Are you talking about the FATHER? The dad is this kid’s custodial parent. On the fafsa, in the parent section, you will put $0 if that really is his income from 2015.
Temple is a PUBLIC university…in Pennsylvania. It is not a private university. Their merit aid awards have been reduced this year, and there are no automatic ones any longer. Temple does notmguarantee to meet full need…and really, their first obligation is to residents of PA.
Syracuse is a great, but expensive university. The school does NOT guarantee to meet full need. They offer NO guaranteed merit awards.
What IS this student’s safety school? One that will be affordable, where he also wishes to go to college…and where he has a strong likelihood of acceptance? Honestly…I don’t see that on this current list.
Have you talked to grandma? Has she indicated if she is going to donate towards the student’s college? If not, definitely put that on the Profile in the additional information section.
Google “financial aid and income statement and upstate”
That gets you the SUNY upstate form to itemize expenses for verification when insufficient income is reported in FAFSA. I would think each school has something similar, since dad is getting the support (untaxed income) but isn’t required to report on FAFSA, and student gets in kind benefits from dad (food and shelter) and does not report that.
So if your prep follows this format, you’all be ready when asked. (You could google with the various schools too).
You do NOT have to mention grandma contributing to college or not on the Profile.
By indicating $0 in income, the student WILL be selected for verification. All theynneed to do is show how they actually pay their bills. If the apartment and utilities are on grandm’s name, they would indicate that grandma is letting them live there rent and expense free.
With $0 income…the EFC should be $0. Not sure why folks are asking about SNAP, or dislocated worker. This would only be helpful if the student was trying to get the simplified needs test… and exclude assets. But this student HAS no assets.
And with $0 income…the EFC should be…$0. It’s not like you can get a FAFSA EFC that is lower than that!
No, actually if student was receiving snap benefits or PA that would be part of their verification process as to how they eat provide shelter everyday. It is not unusual for schools to ask for copies of the budget letter for SNAP benefits, PA or SS benefits (especially from very low income people who are receiving these benefits. Yes, you can work and receive SNAP benefits)
NO estimate of financial support from Grandma on the FAFSA. Profile may be a different story, but if a school requires Profile, I strongly encourage that the student call the school, explain the situation, and ask for guidance on completing the Profile.
Whether this statement in Post #1 is correct: “Student and Dad reside with grandmother who pays for all their expenses - including providing a roof on over their head,” or the conflicting second statement, “They do NOT reside with the grandparent,” is correct, the father does not report the value of what the grandparent is paying toward their living expenses. The value of bills paid in the student’s name by someone else is considered for an independent student. There is no corresponding requirement to do this for a dependent student or his parent.
Poor is poor, and assuming that somehow the parent can pay for school with the money someone is using to put a roof over his head and food on his table makes no sense.
Yes, it is possible the student will be selected for verification. If that happens, the parent will answer honestly whatever the school asks of him.
We don’t want poor students to abandon the FAFSA and the hope of going to school by throwing up roadblocks that don’t make a difference in terms of their ability to pay.
I could be mistaken, but I don’t think Profile asks for anything FAFSA doesn’t ask for in this regard. Including a brief explanation in the comment section on the Profile about the parent’s inability to work and need for his parent to assist him in living would alert schools to the situation.
@kelsmom here is the langauge from FAFSA question 45.j in the student section:
Money received, or paid on your behalf (e.g., bills), not reported elsewhere on this form. This includes money that you received from a parent or other person whose financial information is not reported on this form and that is not part of a legal child support agreement
My understanding is that this gets answered regardless of what the student’s status is (dependent or independent). At the very least, if a grandparent owns a 529 naming a dependent student as the account beneficiary, distributions from the 529 for the benefit of the student must be reported here.
This is only under the student section - NOT the parent section. This is not something a dependent student would report on behalf of the parent. The parent is going to be auto 0 EFC (income low, no tax return), so anything the student reports is ignored (but that question would probably be skipped using the FAFSA skip logic).
Yes, a distribution from a grandparent 529 in that year would be reported if the skip logic doesn’t skip the question. The issue at hand is not equivalent to this. Again, poor is poor, and you can’t expect a family with no money to somehow magically come up with a portion of the value of what a generous family member is providing for them to live as payment for school.
I agree, I was simply pointing out that it would not be uncommon for a dependent student to have to enter an amount on FAFSA line 45.j, if someone other than the student or the custodial parent was paying a bill that was in the student’s name, such as a tuition bill. Also, my understanding is that the student needs to report cash gifts here (“money received”), regardless of dependency status.
He would also get SEOG and the FL-SEOG. If he attends a private school in Florida, he’d get an extra $3000 as a Florida grant. There are also (limited) state loans available.
He’s really missing an opportunity by not applying to Florida schools. Make sure he applies for Bright Futures even if he thinks he’s going to an OOS school. You MUST apply by your high school graduation, and must start using it within 2 years of graduating. MANY students go OOS for that first year and then return to a Florida school after a year. If the student hasn’t applied while still in high school, he’s SOL.