College financial aid experts HELP

[Puffy2]

Since she hasn't even applied and didn't file financial aid, you might not need to even worry about it - for the Fall at least.


I don't know what kind of relationship you have with your ex or child but perhaps you can ask her what kind of money is anticipated to be needed, require that she file for financial aid (or forgo any extra cash above the child support), and then figure out how much extra you can realisticly afford. You may want to then arrange to pay the school directly if you feel better doing it that way (or if you trust your ex wife, send it to her).

 

[Lynn CC]

I just want to add if it hasn't already been mentioned that you can pay the college directly for tuition payments. This way you can be sure that your money is going toward tution. I pay my DS online at his college by credit card. Or you could call them and see what other methods they have available. A lot of them have payment plans at 0% for a small fee.

$100/mo isn't a lot compared to the cost of tuition, but every little bit helps and if that's all you can do I'm sure she will be grateful.

If it makes you feel better our DS just finished up his freshman year in college and this summer is hoping (he should find out any day now) to attend a summer school for languages, he will need another 10K from us because they don't allow them to work while attending. It just never ends! We are happy that he is so devoted though, there is nothing like an education, especially these days.

Good Luck to your DD in the application process, it is quite complicated the first time around, just take it step by step and get a signed copy of your taxes for 2005 ready to mail out because it is getting late in the year for aid.

 

[EthansMom]

First, your stepdaughter needs to apply to the college and fill out the financial aid paperwork.

If I were you, I would start putting aside that $300-$500 in savings every month as soon as you aren't paying the child support (this summer?). That way, you have a lump sum available to help with the first semester of tuition. You could also send some of it directly to your stepdaughter to help pay for books and supplies. Then, I would start saving toward the next semester of tuition, and maybe send $50-100 every month to the stepdaughter to help with her incidentals.

I agree with those posters who've recommended sending the money directly to the school to help with tuition, rather than send it to your stepdaughter. If your stepdaughter had shown herself to be a super-responsible kid and had done everything she could to get need-based scholarships and grants, etc., then I might be saying something different. But I wouldn't send over $1000 directly to an 18 kid who can't apply to the school in time for scholarships or be bothered to call the college directly for more FAFSA information.

 

[poohandwendy]

Once she is actually enrolled and living in the dorm I have no problem with sending a check to her. If she doesn't use it wisely that little pipeline can run dry real quick.

I just wanted to add onto my earlier thoughts regarding this. The problem with the 'pipeline running dry quickly' is that with college expenses, they deal directly with her and it would likely be many months before you would find out there was a problem. If she was blowing the money you sent her, failing or not showing up for classes, you would be the last to find out. And by then you could have dumped thousands into the 'keg kittie'. KWIM? And honestly, that would put a real strain on your relationship for a long time. For many reasons.

Even though we pay all of my DDs college expenses and the bills come to my house and are paid with my checkbook, every single time I call for ANY reason they always check to see if she signed the form that allows them to discuss her account with me. They even mention it each time, it's sort of comical.

The first month there was an issue with adjusting the monthly payment amount and they could not find that form...so they would discuss NONE of it with me until she went down to whatever office and cleared it with them.

 

[Free4Life11]

This is just my two cents, but if she is not on top of the game and has waited this long to even APPLY I wouldn't give her anything for school. It's hard to say, but she just doesn't sound all that responsible and I think paying for her schooling would be a bad idea! Now maybe you could buy her books but I personally wouldn't contribute anything beyond that.