Help me understand about the FAFSA

[Lorix2]

Your EFC for the 2010-2011 school year will be based on your taxed income for 2009. Our Financial Aid Department does what we call a professional judgment at enrollment to determine current circumstances. This is not automatic but something you have to ask for - I am not sure if all schools handle it this way.

Thank you Golfgal, luvsjack and PoohnPglet for your help

Glad to see all the advice on this thread...still lurking

 

[golfgal]

Diskat...seriously, you can read the above post and not see it's tone as a thinly veiled, condescending dismissal of a community college choice. Come on, even with my limited community college education, I can see right through that.


Wishing everyone's children much success and happiness, whatever their choices may be. May filling out the FAFSA be our biggest worry!

Except that, ONCE AGAIN, Community College here is DIFFERENT. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME COURSES AS A 4 YEAR STATE SCHOOL LIKE OTHERS HAVE. THEY ARE PLACES WHERE KIDS THAT CAN'T GET INTO A 4 YEAR COLLEGE GO. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME HERE!!!!!!!

I started out at a community college, and while I was studying and working, my friends who went away to 4 year colleges out of town or out of state were enjoying the college experience all right: getting drunk, getting high, flunking out, watching naked men streak down the hallway at 3am...

And all the community college kids here are drug dealers Exaggerate much??

Once again. You've got to be FREAKIN kidding me. Your OP was extremely condescending and extremely judgemental about ANYONE who chooses to go to a community college. reread your OP adn if you cant figure out what part makes you think your kids are so superior and makes you seem judgemental, well than that says somethign about you.



Basically, you just said right there that anyone who goes to a communtiy college is not as smart as your kids. Your basically calling anyone who goes to a community college dumb. Your also saying that my parents didnt want better for me. Right there, black and white. Your kids "can do better than community college". COMMUNITY COLLEGE IS NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED ABOUT!!! And it is snobbish, condescending, judgemental adn makes you sound like ...well...i cant post here.

Maybe you should learn what it means to have an open mind and not be so dang judgemental.

FYI: I read your entire post. I dont give a crud about whether or not you CCs are connected with the state system. I was responded to what I just quoted above.

Fine, you can FREAK out about whatever you want and when you grow up, you will be able to tell the difference between a good community college setting and a not good community college setting. Again, the community colleges here are for people that want to get very specific 2 year degrees or they can't get into a 4 year college. They are not designed to be feeder programs to the state university system like they are in California and a few other states. The credits don't transfer like they do in California. IT IS NOT THE SAME THING. I am not going to send my 4.0 student to a community college HERE when he can get into a place like Notre Dame. Again, I was talking about OUR experience and was very clear about that, you not understanding that is besides the point. I also have to wonder WHY are you so defensive about this???

 

[minkydog]

That's exactly the way it works in Virginia as well & Northern Virginia Community College is very well-thought of. Virginia residents can go to CC's such as NoVA, maintain a decent GPA, then transfer to a state school after 2 years.

agnes!

We have more than a few 2yr community colleges here in Georgia that operate that way. In fact, what we have is really a 3 tier system: Vocational/technical schools which offer 1 & 2yr diploma programs in specific fields, such as culinary arts, nurse assistants, EMTs, auto mechanics, etc; 2yr communitiy colleges which have the same core courses as our 4yr colleges & universities--you can graduate with an A.S. or go on to a 4yr school and your credits are guaranteed to transfer; and the 4yr colleges & universities. A sizable number of kids *do* find it better for them to go the community college route if they need some remediation, study skills, or they just want a less expensive education. Most of the 2yr schools are not residential so kids that live in the area live at home. It's a great way to get your basic education before you take your more specific upper level courses and it can save a LOT of money.

 

[BelleWDW]

My DP did it, I have done it. Higher tiers are not all that important unless one is going for a specific specialty. I am not knocking them but they were not for our needs.

.

But how can you be SO sure that is the right path for your DD-who is only 6????

 

[natenapril]

But how can you be SO sure that is the right path for your DD-who is only 6????

I was wondering the same thing myself. My 7 year old DD wants to be a princess when she grows up. Anyone know e=where there are good community colleges for that?

 

[minkydog]

I was wondering the same thing myself. My 7 year old DD wants to be a princess when she grows up. Anyone know e=where there are good community colleges for that?

Yeah, good luck with that. When DD16 was 6-7yo she planned to live next door, on a ranch with 10 horses and 8 dogs. She planned to have 7 children and have Mommy come over every Wednesday to rock the babies and fix pancakes for supper.

 

[golfgal]

We have more than a few 2yr community colleges here in Georgia that operate that way. In fact, what we have is really a 3 tier system: Vocational/technical schools which offer 1 & 2yr diploma programs in specific fields, such as culinary arts, nurse assistants, EMTs, auto mechanics, etc; 2yr communitiy colleges which have the same core courses as our 4yr colleges & universities--you can graduate with an A.S. or go on to a 4yr school and your credits are guaranteed to transfer; and the 4yr colleges & universities. A sizable number of kids *do* find it better for them to go the community college route if they need some remediation, study skills, or they just want a less expensive education. Most of the 2yr schools are not residential so kids that live in the area live at home. It's a great way to get your basic education before you take your more specific upper level courses and it can save a LOT of money.

Our community colleges sound more like your Vocational schools.

I was wondering the same thing myself. My 7 year old DD wants to be a princess when she grows up. Anyone know e=where there are good community colleges for that?

No kidding, my DD wanted to be a cat at that age. DS17 wanted to be the guy that builds all the lego things at Legoland, now he is thinking about going into Psychology/Psychiatry/Counseling.

 

[luvsJack]

Before we moved, I was a financial aid counselor at a public university. You will need to do a separate FAFSA for each student. Even if the parental information is the same, the FAFSA also wants to know the income, assets, grade level, etc for each student on their own FAFSA. Each student will need to sign their own FAFSA with their own pin (or print/mail the signature page), but the same parent can use their own pin to sign both FAFSAs. You will also need to do the FAFSA again each year.

If you have questions specific to your EFC, it's always okay to call the financial aid office at the school your children are considering. That's what they're there for. They may not be able to give you a specific package at this point (we didn't start processing them until a bit later in the year) but they can confirm deadlines for you, answer questions about the application, and possibly let you know if you'll fall into grant range based on your EFC at that school.

Bit of advice on this; have your child call.

Unless your child is under 18, no specific information can be given to the parent unless the child has signed a FERPA form giving permission. And it doesn't matter that your info is on the form or that you are paying the tuition (I have that very conversation daily with parents and spouses about our students)

I don't know about other schools but our fall financial aid will begin processing around April.

 

[golfgal]

OK, one other thing I have learned about the Financial Aid form, once you submit it, you get a lot of emails confirming stuff-PIN's, we got your form we are sending it to your college, etc.

 

[luvsJack]

OK, one other thing I have learned about the Financial Aid form, once you submit it, you get a lot of emails confirming stuff-PIN's, we got your form we are sending it to your college, etc.

Oh, yes they like to drown you in information. Sometimes we ask our students to bring a confirmation page with their EFC number on it, to show that they filed the FAFSA. They bring us the STACK of papers they have printed out--all emails from FAFSA, all saying something different (seems like one email with all the info would be sufficient.)




One more thing about "community colleges". Our school has 3 campuses one of which has dorms and students really can go to and get the whole "college experience" with just a bit more supervision than they would get at a university. The other two campuses offer a wide range of academics and the vo/tech programs. LPN, ADN, Occupational Therapy, Medical Lab Tech, Physical Therapy are all some of the technical programs. The students receive their AAS in these programs and in some of the programs can transfer all their credits toward their Bachelor's degree in that same major. So, anyone planning to major in one of these areas would greatly benefit from attending our community college.

As for being "too intelligent" for it, well, I challenge most of you to complete what some of our students complete in two years. The MLT program for instance has been said to be much more challenging than the 4 year program at a university, simply because it is the same information taught in a much shorter amount of time and too, the students are taking as many as 21 hours a semester to complete everything and at the 4 year school are only taking 12-14 hours.

And lastly, for the students on the higher end of the academic range, scholarships at the community college can be very inviting. My own ds received a full scholarship due to his high ACT score. The same score would have gotten him a scholarship at the university but not full. Salutatorians and Valedictorians receive full scholarships at community colleges too.

My suggestion to most would be to not completely write off the community college option because you think it is beneath you or your child. I would certainly look at all options.


ETA: I am not in anyway judging anyone's choices for college or their reasons for those choices. If your child has chosen a field that would be better coming from University A or has recieved a scholarship from U of B then of course that is where they should attend. Every student has their own reasons for choosing where they attend and, of course, I can only speak for our school; I have no idea what a community college in another state would be like. I just hate to see anyone limit their choices and in doing so limit their child's choices.

 

[golfgal]

Oh, yes they like to drown you in information. Sometimes we ask our students to bring a confirmation page with their EFC number on it, to show that they filed the FAFSA. They bring us the STACK of papers they have printed out--all emails from FAFSA, all saying something different (seems like one email with all the info would be sufficient.)




One more thing about "community colleges". Our school has 3 campuses one of which has dorms and students really can go to and get the whole "college experience" with just a bit more supervision than they would get at a university. The other two campuses offer a wide range of academics and the vo/tech programs. LPN, ADN, Occupational Therapy, Medical Lab Tech, Physical Therapy are all some of the technical programs. The students receive their AAS in these programs and in some of the programs can transfer all their credits toward their Bachelor's degree in that same major. So, anyone planning to major in one of these areas would greatly benefit from attending our community college.

As for being "too intelligent" for it, well, I challenge most of you to complete what some of our students complete in two years. The MLT program for instance has been said to be much more challenging than the 4 year program at a university, simply because it is the same information taught in a much shorter amount of time and too, the students are taking as many as 21 hours a semester to complete everything and at the 4 year school are only taking 12-14 hours.

And lastly, for the students on the higher end of the academic range, scholarships at the community college can be very inviting. My own ds received a full scholarship due to his high ACT score. The same score would have gotten him a scholarship at the university but not full. Salutatorians and Valedictorians receive full scholarships at community colleges too.

My suggestion to most would be to not completely write off the community college option because you think it is beneath you or your child. I would certainly look at all options.


ETA: I am not in anyway judging anyone's choices for college or their reasons for those choices. If your child has chosen a field that would be better coming from University A or has recieved a scholarship from U of B then of course that is where they should attend. Every student has their own reasons for choosing where they attend and, of course, I can only speak for our school; I have no idea what a community college in another state would be like. I just hate to see anyone limit their choices and in doing so limit their child's choices.

That is fine and dandy but 16 credit hours is minimum here so 12-14 hours is not typical--18 hours is average. A "full ride" at a Community College is still less money then you would get for 1/2 ride at a 4 year college. There is only one Community College here that has dorms. The dorms at our colleges and universities are all fairly well supervised too. We have RA's and Staff Residents along with peer tutors and other resources. I don't know where you get the idea that there isn't supervision in the colleges and universities.

As for credits transferring into majors, that point is the focus of this debate-some transfer some don't. You would be hard pressed to get into any Physical Therapy program around here coming out of a community college. It is next to impossible to get into a program coming out of a top 4 year school as it is.

There is a definite need for kids to go into technical fields and trades, none of my kids have any interest in doing so, thus no need to look at community colleges. Around here if you take your general ed's at a community college all you have done is extended your college career by a year or two because most of those credits won't transfer and you have to start all over again.

 

[luvsJack]

That is fine and dandy but 16 credit hours is minimum here so 12-14 hours is not typical--18 hours is average. A "full ride" at a Community College is still less money then you would get for 1/2 ride at a 4 year college. There is only one Community College here that has dorms. The dorms at our colleges and universities are all fairly well supervised too. We have RA's and Staff Residents along with peer tutors and other resources. I don't know where you get the idea that there isn't supervision in the colleges and universities.

As for credits transferring into majors, that point is the focus of this debate-some transfer some don't. You would be hard pressed to get into any Physical Therapy program around here coming out of a community college. It is next to impossible to get into a program coming out of a top 4 year school as it is.

There is a definite need for kids to go into technical fields and trades, none of my kids have any interest in doing so, thus no need to look at community colleges. Around here if you take your general ed's at a community college all you have done is extended your college career by a year or two because most of those credits won't transfer and you have to start all over again.

I realize that the money would not be equal, but free is free. He was able to complete the majority of his academics, some technical classes in computer networking/programing (all of which will transfer), live in the dorms, eat on the meal plan, buy all his books and supplies and get a refund to pay for gas and other expenses--couldn't have even gotten his books at the university.

We have academic counselors that make it their job to know what classes will and which ones won't transfer. The only academics we have that will not transfer are the lowest math, reading and English classes (universities teach very similar classes that will not transfer to another school, btw) and one science class (it was designed to be for students that do not wish to transfer)--but we have a comparable science class that does transfer. Its just a matter of talking to an adviser and knowing what you need to take.

Several of the technical programs are now transferable to a 4 year program. It hasn't always been that way. It started with just one but has began to include several of them. Its really a good thing. The students are able to work in their field while earning their bachelor's degree. And their education will be the same or better than any student that only attended the 4 year. Actually they will have more experience working in the field added to their education so it will make them more employable.

Many years ago, before my kids were old enough to think about college; community college here was exactly what you are describing. But it has changed dramatically and it nothing like that today. Yes, we still have vocational programs and we have technical programs (both of which serve a huge need all by themselves) but neither even partly suggest that a student needs to stop their education there and, as I said, the classes are not wasted or extending the student's years in college.

As for credit hours per semester, 12 hours is usually full time and there is usually a limit that a student can take without special permission. Almost all of our programs go over that (usually at 21 hours). Regardless of how many may be taken at another school, 21 hours of science classes with long labs and constant testing can be very challenging. As I said, many of the programs are putting the same info given at a 4 year program into 2 years, along with semesters of clinicals. Makes them very challenging.

I didn't say there is no supervision at a university, I said there is a bit more on a community college. I am simply comparing my sister's daughters experience at a university dorm to my ds's experience in the dorm.

 

[BelleWDW]

As for credits transferring into majors, that point is the focus of this debate-some transfer some don't. You would be hard pressed to get into any Physical Therapy program around here coming out of a community college. It is next to impossible to get into a program coming out of a top 4 year school as it is.

.

In our state, most Universities have "raised the bar" because of the former high dropout rate of Freshman-anyone could go to collge.

But to do so, there had to be a nearby Community Collge-so they are filled with the , I hate to say, "underachievers" taking very basic remedial type courses. I dont think they offer Foreign Language there, which Fresh & Soph take at the University-so its just the basic English Math Science and not the full Freshman courses offered.

I know someone who did start there, swithched to Uni and is really struggling.

 

[allison443]

In my state the percentage of community college students who either graduate or transfer to a four year college is only around 20%.

Also, 72% of the high school grads who enroll in the community college need remedial courses.

These aren't very impressive, but I know cc serves a purpose. I just think my state has a way to go before they meet some of the other states' programs a few posters have mentioned.

 

[Chelley00]

And all the community college kids here are drug dealers Exaggerate much???

Not at all. Talk to any of my friends and they will tell you they went to college and were surrounded by partying, drinking, drugs, naked people streaking (my favorite story from my best friend)

I'm lucky that in our state community college credits transfer, and big state colleges have local campuses. I was able to do 2 years at a community college, then transfer to a local state campus. I spent time working, saving money and taking my basic courses while everyone around me was off at college taking out loans. Now one of my dearest friends and I have the same degree and work in the same field, making the same money, only she has student loans and I don't.

I have every right to get defensive with people who say community college is for people who can't hack it at a regular campus, or that it's for underachievers. I was offered a partial scholarship to several schools based on grade point average and SAT scores. I turned them down in favor of not having to take out a loan to pay for the rest of my schooling. I understand it's not that way in every state, but please don't think all people who go to community colleges are underachievers.

 

[wvjules]

What college has an 18-credit minimum to be considered full-time? I'm talking undergrad,not law, medicine, pharmacy, grad school, etc.

Even the FAFSA utilizes the 12-credit hour criteria for being considered FT.

 

[Darcy03231]

What college has an 18-credit minimum to be considered full-time? I'm talking undergrad,not law, medicine, pharmacy, grad school, etc.

Even the FAFSA utilizes the 12-credit hour criteria for being considered FT.

I know our state colleges its 16 credits (4 - 4 credit classes) for full time and most kids end up taking 18-20 by the time you factor in labs (another 2 credits per lab). I averaged 18-20 credits a semester (4 - 4 credit classes and 1 or 2 - 2 credit labs a semester). When I attended you could take 21 credits a semester without paying anything extra.

 

[auntie]

Full time students 12 to 18 credits per semester here..state or our community college that is affiliated with our state universities.

 

[luvsJack]

Not at all. Talk to any of my friends and they will tell you they went to college and were surrounded by partying, drinking, drugs, naked people streaking (my favorite story from my best friend)

I'm lucky that in our state community college credits transfer, and big state colleges have local campuses. I was able to do 2 years at a community college, then transfer to a local state campus. I spent time working, saving money and taking my basic courses while everyone around me was off at college taking out loans. Now one of my dearest friends and I have the same degree and work in the same field, making the same money, only she has student loans and I don't.

I have every right to get defensive with people who say community college is for people who can't hack it at a regular campus, or that it's for underachievers. I was offered a partial scholarship to several schools based on grade point average and SAT scores. I turned them down in favor of not having to take out a loan to pay for the rest of my schooling. I understand it's not that way in every state, but please don't think all people who go to community colleges are underachievers.

The majority of our students are a long, long way from being underachievers. Most of them are very intelligent, have high gpas and ACT scores and are smart with their money (knowing that they come out much better with the scholarships here and not needing any other aid). They come here on academic scholarships so the first two years are paid for, they work hard and keep their gpa's high and land a scholarship to a 4 year.

We do have the remedial classes for students but these are not just for students that had low gpa's in high school or have low test scores. Many non-traditional students choose to start with these classes to get themselves reaquainted with the subjects and with taking classes.

 

[barkley]

What college has an 18-credit minimum to be considered full-time? I'm talking undergrad,not law, medicine, pharmacy, grad school, etc.

Even the FAFSA utilizes the 12-credit hour criteria for being considered FT.

i think what might 'drive' it is both what kind of session system the college is on (quarters, semesters, trimesters) and how many units they require (and their accrediting agency) for a degree.

the first college i went to started off on the quarter system (my favorite btw), and they looked to how many units it took to get your degree and figured out how that could be achieved MINIMALY within 4 years. a year or so down the road the collge decided to change over to the semester system so the number of units for f/t increased but you could still achieve your degree on the same timeline.

dh goes to a school on the quarter system but they reccognize that almost none of the non working adult students take summer courses, so their full time course load realy resembles a school that's on the trimester system.