I just filled out a renewal 2017-18 FAFSA for my daughter, who finished Bachelors in 3yrs and is going to law school right after. FAFSA instructions say that since she’s considered independent (by virtue of being a grad student), she does not have to fill out parental income info, but they recommend that it’d be filled out if the student is going to a law school or a med school.
- Why law & med school are singled out by FAFSA instructions?
- In which cases are we better off providing versus withholding parental info?
Thank you for any help or advice specific to these questions,
MK
In my experience, some professional programs give their own institutional need-based aid and pull that determining info from the FAFSA if so provided.
The answer? Because they do. And that’s that.
My kid’s professional school only asks for parent assets if the student is under 27. Some have different age cut offs.
The reality…there is precious little need based aid anyway for medical school or law school. And the costs are very high. I’m not sure it matters much that they ask for parent info since there really isn’t need based aid being doled out. It’s mostly merit aid…and precious little of that.
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Why law & med school are singled out by FAFSA instructions?
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It’s not the fed gov’t that is singling out law and med students. The fed gov’t doesn’t care. It’s the law and med schools that are asking for this info to determine if some of their students are from low income families and therefore maybe warrant some institutional aid.
There are a few med schools that try to “share” the med school burden… 1/3 parent, 1/3 student, and 1/3 school (for example). If a student is low income, then sometimes the parent expectation is removed and replaced with more aid.
Most grad programs give money based on merit, not need. Therefore, no need for FAFSA.
Well…if you want the subsidized loan, you have to do the FAFSA.
As a parent of a recent law school grad here is my 2 cents.
Check each schools financial aid application requirements - they differ. When my D applied one school required the FAFSA with the parental information, all the others required FAFSA as an independent. Mot of the schools required the NeedAccess financial application- which is the Law/Med school equivalent of the CSS Profile.
Only the top three schools give real financial aid - based on need - and no merit. The next group of schools (@3) may call it financial aid but it really is based on merit and they may also award designated merit. A lot of schools give merit only.
You have to fill out FAFSA to get any federal loans including: Grad Plus loans, Perkins Loans (if offered) or Stafford Loans. NO graduate loans are subsidized anymore. Interest accrues immediately.
Beware of law schools with repayment assistance plans - they are not always what they appear to be.
@thumper1 there is no subsidized loans for grad students anymore.
But yes, if you want an unsubsidized loan then the student has to fill out the FAFSA.
Oops. I meant UNsubsidized loans! Most professional school students NEED the federally funded loans…so they DO complete the FAFSA.
Right. What my brain was trying to say was no need for the parents to fill in info on the FAFSA- only students.
At my kid’s professional,school…parent info is required on the FAFSA if the kid is under 27. No exceptions. The school will not process the FAFSA unless that info is included…so no loans.
^^^
That is interesting. I can understand a school saying that they won’t consider the professional student for “institutional aid/merit,” but to deny them access to loans seems extreme. There are many 22-26 year olds who have parents that would simply refuse to provide info for their grad student.
And how do they determine “custodial” parent in those cases where the older student hasn’t lived at home for years? I imagine there’s some fudging going on if one side won’t provide info.
I don’t understand how a school can make an odd rule in regards to fed loans.
If the parents are married, there is no question about parent info on the FAFSA. I have no idea what they do about divorced parents. The kids indicate they have completed college…but the school requires parent info,
There is precious little need based aid at most professional schools.
I’m not sure why including parent info matters…we just did it last year. Our kid is 28 now…so it wasn’t needed for this year. Woohoo. She got a $5000 grant which is a drop in the bucket…but every penny counts!! Completing that FAFSA paid off.
The reason it matters is because there are a lot of legacy doctors and lawyers out there - that is, many children follow in their parents’ footsteps. Financial resources are scarce, and there are donors who want their money to go to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Schools can identify students from disadvantaged backgrounds more easily by collecting parent info.
@kelsmom
totally understand why if there are institutional aid/merit to be given.
Should not be needed at the grad level if all that is desired is a fed loan…which are all unsub anyway.
Yes, but it is possible that they are screening all aid applicants for eligibility for institutional aid. That way, they don’t have anyone self-select who might qualify for something. Oh, and they might need that info for grants they write, or some other sort of statistical analysis. Our development office is a bit miffed that I have no clue what my grad students’ family backgrounds are … they tell me they could apply for grants if we had that info (but I have no plans to collect it).
@kelsmom I understand. However, it would be very unfair to deny Grad Plus or other fed loans to a 25 year old med student just because his parents won’t fill out FAFSA.
I would like to see the website where it says that a med student MUST fill out FAFSA with parent info to ONLY get a Grad Plus loan or Fed Direct Loan.
Frankly, I am pretty sure if you pushed it, you could get the school to allow the student to get the loans without including the parent info (because federal regs state that grad students do not need parent info to receive federal aid).
For example, this is from IU’s med school financial aid website:
You are encouraged to provide parental information on the FAFSA in order to be considered for the more restricted Federal Loans to Disadvantaged Students and any IUSM financial need-based scholarships. If you are only applying for the DL Federal (Unsubsidized) Stafford Loans and the Direct Loan Federal Graduate PLUS Loan, then the parental information is not required or used in determining your eligibility. Keep in mind that not providing the parental information will exclude you from any considerations requiring the parental information. This includes any IUSM need-based scholarships, Loans to Disadvantaged Students and Primary Care Loans.
I found this on another med school’s website:
If you are a graduate or medical student you are not required to enter your parents information, even though the FAFSA may prompt you to since you are attending a health professions school as we do not require it.
Other grad programs unlike professional school will not cost $200k + (on top of what you have already paid/borrowed for undergrad). Any PhD program worth attending is going to provide funding.
My kid’s experience was the same as @NewEnglandMother when applying to law school; some schools asked for the FAFSA using only her information, some schools asked for the FAFSA with my information and some schools gave institutional aid based on the needs access application (I know, it was merit $$). My D received a full tuition scholarship at a T20 school where she only had to submit the FAFSA with her own information. There were some schools that requested parent information if she was under 27 (I think at Penn you had to be over 30) unless you could show 5 years of total self sufficiency post undergrad.
Ok…my mistake. My kid had to include parent info only if she wanted to be considered for scholarship money. With the costs being what they are…we filled out the FAFSA with her last year because she was under 27 when the year started.
If loans only…no parent info was needed.
But we didn’t have to do it this year. She is now 28.
Sorry! I should have checked with her first.