Well we really got stung. We’re long time Southern California residents. As recently as last fall, while fretting about the high cost of a university our accountant said, Don’t worry, just send your son to a UC. They’re fantastic schools and you’ve been paying property taxes in this state for 18 years, bout time you get some of that money back!
So our son got accepted to two UC’s and imagine how stunned we were when both acceptance letters came back with zero financial aid. (Our accountant was pretty stunned too.) The FAFSA determined our family contribution to be $23,528/yr and our net cost is $33,278/year. I’m the sole income earner in our family, over the last 10 years we’ve had $90k years (last year, wouldn’t you know it) and $40k years. But apparently they only consider the last year.
Clearly we can’t spend more than our mortgage every year for the next 8 years (we have two kids) and, since I’m almost 60, we can’t sell our house, cash out investments or take out huge loans this close to retirement. So we’re faced with two choices: spend everything we’ve saved for college on his first year, and hope we can get aid in subsequent years or send him to a jr. college and transfer in a couple years. For me, personally, it’s a no brainer: jr college and transfer but for my son, who has worked his butt off, has high test scores and a 4.05 GPA it’s unthinkable and wildly unfair. He’s right, it’s wildly unfair.
So now we’re trying to figure it out. What is the magic number we have to have on those returns to actually get aid in the future? To further complicate things, as a freelancer, I have to have a corporation so I can work as a “loan out” from my own 1-man company. So we had to submit to CSS and FAFSA our corporate return and a personal return. So…
- What are FAFSA and CSS looking at on our returns to determine what our need is?
- What do the amounts they're looking at need to be for us to get aid?
FAFSA is a fed aid form. To get fed aid (free money) then your EFC needs to be about $5k (low income).
However, in Calif, if your income is below $80k and your EFC isn’t too high from assets, you get free tuition to a UC.
You say that last year is one year that you’ve earned $90k? What about 2015? How much will you likely earn this year?
(BTW…accountants know diddly squat about FA…they’re the last people to ask about such things…they’re even behind GCs).
Is your son a NMF? What are his test scores?
Was he accepted to a UC that he can commute to?
Your accountant is one of those folks that doesn’t keep his hand on the pulse. Awhile ago, attending a UC meant cheap tuition (aka fees). Several years ago, the tuition has jumped. Some of the increase was due to the idea that everyone who earns below $80k (and no need) would get free tuition, so that money had to come from somewhere.
BTW…did you run any of the Net Price Calculators last fall? It would seem that if you did, this wouldn’t have been a surprise …at least not for the UCs. I saw in past posts, you were told to run them last November.
As an FYI…no one “gets” aid from fafsa. The fafsa is a financial aid application form. The information on it is primarily used to determine eligibility for federally funded need based aid. With $90,000 in income, your son would have been guaranteed a Direct Loan of $5500. Your income is too high for federally funded grant money…and likely work study too at an instate public university.
You are California residents. The very vast majority of need based aid comes on the form of the Calgrant. If your AGI last year was about $80,000, you would not be eligible for the calgrant.
This is a good reason NOT to listen to accountants when it comes to financial aid. Just because you reside in a state for years does NOT entitle you to need based financial aid…or merit aid, for that matter.
Did your son apply to any schools within commuting distance of your home? Did he apply to any schools…anywhere where he might have received merit aid?
What is your annual budget for his college costs?
And those net price calculators that were mentioned to you in the fall…did you run them? With accurate figures for 2014?
Do you just have the one to put through college?
The OP says he has two kids.
To the OP…your kiddo had over 4.0 gap. What was his SAT or ACT score? Did he apply anywhere where he could get merit aid?
Maybe he should take a gap year, and reply next year to a more affordable list of colleges…either because of guaranteed merit aid, or just less cost.
If going to a cc, or taking a gap year, or quickly applying somewhere with large merit isn’t feasible, then maybe “mom” should get a job to fund college.
Since aid isn’t likely any year, and you’re faced with 8 years of college, then getting a second income to pay for college can be an answer…and frankly, it’s an answer that MANY families end up choosing. I know a LOT of stay at home moms who’ve had to return to work to fund college for their kids.
Wouldn’t it be better to do cc for at least a year than take a gap year?
If the student wants to apply as a freshman applicant to get merit aid, they cannot take college courses AT ALL…or they will be transferring…not first year freshman.
I think $90 per year would qualify for some grant money. Do you or your son have any other asset?
I would call the FA office to ask for a review.
In CA, $90,000 a year is too much income to qualify for a Calgrant. It is way too much to qualify for any sort of federally funded grant money. With a $90,000 income, the EFC is likely in the $30,000 range. For most of the CA publics, this is close to the cost of attendance…they do expect a student contribution as well.
This student doesn’t really have financial need for,the CA public universities.
Why would he qualify for grant aid?
<<
Wouldn’t it be better to do cc for at least a year than take a gap year?
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
UCs don’t take one year transfers. He’d have to go for 2 years. Plus, it doesn’t sound like paying full freight any year is what they want. They expected to pay very little (re: the “advice” from the naive accountant). They though that it was “their turn” to get back some of their tax money via cheap education for their kids.
@coolweather No it doesn’t. The EFC is too high. UC’s use a combo of grants, loans, and work study. When EFC is $23,500, then they can fill the rest of "need’ with loans and work study.
So sorry you didn’t see this coming. Unfortunately your accountant didn’t know what he was talking about (honestly sounds like you need a new accountant as ours is very savvy about college finances). Each college website includes a net price indicator that would have shown what your expected contribution was. News reports have for years talked about the dire financial straits of CA Public schools-there is no way they could fund our kid’s educations from property taxes. I can’t imagine how frustrating it is for your son to have worked so hard in HS and now to be stuck at a comm. college. One option might be for him to take a gap year and then reapply next year to schools that would offer better merit aid for his stats. Do some research on this site and look for a list of schools which might offer money for your son’s stats. Be sure to include financial safeties if he does reapply. Consider Cal States to which he could commute. You are right not to spend your entire savings on his first year as he likely won’t get more aid next year. Also take look at schools with rolling admissions to which he might still apply. U of New Mexico offers great merit to high stat kids and I believe they may still be taking apps. I believe there is a list somewhere here on cc of schools that are still taking apps- check it out.
There are schools that are still accepting apps, but within that list there is a MUCH SMALLER number that would give enough merit.
We need some answers to give better advice…
-
What is his major
-
what are his test scores and GPA
-
How much CAN you pay each year towards college?
-
Did he apply to any UCs or CSUs that he can commute to?
-
Did he apply to any UCs (lower UCs) that give merit?
Don’t feel bad as there are many families in your position. One possibility for your second child; I have a friend who let her DD take the CHSPE and graduate high school two years early. She is now at community college with a TAG agreement to UC Santa Cruz and will transfer into junior year ahead of her peers. It’s not for everyone as it entails missing high school graduation and prom; but I thought I’d give you the links so you can decide for yourself.
California High School Proficiency Examination
https://www.chspe.net/
Transfer Access Guarantee
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/
Just so you know, eligibility for a need-based, guaranteed Cal Grant ends one year after high school graduation (unless a student takes the community college route), so your son gets one more chance to apply for a Cal Grant to pay for his UC. If you don’t qualify next year, and he’s already attending a UC, then it’s game over. After that, he will be one of a large pool of applicants vying for so-called “competitive grants,” but he’ll no longer be eligible for a guaranteed grant.
^^
Is that also true for Blue and Gold promise?