When parents refuse to pay anything

<p>Forgive me if this has already been discussed here or elsewhere. If it has been, just ignore this.</p>

<p>Lately, I have heard a number of high school seniors say that their parents refuse to finance their upcoming college education costs at all. In other words, parents are saying "Go ahead and apply to college. We expect you to go. But we won't pay anything."</p>

<p>None of the kids I know who are in this situation are emancipated minors. They come from middle class families.</p>

<p>Can students applying to college expect their colleges to understand this and provide financial aid in abundance? My understanding was that, under federal regulations, colleges expect kids who want to get financial aid to fill out the FAFSA with their parents and that parents are expected to find some way to help the student come up with the EFC. </p>

<p>These students seem to think that because their parents <em>won't</em> pay anything that the schools they are applying to will simply give them more financial aid/loans to make up for what is not coming in from parents. </p>

<p>??</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure those students are in for a rude awakening in the form of huge student loans.....as far as I know, colleges don't give special consideration if a student's parents refuse to pay the EFC.</p>

<p>There are no huge student loans available. That is magical thinking. No 10's of thousands a year. There are no federal loans available without cooperation from parents. There are limited loans available even then , in the student's own name . If a parent won't pay and won't take out a plus loan, why would they co-sign? Why would a private lender loan a kid $100K? It ain't happening. </p>

<p>If you have an EFC of $30K and your folks won't pay, the school won't just say - "Wow. Tough break. We'll pay it for you." .There is absolutely zero reason to apply to a need only school if that is your situation. </p>

<p>Your friends need to get realistic real fast or their options will be closing on them. Are these kids applying this year? Gosh, I hope not.</p>

<p>Sorry. Your parents' decisions have you in FA hell.</p>

<p>My advice is to go where there's merit aid, and get a job quickly!</p>

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<p>Yes this is it.</p>

<p>If the schools would "understand", what's to stop any parent from simply saying, "OK, I won't pay. The school will." Heck, I would!</p>

<p>The schools can't afford to pick up the tab for kids whose parents won't pay. It's hard enough for them to pick up the tab for kids whose parents can't pay.</p>

<p>If neither parent will pay, then yes, the student is going to have some serious problems. One my friends had the stats/ECs to go to a upper tier school and ended up going to a local community college because her (very rich) parents refused to pay.</p>

<p>I have a semi-similar situation- my father won't contribute any money (he doesn't want me to go to college at all) but luckily he and my mother are separated so my top choice college has been understanding... It definitely wouldn't have worked out if they were still together.</p>

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<p>There's a nice financial aid option that I'm taking advantage of since my parents don't (can't, really) pay anything. It's called "get a job."</p>

<p>Community college is still and always has been an excellent option. Get those basic requirements out of the way for a couple thousand dollars. I did it, and then I went to an LAC for the last two years of school (one that gave me merit aid). I ended up leaving with a BA and only 3K in debt, which was paid off rapidly. After I decided to go to grad school (a few years out of undergrad), I was really glad to have no undergrad debt hanging over my head.</p>

<p>I know kids whose parents won't pay anything, but those parents expect the kid to work and go to community college. A lot of them mature quickly that way...I can't say it's a terrible thing to expect a kid to do.</p>

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<p>So many parents don't get that for the average person there is not going to be a full ride. Many people my age were able to work nights, weekends, summers, and pay their tuition bill. Now that is usually impossible. I think that parents, as taxpayers, think that at least the state U will give their kid a full ride, and it does happen for some, but not for most of the student body. I guess FLA gives out more scholarships than many other states.</p>

<p>Not only will the school not pay for you, they think your parents are your gravy train when you are 30, have been working and living on your own for 10 years and haven't been claimed by your parents on their tax returns for that long. Additionally, if you are married, they demand your in-laws financials and a copy of their tax returns. Extremely humiliating to ask them for a copy of their tax returns. </p>

<p>This is not a joke, it happened to me when I went to law school. My H was medical resident grossing $13,000 at the time, had a GSL loan repayment of $500 per month, our rent for a 1 bdrm was $450 and CWRU thought that his entire stipend was the EFC... Nothing has changed. </p>

<p>If you submit with your FAFSA the top half of your parents tax return showing that your parents did not claim you, you do not have to submit their financial information. If you live home this is a problem.</p>

<p>UnivMom- I had same situation- a guy in my grad school class was 60 and had grandchildren; he had his 85 year old parents fill out the stupid forms!</p>

<p>
[quote]
If you submit with your FAFSA the top half of your parents tax return showing that your parents did not claim you, you do not have to submit their financial information. If you live home this is a problem.

[/quote]
That is absolutely untrue. My son was living on his own with full time employment, not claimed as a dependent for two full years before he returned to school at age 23, and he still was viewed as a dependent for FAFSA purposes.</p>

<p>All individuals under age 23 are viewed as dependents under FAFSA unless they have been in the military, are married, have dependents of their own, or don't have living parents. There is a procedure called a dependency override that can get some students around this, but they have to document extremely extenuating circumstances -- such as being totally estranged from abusive parents.</p>

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<p>Agree with Calmom. This is absolutely NOT TRUE...and I sure hope the poster doesn't believe this. </p>

<p>Re: UnivMom's post...law school and medical schools do sometimes require a parent contribution regardless of the student's age. This, however, is NOT true for other graduate school programs or for undergrads who are over 24, are married, have dependent children they support, are orphans, are Veterans, or who have a bachelors degree. In most cases, these students are considered independent. HOWEVER...grad school finaid is not the same as undergrad regardless. There are no federal grants, for example, and schools typically do not guarantee to meet full need.</p>

<p>The kids will be stuck. They will be "credit constrained" in the sense indicated in the article "Do and Should Financial Aid Packages Affect Students' College Choices?" </p>

<p>Do</a> and Should Financial Aid Packages Affect Students' College Choices? Journal of College Admission - Find Articles </p>

<p>State universities get a lot of business from students whose parents are unwilling to pay their calculated family contribution. The students will have limited choices, but if they work hard they can still go to college.</p>

<p>I think I see a new business opportunity, matching boys whose parents will not pay with girls whose parents will not pay. I'm thinking of calling it, "Yenta for Yale." Any willing investors?</p>

<p>Perhaps Cur could process the divorces after the degrees are obtained, with a nice discount for CC participants and their children, of course.</p>

<p>What the students need to do is to follow the money, which tends to mean that they spend 2 years living at home and going to a local community college while working part time during the school year, fulltime and more during the summer</p>

<p>Afterward, they transfer to an in-state public, using their savings to help pay. If their grades are excellent, they may be able to get some merit aid.</p>

<p>Other options to this include joining the National Guard, ROTC or participating in Americorps: For 2 years of service, you get a weekly stipend plus a total of about $9,000 to use for college For one year of service, you get the stipend plus about $4,500 to use for college.</p>

<p>For most students whose parents refuse to pay, it's not possible get enough merit aid to attend a 4-year college. Those top of the line merit scholarships that include tuition, room, board and other perks are only for the students whom first tier colleges are trying to lure away from places like Harvard. Those scholarships are very rare, and are only for the top students in the country.</p>

<p>The $10k or $5 k a year that many students can get who are, for instance, top 10-20% of their high school classes are not large enough amounts of money for such students to afford schools that cost $35-$45 k a year.</p>

<p>People in this situation ought to get married.</p>

<p>One of my friends busted his ass to get into a Top ten National University. His wealthy parents refused to pay for college and now he's doing ROTC for tuition. I feel bad for the kid.</p>