Need advice-sis thinking of eloping to get financial aid!!

[blissventure]

There is another side to the story of parents not paying for their kids' college education-called teaching kids to be responsible. Maybe some parents want their child to have a vested interest in doing well in college and not taking the 6 year Art History track at school like a lot of people I saw at school. Our kids will be responsible for pay for as much of their schooling as possible with minimal help from us. They will have to do that through scholarships, grants, loans, etc. If they have exhausted all other avenues with good effort, we will then help but not before.

I get that. My kids have a "vested" interest in their education. They have loans they are paying off.
I have no problem with students maxing out what they can pay. There are federal limits on the loans, and good for them if they get large scholarships!
Your timetable (they exhaust every possibility first) may or may not work with the university your student attends. For most students, it's a combined effort (student and parent loans) for each year of school. The student loan limits generally leave the student with a shortfall. (I'm referring particularly to students whose parents have a medium to large EFC from the FAFSA paperwork.)

 

[mrsklamc]

Even if you have no intention of paying, though, your child can't even GET government loans without providing your financial information, unless they are married, have a a child, have served in the military, etc. (at age 18)

 

[mrsklamc]

Okay.


*************

OP, have your sister call the FAFSA customer service line to verify anything.
I called them the year I got married because I thought the same as the poster I quoted. After all, the online system gives you that answer when you check the box!
I was told I was wrong and my financial aid office was correct, my marriage in 2008 didn't count until the 2009-2010 school year.

Then your financial aid office screwed you over. The point is not what you made in the past, it's that they project what your anticipated income will be based on past tax returns, so the anticipated income for your household would be what you and your current husband made in the applicable tax year.

There is NO WAY that kind of error would just be left in the online process.

 

[tasha99]

Then your financial aid office screwed you over. The point is not what you made in the past, it's that they project what your anticipated income will be based on past tax returns, so the anticipated income for your household would be what you and your current husband made in the applicable tax year.

There is NO WAY that kind of error would just be left in the online process.

When went back to college after separating from my husband, they just counted my income as zero, even though we had a joint tax return for the previous year. That was almost 10 years ago, but at least back then, they had some leeway to consider the situation.

 

[blissventure]

Even if you have no intention of paying, though, your child can't even GET government loans without providing your financial information, unless they are married, have a a child, have served in the military, etc. (at age 18)

Yes, and the financial aid is presented in the form of a package. There isn't (at least the forms that I've seen) a space to check:
________We don't want to participate, find someone else willing to
help our student with the parental contribution.

 

[golfgal]

Yes, and the financial aid is presented in the form of a package. There isn't (at least the forms that I've seen) a space to check:
________We don't want to participate, find someone else willing to
help our student with the parental contribution.

No, you don't have that option but your kids do have the option to make that money themselves over the summer and through the school year. It can be done, not easy, but it can be done and like I said earlier if your parents are not contributing, with proof of course, the financial aid office will work with you. Dh and I were well able to put ourselves through private schools with no help from our parents what so ever, our kids will be able to get most of their schooling paid for as well either though scholarships, grants, loans and jobs. Most of our friends were in the same situation where they came up with their own money for college and did just fine too.

 

[Nie0214]

Nobody is saying the kids CAN'T come up with the money to go to college.

 

[fussymonkey]

Shame on your parents for having plenty of money and being unwilling to help her out.

Not so much. Why shame on her parents for having other uses for thier money? For all we know there may be debt the OP doesn't know about, retirement to save for, etc. Many people's 401Ks have taken major hits lately and people in thier late 40s/early 50s are really amping up thier savings to compenste. In any case, the parent has no obligation to contribute to their adult child's education expenses. The FASFA has no relationship with reality. When I was in college I paid for my first two years in cash (community college) but when I transfered to a university and had to fill out the FASFA the expected parental contribution far exceeded anything my parents could have ever given me without beggaring themselves. I did not expect them to contribute. I lived at home and they paid my car insurance. That was thier contribution, and it was generous.

 

[novajeanjellybean]

All full time students are eligible for the Stafford loan, regardless of financial need. You do have to file the fafsa, though. Also the maximum amount is $5500 for the first year, increasing after that, I believe.

This is true. I wish your sister luck but I wouldn't get married for financial aid.