Any college financial aid gurus here?
Bestyears
4 years ago
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cattyles
4 years agoeld6161
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Financial aid for parent w/o job and has been in hospital
Comments (10)My husband is on disability but we don't qualify for any other assistance because I work full time and my income exceeds (barely) the state limits. We are applying anyway just to see what happens. My dad is not disabled or over 65. So he won't qualify either but we are going to try anyhow. As soon as he recovers from surgery hopefully he will be able to find a job and stay sober. It is just really stressful not being able to afford your bills, food, and etc... Today I had a mental breakdown in the dentist office because my dentist told me that I had to have another crown. My tooth broke a couple weeks ago. My dentist is wonderful he just merely acted like it was perfectly normal for a grown woman to be crying in the dentist chair. I have gone over and over the state funded assistance programs and according to them my husband, myself and my dad don't qualify for anything. Basically if I was to end up pregnant then we could qualify. Yes Chris and I want to be pregnant and soon but I feel guilty. This has been a rough week. We just can not seem to get our head above water. It is one thing after another after another. I have insurance for my husband and myself but it only covers so much and we are left with the copays and deductibles. I just feel we are sinking into more and more debt. My husband and I both have ruined our credit when we were younger and had finally gotten to where we were able to pay on past bills and now we arent able to right now. It is just depressing that on the day you get paid you are broke basically. I work as a technician at a pharmacy and we basically had to decide whether to eat for the next two weeks or buy medicine. We are blessed with great family and friends. And someone who knows us paid for the medicine (they wont tell me who). I just feel like we should be able to do this on our own and when we cant it makes things more depressing. Don't worry I am not suicidal or anything I know this sounds depressing. I am just worried how we will make ends meet, how my dad is going to recover, and hoping against hope that the double lung transplant is a success. thanks everyone for listening. Christina...See MoreCash for house and college financial aid
Comments (4)Profile schools are those that use the CSS Profile form, which is an online form that captures parents' and student's financial information in more detail than does FAFSA. There are about 300 Profile schools. Profile asks for home equity. Each Profile school has its own formula and deals with home equity in different ways. Some will cap home equity at 110% of adjusted gross income; others ask you to enter it and then don't use it, while others will consider that some percent of equity is available for borrowing against in order to help pay for college. What matters is the value of the equity at the time you fill out the Profile form; it's a snapshot. If you've sold and immediately invested the proceeds into a new house prior to filling out the Profile, then whatever the equity is in your new house is what you'd entered. If you sell and that cash is sitting in an account waiting to be spent on a new house, then you have to declare the cash, but you don't have any equity in a house at that point so it somewhat balances out. There's a way to enter information regarding special circumstances on the Profile form, so cash from the sale of a house can be described as a temporary windfall that's going to be spent soon. Colleges are free to use this information how they want. The important thing is to be aware of how financial aid works, and plan your discretionary financial moves accordingly. The base year for financial aid is the year prior to the application for it. So if you have a high school junior in 2011 who will be applying for college in the fall of 2011, it's the 2011 tax and asset numbers that will be reported on FAFSA and Profile in January 2012. Most Profile schools will want an estimate of your financial information the October before for incoming freshmen....See MoreFinancial aid and children's account.
Comments (4)A number of years ago I set up a trust account for my daughter's education, naively thinking how responsible this was. Several months later I was doing some investigation of financial aid and how it all works. It became very evident to me that one of the worst things a middle class person can do is establish such a fund in your child's name. Any money your child has counts much more heavily against him/her than if the same amount is part of your assets. Realizing this, I liquidated the trust and did the investing in my name. That decision made the difference between my daughter getting some financial aid and none. I'm all for saving for the expenses of college, but if you have any expectation of your child getting financial aid, don't mess it up like I almost did by putting the account in the child's name. While there are some modest tax advantages to having the money in the child's name, I actually had a financial aid officer tell me that the only people who should be doing that are those who are so wealthy that their children could never expect to qualify for aid under any circumstances....See MoreFinancial aid for college....question....
Comments (26)Well stated CelticMoon. I am glad to hear you can help. Your nephews illustrate the point about why evaluating parent participation is important. I cannot understand why some investment bankers kid would be entitled to the same level of aid which is what would happen if parents were not required to disclose their finances. So there is less money available for those who cannot afford it. Do you honestly think the average millionaire would say, oh my kid who got into Harvard will not go since he did not get enough aid and I want him to go to Z College instead so he can work his way through? While there are always the exceptions, the average wealthy person is thrilled his kid is at a good school and is more than willing to write the check. The truth is that a gifted student or athlete in that of Celtics nephews situation has an excellent chance at a good education and a combination of scholarships (usually from the school), grants (school or businesses or government) and low interest loans (not all college loans are). Scholarships and grants do not have to be repaid. Often they are not even based on academics or sports, there are small ones out there for kids from a particular area, interested in a specific hobby, that type of thing. Apparently there are now web sites that identify them. So really poor kids who are gifted still have a shot. Its the ones who are average or are mildly gifted but whose parents are neither poor nor wealthy enough to comfortably afford college that need to worry the most. Even if you make 150k a year, putting 3 kids through college at 40k each, good luck. Also, says this Mother of Five (all 10 and under), schools look at how many kids you are sending to school at one time. I changed my planning after the 4th and 5th were born because now our situation was different! Either he is a child and I am resposible for him or he's an adult and I'm not There is no reason for my child to suffer for a principle. The reality is without filling out an aid application, my child will not be eligible. Bottom line this is the way the system works, accept it or write to your congressman to have universal college education paid for by the government. Some states had almost that when I was in college. Schools ranger from 7k -10k a year while UT at Austin was about 500 (no idea what it costs now). You can argue that he should work his way through and leave the aid money for Celtic's nephews, fine. You can also argue that since it is unlikely he will qualify for aid you do not want to hurt his chances of admission (yes this does happen when a kid is on the fence, they will take the one who does not ask for money) or reveal your finances to strangers. Ok I can accept that. Or that giving him more than X will severly endanger your own retirement, I can also accept that. Unless your child plans a future in the military (which is possible given your background and West Point is free but is not possible or desireable for everyone(no offense different strokes) or has an entrepenuarial bent or a talent in sports or sales or a vocation, the best way I can see to give my children their best shot at money and position and job satisfaction is to encourage them to go to the best college and graduate school they can get into. Sure if there is an equally good cheaper state school, by all means PLEASE attend. To arbitraily say, ok the government says I am no longer responsible for him even though I was responsible for him yesterday and was even willing to pay yesterday but I am not paying today, please. It is arbitrary. I agree with you that it does seem odd that you could no longer access his medical records or school records after that day. But this was not a rule he invented. I believe I have the responsibilty to raise a child until he is a functioning adult in a career that his intellect and education suite him for. If I worked so hard for 18 years to raise him, why would I dump him just as he was nearing the finish line? Why does my child have to reinvent the wheel? Just because my DH worked his way through school and took out loans, why does my child? My parents paid my way and if possible I would like to pay my childs. Frankly my parents taught me a lot more about money management than did DHs. I had a lot of educating to do when we got married. He rarely discussed money with them except to hear what they could not afford. Now that he makes his own he feels a certain entitlement and is sometimes a little overly generous with himself. I keep meaning to read Rich Dad Poor Dad. He had no idea how to use credit or invest. I cannot believe the crap he invested in when he made his first money. As for carrying a balance on credit cards at 15% while paying off his 5% student loans, do not get me started (ancient history now). If anything I would teach children how to manage money, how to invest it and use credit wisely. As for working why would I have them waste hours they could be studying working at some menial after school job making minimum wage. Sure a work ethic is important, summer jobs are a good thing. However as far as I can tell until they graduate from college or start working, they have one job and that is to work on their academics to achieve as much as possible. This is the ideal version. The reality is my kids may have to work to help pay for college but it will not be because of some arbitrary principle but rather because of genuine need Claiming them or not on their taxes has nothing to do with anything...See MoreUser
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