When D17 was applying I filled out FAFSA and CSS, as the numbers were such that for higher priced schools she would get Merit. The following year, as she did not need loans or grants yet, I did not fill it out. Then S19 was going to college, so with two in school, the EFC per child made it so that at least for D17 she received grants. Now that she has graduated, I still have S19 . He gets offered loans, and WS, but not really any grants(500$ is it) (he does have merit). So I was inclined not to fill out out FAFSA this year, as it takes hours and hours. The EFC is likely be very high. As of right now both DH and I are employed in IT. My only concern is that if we dont fill out FAFSA and one of us were to lose our jobs, the school S19 goes to would say , tough luck .
It’s hard to believe that completing FAFSA takes you “hours and hours,” especially if you already have experience working through the form.
If your son won’t need/doesn’t want the federal direct loans and work study, and the $500 grant isn’t worth it, than I don’t see a reason to complete FAFSA for him. But really, FAFSA should take about 30 minutes max for you to do. $1,000 per hour is pretty good pay.
Check with the school because certain merit is contingent upon having a FAFSA on file (for some reason). We were told this from one of our kids’ schools during the application cycle.
My husband has filled it out for 8 years now, never received any FA except loans, didn’t need it for merit, but 2 kids got cares $ last spring, so worth it just for that. If your financial situation changes for the worse, I think you need to have filed it.
I wasn’t planning on filling out the FAFSA for my S20 for next year with going down to just one kid in college. It’s helpful to know we can fill it out at anytime during the year to take the student loan if needs arise.
but Mjkacmom, i really dont know what the CARES $ is all about from last spring. . . . can you elaborate? Did that go to the kid in college? I had one in college last spring . . . two this year.
I can speak from my experience… last spring colleges received federal CARES money to assist students, and the schools had some discretion in how the dollars were allocated. In the case I am familiar with, the college decided to provide a grant to every student, with the amount based on enrolled credit hours. One criteria for receipt was that the student had to have a 2019-2020 FAFSA on file. Students were given a chance to complete and submit a FAFSA if they hadn’t already done so, although I’m not sure why that was necessary because as far as I know the information on the FAFSA had nothing at all to do with the amount of CARES money received.
if anyone can do it in 30 minutes, come over here and help me. It has taken hours in the past. We have multiple bank accounts/529/etc. At least there is the IRS retrieval tool. Trying to remember, is the 529 considered the parents money or the students money?
Should you complete the FAFSA for this kid? That’s totally up to you. If you don’t mind being completely full pay, then don’t bother. If he needs the Direct Loan later in the year, you can do the FAFSA at that time.
If you lose your job in 2021, the 2021 income will be for the 2023-2024 FAFSA. Losing a job this year would require you to do a special circumstances consideration…and that might include doing a FAFSA as part of showing the difference in your income.
529 is a parent asset.
I agree…maybe 30 minutes to complete the form. Maybe another 30 to get your tax return and bank balances. But you don’t have to do it unless you want to.
We didn’t get need based aid from the S’ schools, but I always fill it out because some of our local scholarships require it. For one in particular, I don’t think the EFC matters so much as the wealthier kids seem to get it as much as the others. For one of mine it’s been $5K/year. Definitely worth it. But I would still do it even for $500-1000. By the 5th time it’s easy peasy. I keep a copy of the previous year’s report next to me. And I also update all my bank account totals/important info every month in one spot for H (or someone in case we both died), so it takes very little time in our case. $500 may seem like a drop in the bucket, but if someone handed me $500 right now, I’d do the happy dance all weekend.
The schools required the FAFSA on file for the CARES funds to prove that students are citizens/otherwise eligible. The FSA ID, required for the FAFSA, is crossed checked with SSA.
I’ll help you here. If you don’t already have this set up, establish online access to all your bank accounts, investment accounts, 529 accounts, etc. It shouldn’t take you more than a minute to log into each account and get the current balance. Ok, if you have 30 or more accounts to report on FAFSA, it will take longer than 30 minutes to complete the form.
Seriously, if you have done this once before and are semi-organized and can think ahead to prepare for the next one, this is not rocket surgery and should not take hours to do.
If the college offers full ride scholarships, then it wants to be able to reduce the amount of the college’s money given by the amount of any Pell grant that the student may get.
When schools award scholarships, they have to deal with restricted funds. People donate money for scholarships, but they put restrictions on the funds. While some require that the recipients have financial need (as determined by FAFSA), others “prefer” that recipients have financial need. In both cases, the FAFSA is needed in order to determine to whom scholarships will be awarded. Scholarships might be awarded to those without need when all is said & done, but the committee might have a category for which they assign points based on financial need when doing the candidate evaluations.
Latching onto this thread and hoping for some words of wisdom….
I will have 2 in college next year. Only filled out FAFSA once 3 years ago for #1. We didn’t qualify for any need based aid, and our EFC was higher than the COA ($80k). #1 ended up receiving a 4 year full tuition non need-based scholarship. We pay room, board, fees, transportation etc. roughly $20k a year, and the university does not require FAFSA for merit. Child #2 has received significant merit, but not full tuition. We are looking at $40-60k COA a year after merit for #2, plus what we pay for #1. I just filled out FAFSA ONLY for #2 and our EFC is half of what it was 3 years ago. Does FAFSA assume we will be filling out the form for #1 again, and our EFC will be same for #1 as #2 assuming financials are the same? Should I just plan on doubling our EFC? Not sure how this works. Thanks!
You do not need to complete a FAFSA for your other student. The EFC you got per FAFSA is for that one student…and you indicated there will be two college.
If you want to apply for need based financial aid for kid 1, then yes…you need to complete a FAFSA for that student. And that FAFSA info will be used by that college to determine if you qualify for need based aid there.
Just remember…that first older kid is going to graduate. AND the FAFSA rules are changing as of the 2023-24 academic year and having two in college will no longer split the EFC.
Also, your FAFSA EFC needs to be viewed as the minimum the colleges will expect you to pay as most colleges that use the FAFSA only do not guarantee to meet full need for all anyway (University of Chicago is the exception).
Have you run the Net Price Calculators for student number 2 colleges? Those will give you a better estimate of your net costs than the FAFSA EFC. If you are divorced, own a business or are self employed, own real estate other than your primary residence …these NPC won’t be as accurate.
Thank you. I’ve played around on the NPC. We aren’t looking for need based aid for #1, and I’m doubtful we will get it for #2. We filled out CSS last week just in case (makes FAFSA look like child’s play IMO) and if they take into consideration home equity or retirement funds, we certainly won’t get a dime. One can still hope though…