I am a high school senior who has applied to all my desired colleges via action. My top choice accepted me with a merit scholarship of $16,000 a year. I applied for fafsa and received a $10,000 scholarship from the school based on financial need (it was included in my financial aid package, it was not distinguished as a grant). I had a relatively low EFC (8,000$ range), I filled out everything to the best of my ability.
Here is my dilemma:
My great grandparents have a will (both passed away). An education trust was put in there for my brother and I - I didn’t know how much money until very recently. I did not put the assets of this trust in my FAFSA because the trustors of the will would not tell me how much money was allotted for my brother and I. They now tell me that they will pay $45,000 annually for my tuition.
The expected total cost of this college (including all fees, housing and tuition) is around $68,000. If you do the math, without the FAFSA scholarship, the remaining cost would be around $6,700.
I don’t really have the money to pay for outside costs (airfare, personal expenses, etc.) AND pay the remaining cost of college. With the FAFSA scholarship, I’d be covered.
The trustors want to send checks to the school to pay for tuition, etc. The question is - will I be able to keep my FAFSA scholarship? How would the school know - because I didn’t take out loans? I’m not sure what to do. Anyone know?
What a wonderful gift! The $45,000 trust money plus the $16,000 merit money…per year…will very nicely fund college for you.
You need to get more information about the trust first. Who is the beneficiary?
But really…think about it! It’s a nice problem to have. Your college costs sound like they will be fully covered by this trust.
and please…do NOT be dishonest. If required, please report this wonderful bequest to you. Don’t wonder “how will the school find out”. That implies you think you should keep,something you are not entitled to receive.
The trustees are doing the right thing by sending the money directlyto the college to pay your college costs.
How much does this college cost? You are getting $45,000 per YEAR and possibly losing a $10,000 need based grant? You have MORE money by a LOT with the trust money than with the need based $10,000. Like by $35,000 a year.
Before you got that $45,000 a year trust bequest…you had WAY more to,cover in terms of paying for this college. How were you planning to fund THAT?
How were you planning to fund your outside expenses when you had $35,000 LESS in available money to cover college costs?
Not reporting the trust is a crime. It is fraud. You and your parents signed a legal document stating that ALL income and assets were truthfully disclosed on your FAFSA.
The school will know because the check is correctly being sent directly to the school. That would most likely trigger a request to verify the information on your FAFSA. You need to make the correction before that happens.
The cost to attendance is $68,000. The OP got a $16,000 merit award and a $10,000 need based grant which total $26,000. That left a balance of $42,000.
NOW…the OP has a merit award of $16,000 (which probably won’t be affected if it’s not need based), and a $45,000 a year trust total being $61,000. The balance owed the school now is only $7000.
What a wonderful thing? What am I missing @earlsharon ? Your gap is now $35,000 LESS than it was before!
How did you Plan to fund the $42,000 balance on this $68,000 school…before you found out about the trust? How??
Oh…and you and you can take the $5500 Direct Loan to fund your incidental costs…and get a job.
No it’s awesome! I didn’t mean to complain - I just was worried about the entire situation (nervous to call the school and tell them I don’t need Fafsa). Don’t mark me as ungrateful - I am VERY lucky. I just needed to get my point across. Thanks for the help. I think I’m just going to contact them and tell them my education trust came through and that I will no longer need Fafsa. For those wondering how I expected to pay before the trust? Loans most likely - and I probably would have ended up going to community due to the peril of so many loans. Thanks for your help everyone - I appreciate it!
You’re using the wrong language. You don’t say, “I no longer need FAFSA.” That will make no sense to them. You need to correct your FAFSA, your EFC will change, and then the school will remove their own (not FAFSA) grant. That grant is NOT a “FAFSA grant,” which you keep calling it.
Let them tell you what they are doing with the grant once you fix FAFSA. If this school uses the CSS profile, I think you have to send that update directly to schools that already have received it. Don’t say you don’t need it – just say that you just found out about an update to your finances. They will want to know the full amount of the trust, who the beneficiary is, and how the trust docs split the money if it is not all yours. You can’t just tell them $45K per year – they are going to want comfirmation of those details.
You just have to find out how to report the trust correctly. You can correct the FAFSA, then you can take a student loan of $5,500. That with the merit and education trust will pay most of the costs. Get a part time job now and plan to work in summers.
Thanks everyone. How do I amend my fafsa? Do I just re-fill it out on the website? Apparently the trust is a million dollars split between 4 grandchildren - 250K alotted per grandchild but there is an annual ceiling of 45K a year. These details were released to me months after I filed for fafsa. My scholarship counselor provided by my school told me that they would call the school and that’s how I am supposed to mend it, but I think amending fafsa first is probably the right thing to do. Not sure how to define the trust in fafsa though. There’s no area for me to describe the limits of the trust sooo, do I say total 250K? BTW, the trustors of this will are not family members and have written themselves into this will - meaning: If I don’t use up all the 250K, they will get the remaining funds. This is a whole other topic I should probably post about because they also will not pay for any other fees that aren’t specifically tuition - i.e. no housing, meal plans, etc. That’s another reason why it’s difficult for me to discuss this trust because there are so many regulations like the 45K ceiling and the fact that I have to use up all this money before I’m 30. Thanks again for all the responses, they’re very much appreciated. I am not an expert here, so please moms - try to be nice.
Your share of the trust assets (25%) needs to be reported as a student asset in FAFSA question 42. Contact one of the trustees (not “trustors”) to get the total trust balance so that you can determine what your share is as a 25% beneficiary.
Only the testator can “write someone into the will.” It sounds like this is a testamentary trust, meaning it came about because of a provision in a will and was not created as a trust prior to the death of the testator.
Yes, contact the school, tell them that you were told about this and need to know how to report this on financial aid forms.You will need to know if the scholarship the school gave you will be able to be used for other expenses like room and board, so that your tuition can be paid with the trust money.