Hello, I have a question whether I can still update FAFSA & ultimately my financial aid from the colleges even at this point. As of now I have 0 financial aid because together my parents are in that sweet spot of making just enough so that EFC = COA so we are expected to contribute the entire cost of attendance (~$30,000). After discussing our financial situation, we are not even sure if we can come up with the additional $22,000+ (because the max loan I can take out is $7,500; any more would have to be co-signed with parents).
I’ll give some context as to what’s happening behind the scenes: my parents have been living separately but are technically legally married. They are on the verge of divorce/separation but have been putting it off for emotional reasons I guess; they want to wait til my younger sibling and I are independent/out of the house before leaving each other. After discussing it, we’ve all decided that it would have been a smarter move for them to just legally separate now rather than later so that I’d only have to report one parent [and my sibling can do the same later on], since they are going to separate anyways but like I said, they’re just waiting.
My question is, can I still make a change to the FAFSA to reflect that for 15-16, or not? I’m thinking the answer is going to be no because we’re supposed to use 2014 tax returns, and in 2014 they were still married (but filing separately). I just need second opinions on what to do, or if I can do that^ (but it might just be wishful thinking).
If the answer to the above is yes, what would be the process of doing so? I first update FAFSA (since you can update it til some time in summer right?), then call the school in question to update my aid?
I lived more with my mom. However, what if my mail/address that I use goes to my dad's address? Would that be something to take into consideration? How would they verify which parent I lived with more, other than looking at what address I use for billing/shipments?
$95,000ish--my mom makes more than my dad (who makes $60,000).
I'm not sure if I'm answering this right, so ask me again if I'm not--but when it comes to EFC, I think UCs expect you take out some loans even if you have a low EFC. So someone who has an EFC of 0 would get, on average, ~$24,000 in grants/gift aid (again COA is $30,000), and the rest (if needed) is supposed to come out of loans or work study.
I actually only applied to UCs, and my aid is pretty much the same throughout all of them. Coming from community college, I didn't think money would be that much of a consideration (especially since I cut costs in half by doing CC -> UC rather than starting at UC for 4 years). If anything, I'm thinking of possibly switching my major so I could do one more year at CC and have updated aid by then (but I'm practically done with my current pre-requisites and close to maxing out on units, so this somewhat risky if I still want to transfer).
I think they'll be able to help me pay just for this year, but will have to dip somewhat into retirement/savings [which I feel really bad about], but they'll be able to provide the EFC (coupled with my $7,500 student loan). I doubt they'll be able to pay for my 2nd/next year if the aid is the same.
If you commute to the CC for one more year, then consider living with your dad (the lower wage earner) 51% of the days before the next FAFSA (2016-2017) is submitted.
@Madison85 I wish it could be as easy as doing CC for one more year (as I even included in my own post) but like I said I’m teetering close to maxing out and it’s kind of like ride or die this year–so say I want to transfer to UC this coming fall, would the short but blunt answer be that I’ll just have to take the high EFC and hope for lower EFC next year for 16-17?
And regarding that, say my parents are separated by then, which one would I use for FAFSA? (assuming I am not commuting to this UC and living by myself). It would be the parent that contributed more toward paying for college right?
You LIVE more with your mom so that is the custodial parent for fafsa purposes. It doesn’t matter where your mail goes. What matters is where you live.
And if you live alone now…the custodial parent is the one with whom you last lived the most…so it would be your mom.
@thumper1@Madison85 thanks again for the responses–after reading what you said and visiting the link you (Madison) provided, I guess I can’t help but feel curious: what’s to say a student doesn’t lie about who he/she lived with more? I feel like it’s such an arbitrary rule, especially given that it’s prioritized over which parent provides more financial support. If financial support were the #1 criteria instead of living, I would understand (since it’s something that’s easily verifiable and more concrete), but I just feel like the system for separated/divorced parents could easily be slunked over. Not saying that I have a desire to lie, but I can’t help but be curious–is there a reason they use living as the main criteria rather than financial support? (they wouldn’t have to give out as much money as aid right? haha).
Let’s not talk about people who lie and cheat, we don’t want to give lessons on that. Presume they get caught sometimes and that is a federal offense.
The parent you live with pays your roof overhead and the food. Any formal support given by the other parent is reported on FAFSA. It doesn’t matter how the college bills are split, I don’t think.
FAFSA is based on parent situation at the time of filing. If they are in separate residences then they were separated for FAFSA purposes and you just should have filed for one. (Physical separation is also a legal concept in CA divorce.) The one that FAFSA guidelines says you should and the first criteria is which you live with more. So if you have filed your FAFSA wrong you can amend your FAFSA. I suppose you can then appeal your financial aid from the university if they will give you more since the deadlines have passed I don’t know. Either way it doesn’t look like your federal aid will change.
Your FAFSA may be subject to verification and your parents may have to provide information on date of separation, like separate leases etc.
Btw, at UC students usually have to contribute 8 to 10k in loans+summer earnings/work study.
@BrownParent thank you for your response! That makes sense when you put it that way, about the parent you live with more essentially paying for your roof and food, thereby being the ‘custodial parent’ for FAFSA purposes.
I did not know that physical separation was grounds for only needing to report one parent, I thought they had to be divorced, or at the very least legally separated (not just physically but kind of like the one that’s like a “mini-divorce”). Yes, I realize how late it is–it’s because I’m a transfer student and the last batch of decisions just came out last week for the schools I applied to, so the info on my aid was not all available until recently, though in hindsight it would have better to do this earlier when I submitted my FAFSA at the time and saw my high EFC.
As for my next steps, should I just call up the financial peeps themselves and explain my situation? Mentioning the physical separation, living with one parent, etc… I’ve heard of successful stories of financial appeals and updated aid, but I’m not sure how likely I am to achieve that given that it’s nearing the end of April now. I guess it doesn’t hurt to ring them up and ask at least.
Just to confirm, your parents were in differnt residences last year before you filed FAFSA. I think there also has to be intent to proceed with divorce and not remain married in the near term. I have no idea what you are talking about not leaving each other until you are grown, because they already have so this is real nonsense and you want to point this out to them and not mention this to anyone—it hurts everyone in everyway.
See what some of the knowledgeable peeps post here but I think you have to amend the FAFSA before they can do anything. If they don’t accept it, they will just change it back. You can amend it now. Then, I would fill out the appeal form on the UCB website. Note that Parent Separation is one of the valid reasons listed for appeal.
I don’t think you need to call at all at this point as there are electronic means to advance this position. Meanwhile tell your parents to gather the supporting evidence and probably they should get on with it so you don’t have to take more than a year off school should the aid not pan out.
Bearly…are you suggesting it’s ok to be dishonest on these financial aid application forms? If so, you are wrong, and you will not get support from me for this position.
It is essential that you tell the truth in your financial aid application forms. Believe me when I say, there are many ways for schools to determine that you have not been…and being dishonest for financial aid gain is fraud. Sure, you can do it an hope you won’t get caught…but come on. Do you expect folks here to support your dishonesty…because they won’t.
@BrownParent yes they were living in separate residences for some time before I submitted my FAFSA now. Thank you for your help, I’ll definitely follow those steps and see what happens.
@thumper1 Where did I say that I condoned being dishonest? I said in my post that I have no desire to do so, I was just curious as to why they have the system that they have now (as in using living situation vs. what parent financially supports more) because # of days lived seems way more arbitrary than financial support. Regardless, BrownParent answered that earlier so now I’m wondering what steps to take next for my situation specifically. I appreciate your upholding of integrity but please don’t be so quick to assume that I condone any of what I was discussing (though I cede that it was in poor taste to pose such questions on this forum, which BrownParent also reprimanded earlier).
@“Erin’s Dad” I’m pondering and going to say that due to my ambiguous wording, human nature, or maybe just my status as someone who wants more aid, that my integrity is coming under question? I don’t mind your pointing that out, but I hope it wasn’t your intent to turn my moral faltering into some forum circus show of “gotcha, OP” because I came here to ask a question/receive advice. Has lying crossed my mind before? The honest answer is yes. Have I ever come even close to acting on that? No, never. But can we just go back to the original point of the topic?
Anyway, there’s not much left to be fleshed out regarding my situation, I guess all I can do at this point is follow BrownParent’s advice. I talked to a financial aid adviser at my school today who confirmed what everyone was saying (not that I doubted you guys at any point, but just putting that out there). She said physical separation/separate residency is enough, and that at this point I need to update my FAFSA + contact the individual schools in question to update my aid/push for it. We’ll see what happens from there. I’ll probably post an update later on, as this may potentially be useful to people in the future. Thank you everyone who responded!
*As a side note, I hope I didn’t come off as “butt-hurt” with these long responses & winded rhetoric–I just wanted to emphasize and remind people of what the original purpose of this thread was and not let this get out of hand more. Looking at your number of posts [Erin’s Dad], I’m assuming you’ve helped many people on this forum throughout the years, and I appreciate people like you. Thanks again! :)>-
