I’m a transfer at a CCC. I recently got accepted to UCSB and after my health insurance grant, my cost of attendance is around $30k (got this from UCSB’s portal). This seems really steep. My dad & mom made a combined income of around $170,000 in 2015. My dad passed away in 2016 and my household income is now around $90,000. FAFSA asks for my family’s 2015 tax returns, but I don’t find that this seems really applicable since that applied to when my dad was still alive. Could I apply for the Middle Class scholarship that UC’s offer? What can I do? Please help!
If this students father is no longer alive…would he still include the father’s income from 2015 on the financial aid forms??
I am sorry for your loss.
You would have to submit an appeal based on the death of your dad.
are you close enough to the school where you can meet with the financial aid officer?
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/paying-for-uc/glossary/middle-class-scholarship/
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/paying-for-uc/apply-for-aid/index.html
you will file for a request for appeal. here is the link
https://www.finaid.ucsb.edu/appeals
https://www.finaid.ucsb.edu/forms
all the best
so sorry for your loss.
@kelsmom Should dad’s income be included on the FAFSA if he died?
If this student’s parents were now divorced, the dad’s income wouldn’t have been included, so it seems like it shouldn’t have been included if deceased.
Does the student just fix his FAFSA (removing dad’s income) or must he now appeal to his school to change it.
That said, with a single-parent family income of $90k and any assets, you still might not qualify for much/any “free money” aid.
@mom2collegekids Thank you, much appreciated. My mom makes $90k, and received around $400,000 from life insurance. She has around $1–,000 left after using it on the mortgage. These assets wouldn’t really help me at all, huh? Would the middle-class scholarship even apply to me?
That I don’t know. Another issue is the the middle class scholarship is supposedly going away.
Call the FA office and explain that your dad is deceased (give date of death), and you may be asked to provide proof.
I’m not an expert on CA aid, but I believe a $90,000 income would put you out of the running for the Calgrant…which is how most need based aid is awarded.
I’m sorry for your loss.
Yes, income too high for CalGrant, and income too high for Blue and Gold promise.
Middle Class scholarship might get awarded, but who knows if it won’t soon disappear since it’s on the chopping block.
How much WILL mom pay per year?
Do you have any cheaper schools that you can attend?
@mom2collegekids Mom won’t pay any. I only applied to UC’s, and UCSB was the first one to get back to me. I would think that since there would be no financial aid, it would be applicable to all the UCs?
Right…no aid from UCs.
You’re in a bad situation. If your mom won’t pay anything, then why did you only apply to UCs??
What are your stats??
I’m a little confused. If your mom knew that she wasn’t going to pay anything, then WHY did she have you apply only to UCs?? At a minimum, she should have insisted that you also apply to a local CSU so you could commute and pay for it with a student loan and some summer earnings.
On this FAFSA wouldn’t the mom have indicated that she is widowed/single? And only provided her income?
I agree, call the FA office and see how they can help you.
Do you have existing health insurance to satisfy their requirement? Could the grant be used for something else?
The COA includes all billed costs and some estimated misc costs. How much is tuition and fees?
Are you going to live in an off campus apartment? Are there any 4 yr schools you can commute to?
Also ask the FA office if the life insurance proceeds can be excluded from assets, since they were due to a death benefit.
@mommdc that’s what I think. The mom would be listed as widowed…unless her husband died after the fafsa was submitted.
If the mom was widowed the day the fafsa was filed, I believe only the mom’s income from 2015 plus assets would have been included on the fafsa.
@kelsmom???
BUT the mom’s income alone was innthe $90,000 range…which is out of range for the Calgrant.
Sorry for your loss. I don’t understand why you’d apply to those schools knowing you wouldn’t be able to afford it, especially if you knew your mom wouldn’t pay anything towards your education.
I hope this doesn’t sound harsh. Was it wishful thinking, or perhaps just not understanding how it works? You can certainly contact the FA office and explain they should be using only your mom’s income, and ask for her assets from the life insurance to be excluded, but that might not be enough.
the student can go thru all of these hoops, but it won’t matter in the long run. The income ALONE is too high for a Cal Grant or B&G promise.
PLUS…the mom has said that she won’t pay ANYTHING…so even if his EFC dropped to, say $20k, he has no way to pay for that.
Unfortunately, he was very poorly advised when creating his app list. He only applied to UCs, and the only way one would have been affordable if one had magically given him a massive merit of MORE than free tuition, which isn’t happening with this student.
Not sure why mom paid for apps to schools that she knew she wouldn’t pay for. Even if the MIddle Class Scholarship was awarded, that would only cover 40% of tuition (so the award would have been around $6k). He still would have nearly $30k to cover.
Not sure what mom was thinking! Maybe she didn’t realize child can only borrow $5,500 for freshman year.
He should have applied to a CSU near his home. Tuition is about $7k. He might have been able to cover that with a student loan, summer earnings and maybe a little bit of help from mom (maybe $1k or so)
When the student shares his stats, maybe we can find something that will work.
The mom may have listed widowed/single but may have accidentally included the whole family 2015 income…and it appeared that she earned it all.
But again…fixing this will NOT fix the main problem. A $6k “middle class scholarship” won’t make a school that costs $33k per year affordable when mom won’t pay anything.
He should only spend a few minutes calling and correcting his FAFSA…he should focus the MAJORITY of his free time finding an affordable school. At this point, he may have to take a gap year and reapply knowing that he won’t get aid and mom won’t pay.
You don’t call and correct your FAFSA. You go online and change it…and resubmit.
@thumper1 I know that, but I thought that the FA office could use PJ and change it if he sent in copy of dad’s death cert.
I was thinking that if he went in and changed it online, verification would automatically happen and then that would add another wrinkle/delay.
My concern is that any delay will give this kid false hope. He needs to spend time figuring out what/where he’ll be going next year.
Really, I think it would be better to resubmit the fafsa…to ALL of the schools. Sure, he can call the colleges and explain what happened, and why…but this isn’t professional judgement, I believe. It was an error in how income was reported (assuming that the father’s income should NOT have been listed). It needs to be corrected by the student.
Plus…the student can resubmit to all their colleges.
The thing is…this will probably trigger verification as it is removing a huge %age of the family income. BUT maybe it won’t matter since even with $90,000 in income, the student won’t qualify for federal or state grant aid.
But sure…he can call the college and ask them…like NOW,
Ok…
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this will probably trigger verification as it is removing a huge %age of the family income. BUT maybe it won't matter since even with $90,000 in income, the student won't qualify for federa
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Yes, I totally agree.
I just hope that the verification efforts do not derail this student from focusing on the “next step”…and that’s coming up with a workable plan for next year.
No UC will be affordable, even with FAFSA change and verification complete. NONE.
Since so much merit is needed, unless this student has tippy-top stats, I’m betting that a gap year will be best.
Don’t go to a CC and ruin your incoming frosh status!!! Instead, get a job upon graduation, work/save as much as you can, and submit new appropriate apps in the fall. Include some CSUs…including some commutable ones.
Once we know your stats, we can recommend some other schools that will give you HUGE merit.