OMG. OP didn’t know that her father’s information would not be used on FAFSA. She wanted to know, if her father’s information wasn’t required for FAFSA, would she get better financial aid than if it was required, at a FAFSA only school. My answer, based on the limited information that OP provided, was “yes.”
Father’s information required on FAFSA = no Pell grant
Father’s information not required on FAFSA = likely full Pell grant
Yeah, except that another poster had already provided that information. OP then asked this question:
So for FAFSA-only schools, does this mean I would have better financial aid overall since they don’t ask for my dad’s info?
to which I responded with a simple “yes.” Further down the thread, a different poster said that OP would probably NOT receive better financial aid based on the fact that her father’s information was not required, and with this I disagreed. See the lines in bold above.
Make sure your FAFSA gets submitted asap after Oct 1. Did your mom file a 2015 tax return? It will be used for the 2017/18 FAFSA.
When school starts, sign up for free/reduced lunch at school if you haven’t yet. Household of 3 can make up to $37,296 a year.
That way your guidance counselor can give you an ACTor SAT fee waiver and you should qualify for some free score reports and get some application fee waivers as well. You might also save on AP exam fees.
Most importantly with your mom’s income of under $25,000 and the free/reduced lunch you should be eligible for auto zero EFC on the FAFSA. But you may have had a very low EFC anyway with your sister in college at the same time.
So I have another issue, now that it’s been brought up. I really would like to receive some application fee waivers (and they would be immensely helpful), and I actually was on free/reduced lunch freshman/sophomore year. However, they took me off of that when during junior year I stopped using it because I went off campus for lunch (using my own money I made from my job). Will I still be eligible for fee waivers?
@BelknapPoint I apologize for causing the confusion.
I’m the poster who said the aid might NOT be better. But YES…the student would,get the Pell with only mom’s income…assuming Child support isn’t real high.
With the exception of the Pell Grant (and yes…that would be available with the mom’s info only…well…except that child support was not included in her income posted here).
The OP needs to look at the net costs…and who is paying. The net costs at places like NYU and Emerson are going to likely be very high…certainly higher than her instate public universities. That $5800 Pell Grant won’t go that far to offset those costs of NYU at $72,000 a year…or Emerson at over $60,000 a year.
On the mom’s income, this student would need very significant financial aid to be able to attend…NYU and Emerson will both require dad’s info, plus they don’t meet full need anyway.
To the OP…you are so lucky to live in NC where there are a number of good and affordable public universities. Wilmington is one. You might want to look at Greensboro and Charlotte as well.
@thumper1 I’ve toured both Greensboro and Charlotte. They were nice, but I didn’t really see myself there. I like UNCW; however, their communications program (there’s not even a journalism major, I believe) is not as great as I’d like it to be. My top choice is UNC-CH, and I’m really hoping to get in. I know that my dad would agree to pay for UNC (but not NYU or Emerson).
@rosered55 Is there a way to attain fee waivers without currently being on free/reduced lunch or having had your SAT waived? I just know that I probably wouldn’t use the free/reduced lunch this year because I drive myself to get lunch off campus, and I’m assuming if you don’t use it, they will take it back (as that is what happened previously).
I would ask your guidance counselor about the fee waivers. I am not sure if you only need to be income eligible for the free/reduced lunch, or actually on it.
But that might be a small price to pay for you to eat at school if you can save a lot of money on college applications and test fees. You can also save your work income for books, supplies and spending money for college.
On the FAFSA it asks after parent income whether anyone in the household received a federal means tested benefit (free/reduced lunch, food stamps, etc) in the past two years. That’s one of the qualifiers for auto zero EFC along with parent income under $25k.
I don’t know if your sister answered that question with yes.
My son did not pay to apply to any of the schools that he applied to. He was offered them by each individual school based on his stats. You may want to contact the schools to see if they offer fee waivers.
Yes, some schools will provide application fee waivers and for the common application your guidance counselor can verify that you are eligible based on income I think.
If you did some practice tests and/or worked with a friend who is good in ACT math and science, I bet you could raise those subscores and retake ACT in September or October.
No need to apologize, thumper1. The post I responded to, and that I referred to, was post #15 (not yours). OP’s question was about FAFSA-only schools, and that’s how I answered it. At a meets-full-need school, which in almost every case will require NCP financial info. (i.e., not FAFSA-only), the lack of a Pell grant will probably not make any difference, because the school will make up for it with institutional funds. Of course, EFC will be substantially higher than it would otherwise be if NCP info. was not required.
You must actually apply and be eligible for free/reduced lunch as a first line in order to get fee waivers based on free/reduced lunch
It does not matter whether or not you actually eat the lunch.
In addition, because free lunch is a federally means-tested program, it is the easiest threshold to overcome. Remember if mom gets alimony, which is income, it can throw her numbers off.
Op should be applying and be eligible for free lunch before using any other criteria for getting SAT /ACT fee waivers.
In addition she would be eligible for NACAC fee waivers. Some states also offer additional funding programming, but your school has to verify that student is receiving/eligible for free lunch.
Most schools take care of this criteria very easily by running their meal code report for the school where they see every student who is eligible for free lunch because of SNAP/PA benefits, Free/reduced lunch based on income, full pay and students who did not apply.
@sybbie719, I think there was a poster here a while ago and she also received child support, but was still eligible for auto zero EFC (even though child support income would have made income too high). I think because after parent income and the question about federal means tested benefit or being able to file 1040A or dislocated worker, it would automatically give zero EFC if AGI or income from working us under $25,000.
I think the auto zero or simplified needs test is determined before any add backs or additions for FAFSA. The questions on child support are way down the form, and among the ‘shaded out’ questions once the Auto Zero of Simplified needs test is determined. I don’t think the assets or other support, like child support, are ever in play.
I don’t think the free lunch designation is withdrawn for non-use. The schools WANT the students to qualify for free lunch and usually doesn’t care if you eat it or not. OP, are you sure that was the reason? You should apply again.
@twoinanddone, yes looking at the worksheet in the EFC formula pdf, it does say that if parent income is under $25,000 and other requirements are met you can stop after line 3.
@twoinanddone Okay, update: they removed me off free/reduced lunch because they audited my mom and wanted tax returns (and since my dad claims me, that was problematic). I thought they might have audited us because we weren’t using it anymore, but I don’t know.