<p>I think if you live back and forth with both of them your mom should pay for your college education. She is doing well financially and is capable of providing that for you. Leave the financial aid money for students whose parents actually can’t afford to pay for the tuition and would otherwise drop the thought of even attending.</p>
<p>Many times when seeing and EFC of 0, the school can and does ask for verification, which consists of documents to support what is written on the original form. They can ask for proof of custody and child support and whatever else they desire and if you don’t co-operate, funding can be denied.
While we do, on paper, have joint custody, I have physical custody and my ex is a violent man who has made threats on paper and to school officials. He only pays minimum support and only after a lengthy legal battle.I have two major injuries which have left me truly disabled and unable to bring in anything to make up the shortfall in the new financial aid awards. I’m not sure what is going to happen with my D next year. The courts “forgot” to include mention of tuition in the original decree and he kept “forgetting” to bring required documents to the support hearings. We here in NY state don’t earn our SNL skit reputation for no reason, and that ineptitude extends to all levels of government, including those impacting families!
College funding will be impacted by legislation buried within the Health Care Reform bill and not in a way which will help most families. The Pell grants won’t increase to the level Congress had wanted and major funding will only be given to a select group of institutions. The Perkins loan program is done, which will really hurt a lot of us. It’s going to be an uphill battle for those who truly need the help. It’s just too bad that the legislation was hidden and as such, was not open to debate. We had no chance to let our elected officials know our mind and let them know how important the funding of higher education is to us.</p>
<p>It won’t. I live with both parents and their combined incomes still got me an EFC of 0. Still, I got into NYU, Pratt, and UT at Austin, so no excuses. You should get in, regardless of your EFC. If you deserve it.</p>
<p>but an efc of 0 will disqualify you at numerous private colleges unless you have super stats, but not at the publics.</p>
<p>I agree completely!</p>
<p>JustAMom…you and I agree 100%. Em, please update us and tell us where you are going. It never crossed my mind that you are scamming or gaming anyone. You need an education, you spend more time with your dad, you have followed the rules, and if your stats are good, there will be a school who will offer you a spot with your EFC. End of story.</p>
<p>"I would think that if Dad (or Mom) makes $500,000/year he/she is paying some hefty child support. If so then that shows up on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>But, only for one year…once the kid is 18, the support ends."</p>
<p>And, after the first year, it would show up when the other parent contributes to college.</p>
<p>While this provision (FAFSA considering only the income of the parents with whom the child lives at most of the time) may seem to favor divorced families, other provisions favor intact families. The decision not to include home ownership probably favors more intact families. The asset protection for a single parent is way less than half of what it is for a married couple.</p>
<p>[Schools</a> That Say They Meet Full Need - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/paying-for-college/articles/2008/09/05/schools-that-say-they-meet-full-need.html]Schools”>http://www.usnews.com/education/paying-for-college/articles/2008/09/05/schools-that-say-they-meet-full-need.html)</p>
<p>So what do they expect students to do now of days? Become drowned in debt.
And what happens if you can’t even get a loan, you have to settle for something that you don’t deserve?! Urghh.
A lot of kids work hard in school, get accepted into their dream school only to be told they have to attend their “Financial-Safties”</p>
<p>
I am tired of hearing students lament they cannot afford the school they DESERVE. If you did well in school and applied to appropriate schools you get into the schools you deserve. If you apply to all reaches or matches then you must realize you have to pay. Colleges are NOT free in the US but students believe they should be.<br>
If you had done the proper research you would have found a safety you were happy with. If you applied to schools that you were not willing to attend then you wasted money. They are not safeties unless you are willing to go there.</p>
<p>Bravo Erin’s Dad! There does seem to be a sense of entitlement in many students considering college. The bottom line is that in the US you are NOT guaranteed a college education. Period. You are most certainly NOT guaranteed or entitled to attend any school that you could gain acceptance due to your academic record. If through government aid / institutional aid / family assistance and guaranteed loan programs you are fortunate enough to be able to afford ANY college…Congratulations! Go and make a better life for you and your children who…BTW …in about 30 years will probably also be interested in attending college. Hopefully you’ll do a better job of providing for them than your parents did for you.</p>
<p>well said above</p>
<p>I’ll be the first one to say that people shouldn’t have to make their college choices based on how much money they have. But the fact is, that’s like saying that people shouldn’t have to be unemployed, or shouldn’t have to live in crappy projects. It’s fine and all in the abstract, but college (and jobs and housing) cost money. It’s not as simple as “people deserve X, therefore let’s give them all X”.</p>
<p>I also have an EFC of 0, even after correcting my FAFSA. Based on my experience so far in the month of March, I can definitely tell you that a 0 EFC won’t keep you out.</p>
<p>^^^
Yes, but will it give you the means of getting “in”?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It is not a matter of getting admitted, how are you going to pay for it. NYU is upfront about the fact that they do not meet demonstrated need. they are also up front about the fact that they only five scholarships to ~5% of the admitted class. Even if you should get their top scholarship of 25k, it will still leave a substantial gap in the $ your family will have to put up for you to attend NYU.</p>
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<p>I was in the same position as you are in right now with the parents seperated and one makes more than the other. Financial Aid says whoever provides you with the most support or who you lived with the most in the last 12 months. You will be fine no matter what anybody says as long as their is no other problems. My EFC score turned out to be 0 this just means you will get more financial aid than if you had a higher EFC score so you won’t have to pay as much. I applied to three colleges and they all accepted me with a 0EFC score…It has nothing to do with your chances getting into college just how much money you will get from the government. So no need to worry at all you will be fine.</p>
<p>Having a 0 EFC won’t keep you from getting accepted at many colleges, but may keep you from attending colleges including places like NYU. It’s infamous for basically giving admit deny acceptances: accepting students, but giving them far less than the students need to attend there. I know plenty of students who got such packages and went elsewhere including to state flagships.</p>
<p>The government isn’t going to give you $50 k a year to pay for costs of expensive colleges. You may get enough gov’t loans to live at home and commute to a public, but you’re not going to get enough to attend an expensive private, expensive in-state public or probably any OOS public college.</p>
<p>I agree with other posters-If you have not been divorced I can understand that it is difficult to imagine that the parents will probably have joint/shared custody, but does that mean both parents are willing to pay for college? Or for extras in High School such as test prep, AP exams, Proms, tutors,EC? No- Stats show astounding numbers- children of divorced parents have something like 80% chance of not getting support for college from one or both parents. </p>
<p>That alone is something to consider. In addition, if the child lives with one parent and that parent is remarried, the Step-parents income is used, even if the stepparent has a pre-neptual that states they will not be financially responsible for said child’s college expenses(because that parent has to pay for their own children’s education in most cases) Same if the other parent is also remarried. Now, how about the profile? All four incomes and assets are used to compute financial aid when in fact only one parent may be contributing to college, usually the custodial parent. This rule of the profile keeps most children from divorce from attending private schools unless they get merit aid or an athletic scholarship. </p>
<p>Divorced parents are outraged by this fact, just as intact families feel the FAFSA only is unfair. Since it is well established that most of the cc crowd prefer and in fact state often that private schools are superior to publics, it doesn’t seem the OP’s question should cause such responses. Saying the children from divorced families are cheating the government is unfair. Sure, maybe one or two examples will be used, but believe me kids from divorced families live in limbo land when it comes to financing their needs after high school has ended. This is just not true of kids from intact families.</p>
<p>So think about what positions these kids are in, and their families- stepparents income used but not available and all too often nobody takes responsibility for the extra expenses, always saying"ask your father/mother".</p>
<p>College savings? Gone with litigation, which in middle class families and above can go on for years past a divorce, focusing on custody and support issues. After that, nobody feels like they have any extra funds, or their new spouse is tired of it and says no more money to the child after ordered support stops.</p>
<p>This is why some states have college support order past age 18. </p>
<p>These are things to consider bfore jumping on a 18 year old trying to get into college and find the funds to go. It is hard enough for these kids. </p>
<p>To Op, you followed the FAFSA rules correctly this year. Next year may be different.</p>