College Financial Aid questions....

[traces7]

DD graduates next year and we've begun thinking about colleges! What does your family income have to be to qualify for financial aid? I think ours is low enough that she would qualify, but not sure. Or does it vary depending on the college? Anyone have any advice? Thanks so much!

 

[MKCP5]

DD graduates next year and we've begun thinking about colleges! What does your family income have to be to qualify for financial aid? I think ours is low enough that she would qualify, but not sure. Or does it vary depending on the college? Anyone have any advice? Thanks so much!

There are a lot of factors that go into that answer. There is a maximum income for state aid and there is a maximum income for federal aid, but then it also depends if the school your child is looking at is a private or public school and how they are funded and how they disperse their money There are some as grants, which are typically gifts that do not have to be repaid and then of course loans. And there are private loans as well that you could apply for.
We live in Massachusetts, and my kids qualify for quite a bit of State financial aid and then they get some federal grants as well as federal loans. Pm me for more specific info.

 

[MKCP5]

DD graduates next year and we've begun thinking about colleges! What does your family income have to be to qualify for financial aid? I think ours is low enough that she would qualify, but not sure. Or does it vary depending on the college? Anyone have any advice? Thanks so much!

Oh! The other big factor is whether it's an in-state or out-of-state school. If you apply to a public school or university out of the state they are likely to give you almost nothing financially because they don't want to take money from their state fund for out-of-state students, where your own state-funded university is happy to give your money to you

 

[msmayor]

There is a long thread already going on FAFSA and financial aid...you might want to check that out.

If your DD is graduating next year and you are only now thinking about how to pay for college, be aware that you are behind the curve. Hopefully your DD took the PSATs/SATs as that test can help determine merit scholarship awards at many schools.

What you need to also understand now is that "aid" doesn't always mean free money. Loans ARE considered aid, and some schools will aware a 'full' aid award that is 100% loans.

Now...for a very quick assessment of what your estimated family contribution might be (just an estimate...there are many factors, but this is a good place to start)...take 25-28% of your household income. That is the amount that for aid calculation purposes, your family is expected to pay BEFORE any aid is awarded.

Also understand that you do not get any aid from filing a FAFSA...that is only the starting point for the school who awards the aid.

Finally, be prepared for an expected family contribution that is much higher than you would think. It is almost always a number that people say "I can't afford that!!" But the number is based on the rationale that you have been saving all along, and the funds will not come out of current income but out of what you have set aside. The belief is that for all these years, you had financial choices...the choice to save or spend.

 

[crisi]

You can get an estimated EFC (expected family contribution) by searching the net for a calculator.

Assume that everything will be loans. Federal grants are limited to people with low incomes and little in assets. The school itself may have some discretionary money that would keep loans down, but don't count on it - particularly if its a state school.

Check this out: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types

 

[amcnj]

There are FAFSA (federal student aid) estimators available online you can search for and try too. The schools you are considering may also have their own aid and criteria. You would need to look at their websites/contact their aid offices for specifics. Some schools have merit aid, others do not, as all those admitted are of a certain level of achievement and thus they only assess and award aid based upon need.

 

[VillainFavs]

Now...for a very quick assessment of what your estimated family contribution might be (just an estimate...there are many factors, but this is a good place to start)...take 25-28% of your household income. That is the amount that for aid calculation purposes, your family is expected to pay BEFORE any aid is awarded.

So our family income is, let's say $100,000 before takes. We're expected to pay $25,000 to $28,000 per YEAR?

 

[RitaE]

So our family income is, let's say $100,000 before takes. We're expected to pay $25,000 to $28,000 per YEAR?

Well, you are expected to pay however much the college or university costs.

The Aid Calculation is done to determine whether or not public resources should aid the student is paying the amount. There is some "Aid" that is made available to all students in the form of unsubsidized Student Loans. That simply means that while the Federal Government guarantees payment of the loan should the student default, the student/family is responsible for paying the loan. Theoretically, the government guarantee is supposed to make a lower interest rate available to the student than what the family could otherwise achieve, but that is not always the case.

It is expected that the student/family would have been saving a percentage of their income for many years to pay for higher education, if higher education was a goal.

 

[crisi]

Well, you are expected to pay however much the college or university costs.

And given that most federal aid is in the form of loans, you should expect to pay how much the college or university costs, unless you get private grant or scholarship money. You either have saved for it all along, or you will be paying for it (or your kids will) in the future - plus interest.

(Most Pell grant money goes to kids whose families make less than $20k a year. You are eligible to apply if your household income is less than $50k. The maximum Pell grant is $5775 - and the majority of students who do qualify get less than that).

Also, any scholarship or grant money you get privately will lower the amount of aid you get. i.e. the last thing to change is your EFC.....

 

[MariMama]

So our family income is, let's say $100,000 before takes. We're expected to pay $25,000 to $28,000 per YEAR?

Yes. Our EFC is about 38% of our gross income.

 

[barkley]

(Most Pell grant money goes to kids whose families make less than $20k a year. You are eligible to apply if your household income is less than $50k. The maximum Pell grant is $5775 - and the majority of students who do qualify get less than that).

there is no specific application for pell grants nor is there an income threshold for applying. filing the fafsa (which is required for any type of federal and many state aid programs) throws every applicant into consideration for it. it may be that the majority are ineligible but the data it generates to colleges and universities determines if a student qualifies.

What does your family income have to be to qualify for financial aid?

that's difficult to say b/c there are multiple factors that go into it-including family size, if another person in the household is/will be attending college during the academic year....

another thing to consider when researching numbers-some types of income are excluded from consideration (being counted), just as some types of assets are so 2 households with identical income/asset amounts can have vastly different efc's.

There are FAFSA (federal student aid) estimators available online you can search for and try too. The schools you are considering may also have their own aid and criteria. You would need to look at their websites/contact their aid offices for specifics

I was going to suggest this as well-and keep in mind this year the date for filing the fafsa is changing. for students attending 2017/2018 filing begins on 10/1/16 (no longer on January 1 of the year they will begin to attend). this is important b/c the earlier a filing is done the better chance a student who is eligible to aid will receive it (there is no endless pool of these funds-when they are exhausted they are exhausted-esp. as it pertains to state funds that are reliant on fafsa information).

 

[Sadie22]

The end of junior year is kind of late to just start thinking about not only what colleges but how to pay for them. Many students take AP classes in school, sometimes offered as early as sophomore year, and are able to receive credit toward introductory college courses through scores of 5, depending on the college and major course of study, possibly shortening time to a degree or allowing more advanced courses to be taken in college than time might otherwise allow. Now is the time for a high school junior to be asking teachers to write letters of recommendation to accompany the applications she will be submitting sometime in the fall. Hopefully she has been attending any college fairs offered at her school and in her community and has been gathering information about schools there and online to narrow down where she will visit during the summer and fall and where she will apply. Hopefully also, in addition to having taken the SAT and possibly ACT testing this spring (leaving time to retake in the fall if needed), she has met the academic admission criteria for schools that would have programs she is interested in and has participated consistently in some school and community activities. All these things can help students gain admission and possibly qualify for merit-based aid. Completing the FAFSA as early as possible is key, as is completing any financial aid paperwork a college requests. This information is used not just for federal and state aid, but for other nationwide and institution-specific programs. A private school may be as or more affordable than a state public college due to endowments available, so nothing should be ruled out until the facts are gathered.

 

[georgina]

Many colleges have a Net Price Calculator that you can input your information. Run those now - it is an eye-opener! Google "name of college" net price calculator. They are fairly accurate unless you have a family business or there is a divorce and other parent to consider.

 

[HM]

We didn't even bother to fill out the FAFSA forms because we knew that there would be no financial aid to us. We aren't rich, but we could tell by following these types of threads/news stories and hearing from people we knew that we had no chance.
We saved for their schooling with a 529 savings account starting when our kids were in elementary school and supplement that money with what we currently make and have saved. We also told them they could only apply to instate schools or they'd have to figure out how to pay the extra.

 

[Sadie22]

Always complete the FAFSA and whatever other forms the college wants. You never know when a layoff or other circumstance may strike, but these forms are often also required for merit-based scholarships and awards. One year I made less money than expected from my business, and we received an unexpected grant that we were absolutely not expecting. Not a huge amount, but it paid for textbooks. It was a merit scholarship with a need threshold of some sort. Another time the department head encouraged one of ours to apply for a competitive scholarship program. We did not even know about it until he won. If we had not filed the financial aid paperwork, he would not have been eligible. Other scholastic awards required that the FAFSA and college forms be on file for the student. Another child received a scholarship through the company DH works for. The FAFSA was required for that. Always complete the forms. It's not that much work, and it can yield real benefits.

 

[TwoMisfits]

So our family income is, let's say $100,000 before takes. We're expected to pay $25,000 to $28,000 per YEAR?

Yes.

 

[Chelley00]

Everyone counts on filling out the FAFSA and getting financial aid thinking it's going to be free money. Very few people actually qualify for anything other than loans. It's very eye opening the first time you fill one out

Our FAFSA, with two kids in college, said I could contribute double what I make a year.

 

[barkley]

Always complete the FAFSA and whatever other forms the college wants. You never know when a layoff or other circumstance may strike, but these forms are often also required for merit-based scholarships and awards. One year I made less money than expected from my business, and we received an unexpected grant that we were absolutely not expecting. Not a huge amount, but it paid for textbooks. It was a merit scholarship with a need threshold of some sort. Another time the department head encouraged one of ours to apply for a competitive scholarship program. We did not even know about it until he won. If we had not filed the financial aid paperwork, he would not have been eligible. Other scholastic awards required that the FAFSA and college forms be on file for the student. Another child received a scholarship through the company DH works for. The FAFSA was required for that. Always complete the forms. It's not that much work, and it can yield real benefits.

absolutely!!!

dd's university requires fafsa be completed each year prior to filing the on-line application for all scholarships the university administers (they make you upload the SAR (student aid report) into the application before it can be filed. they really work to 'spread the wealth' of scholarships-so while it may seem futile for a family with a high efc to do it-when it comes down to awarding scholarships if student 'a' and student 'b' are neck and neck for a merit scholarship but student 'a' qualifies for an equal amount in a need based scholarship then that's what they are awarded while student 'b' gets the merit based. with few exceptions every outside scholarship dd applied for required fafsa proof as well (and have your child apply for local ones no matter how small-they add up and can often be renewed for 4 years).

the special circumstance issue is absolutely another reason to complete the fafsa-if something unforeseen comes up financially a call to the college a student is attending/will attend to alert them/provide them with verification can make a HUGE difference (I tipped a friend off to this when her dd was in college-the husband was injured but had disability insurance to cover most of his pay BUT the wife had to take unpaid leave from work to care for him which reduced their income. she was surprised to find that no only did her loss of wages trigger some financial aid for her dd, her husband's disability income was largely excluded income for fafsa purposes so their dd was eligible to much more than they had dared hope for).


one of the greatest benefits of doing the fafsa for my dd has been her getting awarded work study at her university. while the money she earns helps with her tuition, the benefit we are realy seeing is in the experience she is getting working in an academic setting. the guidance, mentorship and support she receives from her supervisor and the seasoned faculty in the department she works in has opened her eyes to entirely new applications for the major she's pursuing (and they've recognized interests in her, suggested classes she might not otherwise have taken-all to her benefit).

 

[traces7]

Well, thank you to everyone for all the advice! DD is so undecided about her future which is why we haven't really thought a lot about 4 year colleges. She has taken all the courses that a 4 year college requires just in case. She has not taken any AP classes, but she has taken a few that count toward college credit.

She was thinking of going to technical school, but recently is considering regular college. All would be in-state (Wisconsin). She has a couple in mind that we hope to visit this summer. They all have a summer open house. She has taken the ACT once already and takes it again next weekend.

We have not been able to save much money for college unfortunately. Our area gives out a lot of scholarships every year, so I'm going to have her apply for as many of those as she can. Also she has a job and is saving up some money. And by the time she starts college our house will be paid off, so I'm hoping we will be able to help with finances. But, I know she will have to borrow some money too.

My DD's high school is very good at keeping us informed of all the deadlines, so I know about all that. Do you have to have chosen your college before you fill out the FAFSA? Her high school also has a College Boot Camp the summer between junior and senior year that helps with filling out college applications, writing essays, getting references, filling out the FAFSA, scholarship options, etc. She's going to be doing that in August I think.

Well thanks again everyone!

 

[tzolkin]

DD graduates next year and we've begun thinking about colleges! What does your family income have to be to qualify for financial aid? I think ours is low enough that she would qualify, but not sure. Or does it vary depending on the college? Anyone have any advice? Thanks so much!

It's really not about your income, but about what your EFC is vs the cost of the school.

If your EFC is $20,000 and you are going to a state school that costs less than that you wouldn't qualify for financial aid. But if you attend a more expensive school you might qualify for aid to make up the difference.

I would go online and do the net cost calculators for any school she is interested in (but also keep in mind that she may qualify for some merit based scholarships too)

So our family income is, let's say $100,000 before takes. We're expected to pay $25,000 to $28,000 per YEAR?

Run a calculator to see what the EFC would be for your situation. I just did a basic one for $100,000 income and the EFC was $20,320. (Our EFC for my DD this year is about 17% of our income)

Another thing to consider is your savings is also factored into your EFC. So if you make $100k and have $100k in savings that would increase your EFC to $25,000 (Parents are expected to contribute 5.64% of their savings per year)

My DD's high school is very good at keeping us informed of all the deadlines, so I know about all that. Do you have to have chosen your college before you fill out the FAFSA? Her high school also has a College Boot Camp the summer between junior and senior year that helps with filling out college applications, writing essays, getting references, filling out the FAFSA, scholarship options, etc. She's going to be doing that in August I think.

You don't have to decide on one college, but you have to indicate which schools you want the FAFSA information sent to (all the schools she is applying to) so you will need to have it narrowed down by that point.