for the student other than having spending money for personal expenses.</p>
<p>lerkin, no payroll taxes and I’m not sure what that is. Is that something only certain states have? If you mean medicare, only my D had that on her non-WS income.</p>
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<p>My very first tax return had income of $3000. It shows up on my SS wages history statement every year. It is interesting to see how income varies depending on where I was in my life and on the economy.</p>
<p>lerkin, I just couldn’t remember that far back.
I did look at my SS statement and found my first year I made a whopping $40 and then $417 the following year.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to disappoint you but I have to pay 32K and my parents are not in the 6 digits, I have an autistic brother for which they have to pay almost all of his therapies and health needs, for the state doesn’t have SSI nor any help like that, specialize doctors (pediatric neurologist, psychiatrist, pscychologist) won’t take health insurance and want their money in cash, not able to deduct that expense through the filing of the tax return for it requires that the doctors provide my parents their SS numbers, which they don’t want to do for obvious reasons, but that is something the FAFSA doesn’t show.</p>
<p>Where are you going to get the $32K? You can’t borrow it without a cosigner who is credit worthy and willing to have the loan on his/her credit file and be hit for the payments if you don’t make them for any reason, including death. That person is probably one of your parents, so for all intents and purposes, they will be taking out the loan, with you just being on there in case something should happen to them. Those private lenders get 2 people on the hook for keeps this way. Better your parent take out a PLUS for the access over the Stafford $5500 you will be able to get on your own. </p>
<p>It makes no sense that your parents cannot deduct medical expenses on the tax forms. If they pay it and have the receipts, they can deduct it. I have not heard of any reputable medical provider not providing receipts. If that is the case, they should be reported immediately. That is illegal and I would not trust any treatment such charlatans are giving. But the IRS form does not ask for the SSNs of the providers for the medical expenses. I fill them out all of the time. You just need the receipts as you do for anything that you deduct in case you are audited. The medical payment information for your brother makes no sense at all and is not the right thing to be doing.</p>
<p>filing of the tax return for it requires that the doctors provide my parents their SS numbers, which they don’t want to do for obvious reasons</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>What “obvious” reasons? Are your parents here illegally? What’s the fear???</p>
<p>Who is your qualified and willing co-signer who will sign those ridiculous loans?</p>
<p>What are your cheaper options?</p>
<p>The only reasons your parents would not be able to deduct the medical expenses is if they are not qualified medical expenses, or if they are less than the allowed percentage of their AGI.</p>
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Actually between Stafford and Perkins (if you qualify) you could get $32K on your own. Perkins has a $4K per year maximum plus the total of $27K you can get with Stafford.</p>
<p>TC is 100% right. The middle class is pretty much the lower class of the United states whereas the lower class is the group that gets a lot of benefits because they are poor.</p>
<p>I go to a private LAC and I have to cosign loans every year because my parents can’t pay for it. The FAFSA is supposed to give the best financial aid package based off of the parents income right? Wrong. My parents income might seem like a normal middle class income, but they still can’t afford my yearly fees of 10-11 grand. Their income is about 75-90k. On top of all of that, I have around 6-7k in government loans each year.</p>
<p>I have a friend that has parents that both work and they make a combined income of 40-45k. He only has 3-4k in loans every year. He got the same scholarship as me, but he got massive amounts of money through grants.</p>
<p>I find this absolutely ridiculous. Financial aid SHOULD NOT depend on the parents’ income. My friend is going to end up with 12-16k in debt and he’s practically going to college for free. We had the same gpa and I had a higher ACT score. </p>
<p>After he graduates, he has NOTHING to worry about. 16k in loans can easily be paid off in 1.5-2 years if he lived at home with his folks and worked at a fast food place. He can choose to move out and still be able to support himself without worrying about loans.</p>
<p>This is a guy who came from a lower class family and was basically SPOON FED and now he’s receiving a practically free private LAC education?? Somethings wrong with this picture.</p>
<p>When I graduate, I will have 64-66k in loans overall. No one told me to take those loans out, but my private LAC costed LESS than my state school. Yes, I said it costed LESS because of my scholarship and my grant that I received.</p>
<p>Don’t lecture me about how I shouldnt be taking that much out for a college education. Save the crap, I was forced to if I wanted a college education at all because of my PARENTS INCOME.</p>
<p>I WON’T be able to support myself after college with all the loans I have. I came from a middle class family that struggles financially because of all the bills we have to pay such as car insurance, health insurance, mortgage payments etc. I’m going from being from a middle class family to living a lower class lifestyle.</p>
<p>What’s wrong with this picture?? Family income and family lifestyle aside, my friend and I both had the same opportunities before we went off to college. Our parents’ income was out of our control.</p>
<p>But he’s being rewarded for coming from a lower class family and I’m being punished by drowning in loans?? This is just absolutely ridiculous.</p>
<p>The middle class is literally dead in the US. The poor class definitely has it easy because they receive massive amounts of grants and government loans with lower interest rates. </p>
<p>I have a friend who goes to my state school and right now he’s paying 4500 a year to go there. Just because he has a single dad that isn’t that well off. He actually lives by himself now because he can take out government loans and doesn’t have to have anyone to cosign private loans.</p>
<p>Another scenario… this isn’t related to parental income, but there is this hispanic guy I know who got a FULL RIDE to my state school. My SAT score was WAY BETTER than his. My GPA was WAY better than his. I had to pay 12k a year with 7k in government loans to go to my state school. He didn’t have to pay a dime.</p>
<p>Why should he get a full ride because of his etnicity? That’s absolutely wack. </p>
<p>There is definitely something wrong with this picture. I sometimes wish my parents worked minimum wage jobs or I was hispanic/black/native american/eskimo just so I could go to college for free. Poor kids of the US have it so easy. Go to school, get grades that are good enough for state schools, and then get a full ride or almost a full ride with grant money up the butt.</p>
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<p>You could have gone to an affordable public- like MOST students do. </p>
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<p>No. FAFSA doesn’t give any aid for one. Second, the aid is determined by the school.</p>
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<p>Yes it should. Financing your education is assumed to be the family’s role, not the government’s or school’s. You could always wait until you’re 24- then FA won’t depend on your parents income for the vast majority of schools. </p>
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<p>You could have gone to a CC for two years or taken a gap year to work. No one forced you to go to either the state school or the LAC.</p>
<p>Eh, I really don’t feel like responding to the rest :)</p>
<p>Bottom line: YOU made the decision to go to an expensive, private LAC. No one made you do it. The debt you’re griping about is YOUR choice (and your family’s). No one is forcing you to struggle through life and school like that. Transfer if it’s unaffordable (which it is, obviously).</p>
<p>Did you read my post at all? My private school ended up being cheaper than my state school when comparing yearly fees.</p>
<p>There’s no point in going to my state school for another two years just to end up with some credits not transferring and being just a number instead of a student.</p>
<p>The poor students who get great financial aid at the very few schools that meet full financial need are far, far outnumbered by the poor students who commute to their local no-name directional state school because that’s all they can afford.</p>
<p>74 percent of students at the most competitive colleges in America come from families in the richest 25 percent of American households. Only 3 percent come from the poorest 25 percent. That is a fact.</p>
<p>(Source: <a href=“http://tcf.org/media-center/pdfs/pr19/leftbehindrc.pdf[/url]”>A 2023 Plan for Economic Equity and Progress)</p>
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<p>I responded to that in my above post. You could have gone to a cc, gone to a school where you got merit aid, or you could have taken time off to work. Bottom line- that’s what the VAST MAJORITY of low income kids do and many middle class kids.</p>
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<p>You are blissfully unaware of reality.</p>
<p>Apparently education is FREE in France. France also has a stable economy and better health care system. </p>
<p>Once the student loan bubble bursts, the US economy is going to plummet. We simply cannot learn from other countries out there that have stable economies such as France, Canada, and England.</p>
<p>We’ve had too many bubbles burst. Tech bubble, mortgage bubble, now this student loan bubble waiting to burst.</p>
<p>I’m not unaware of reality, I have a good amount of friends who are practically going to college for free because they come from a low income family. </p>
<p>If my parents worked at McDonalds, I would get grants up the butt.</p>
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<p>No one is stopping you from moving ;).</p>
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<p>You’d get Pell. Whopping $5550 a year. You’d also have a much, much, MUCH lower quality of life. There is a reason why Pell kids are fairly rare at top universities. We don’t get the same opportunities, by and large, as middle/upper income kids do. So please, don’t ever wish to be poor. You have no idea what it’s like. </p>
<p>Good day :)</p>
<p>Lydiana…</p>
<p>Are you borrowing that much each year?</p>
<p>If so, then that’s what Cpn meant by asking who would co-sign. </p>
<p>Are you a high school senior? If so, what are your cheaper options?</p>