FAFSA questions

[disneycruisedreams]

OK so how do you put the IRS info onto the FAFSA??? I logged back in but it looks the same. The "link to IRS" button is there but I don't know how to link it.

 

[disneycruisedreams]

So, I think our problem is that we had to file an extension due to a tax form being EXTREMELY late in getting out to us. I guess it takes 2 weeks after you file to be able to use the IRS DRT.

 

[China Expat]

Your savings are indeed used for factoring if you will receive any financial aid from the school. We had 100K set aside for our son and reported it on the FAFSA. His school's annual tuition was $58,000, so, we had two years saved up for private college. His university gave us $5k in aid! After two years, savings was gone, but they continued to base decisions on that 100K we had reported years earlier.

 

[mistysue]

She's been saying one thing for YEARS, then suddenly she's excited about something else? I'd want to know more about her thought process before I'd be too worried about FAFSA. Not saying she hasn't genuinely changed her mind, but this sudden 180 would make me want answers -- if it were my money she'd be spending.

Oh, I know exactly what happened- The school is selling them all on how exciting college is. She's currently in a culinary program, a number of local community colleges have a program that she would need to attend for about one year to end up with an associate's degree when combined with this high school program.
Now they have a bunch of representatives coming in from 4-year colleges telling the culinary program kids how much better it would be if they went to their school and got a bachelor's instead. The first one that came in was a 4-year program out of state that costs close to $50,000 a year after you add in room and board. We're talking about a program for people who are entering a career where the average salary is somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000 a year. They let the reps from this college come in and spend an hour and a half talking to these kids during their class so they were required to be there- the way those numbers work out it's just plain unethical for them to be talking the kids into it. Especially once you consider that they funnel most of their learning disabled kids into this program.

The catch is now she's excited and thinks she should find a 4-year college so we're working on finding realistic options, but I don't want to fill out the FAFSA mostly because it sounds like a pain in the butt and feels invasive.

 

[mjkacmom]

Oh, I know exactly what happened- The school is selling them all on how exciting college is. She's currently in a culinary program, a number of local community colleges have a program that she would need to attend for about one year to end up with an associate's degree when combined with this high school program.
Now they have a bunch of representatives coming in from 4-year colleges telling the culinary program kids how much better it would be if they went to their school and got a bachelor's instead. The first one that came in was a 4-year program out of state that costs close to $50,000 a year after you add in room and board. We're talking about a program for people who are entering a career where the average salary is somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000 a year. They let the reps from this college come in and spend an hour and a half talking to these kids during their class so they were required to be there- the way those numbers work out it's just plain unethical for them to be talking the kids into it. Especially once you consider that they funnel most of their learning disabled kids into this program.

The catch is now she's excited and thinks she should find a 4-year college so we're working on finding realistic options, but I don't want to fill out the FAFSA mostly because it sounds like a pain in the butt and feels invasive.

That’s the going rate for OOS public colleges here, in state is around $30,000. Fortunately my two oldest graduated with degrees they knew they wanted and with good starting salaries (accounting and finance). Three more to go.

 

[tvguy]

That’s the going rate for OOS public colleges here, in state is around $30,000. Fortunately my two oldest graduated with degrees they knew they wanted and with good starting salaries (accounting and finance). Three more to go.

In state for the CSU system is $7,368. OOS is $19,248.

 

[mistysue]

That’s the going rate for OOS public colleges here, in state is around $30,000. Fortunately my two oldest graduated with degrees they knew they wanted and with good starting salaries (accounting and finance). Three more to go.

I've seen our larger in-state at around $30,000. But 50,000 is insane for a program telling kids they should plan to never make half of that.
What we had looked at before was a local program, that is known to be very good which would run about $12,000 for the two year TOTAL. A jump from $12K to $200K is silly, I'm angry they are even preying on these kids that way, the program is also in a largely rural area, none of these kids have that money saved or to spare.
At $12,000 we had no problem paying as we go and even supporting her through it but we could buy her a 3 bedroom home for less than the price difference.

 

[mjkacmom]

I've seen our larger in-state at around $30,000. But 50,000 is insane for a program telling kids they should plan to never make half of that.
What we had looked at before was a local program, that is known to be very good which would run about $12,000 for the two year TOTAL. A jump from $12K to $200K is silly, I'm angry they are even preying on these kids that way, the program is also in a largely rural area, none of these kids have that money saved or to spare.
At $12,000 we had no problem paying as we go and even supporting her through it but we could buy her a 3 bedroom home for less than the price difference.

I wish I could buy a home that cheap! $12,000 is less than our yearly property taxes. And my daughter would not be attending a $50,000 a year school without her scholarship.

 

[afan]

In state for the CSU system is $7,368. OOS is $19,248.

I went to SFSU as an out of state student and it was the same or a little less, even after the cost of living on campus, going there as an out of state student as it was if I'd stayed in state and lived in the dorms. I got my 2nd bachelors at SJSU and was a resident at that point, and still a poor just graduated student turned poor student so I got 3 of my 4 semesters covered in grants. The Cal State system, or at least the two I went to, have good programs and teachers. I was, and am still, satisfied with my experience and classes at both schools.

 

[mistysue]

I wish I could buy a home that cheap! $12,000 is less than our yearly property taxes. And my daughter would not be attending a $50,000 a year school without her scholarship.

To be fair, I meant we could get her a home for the difference between 200K and 12K. It wouldn't be in a dream area, but if I'm going to essentially throw away 188K I'm definitely buying my kid a house, not an education she could never pay for that gets her into a career you don't need a degree for.

 

[tvguy]

I went to SFSU as an out of state student and it was the same or a little less, even after the cost of living on campus, going there as an out of state student as it was if I'd stayed in state and lived in the dorms. I got my 2nd bachelors at SJSU and was a resident at that point, and still a poor just graduated student turned poor student so I got 3 of my 4 semesters covered in grants. The Cal State system, or at least the two I went to, have good programs and teachers. I was, and am still, satisfied with my experience and classes at both schools.

I think College is necessary but my experience was it was more of a place to mature, than a place to get career skills. Due to some internal politics at my University (40+ years ago) our freshly minted PhD Journalism instructor had wonderful book knowledge, but by our Senior year literally there were two of us who had been working part time in Journalism for several years and had more real world experience than the Professor.
My son was kind a rebel, Computer IT major. 11 years out of College his learning has all been on the job. He has no Microsoft Certifications, so no post college certifications. He is doing well in his career because as his boss puts it, "he knows how to fix problems so they stay fixed." Apparently at least some of Microsoft's suggested ways of fixing issues don't permanently solve issues.

My daughter, well she has a degree in Government, worked in Government for two years. The textbook instruction on how government works caught her interest. But Government doesn't work that way, and she hated the reality.

 

[afan]

I think College is necessary but my experience was it was more of a place to mature, than a place to get career skills. Due to some internal politics at my University (40+ years ago) our freshly minted PhD Journalism instructor had wonderful book knowledge, but by our Senior year literally there were two of us who had been working part time in Journalism for several years and had more real world experience than the Professor.
My son was kind a rebel, Computer IT major. 11 years out of College his learning has all been on the job. He has no Microsoft Certifications, so no post college certifications. He is doing well in his career because as his boss puts it, "he knows how to fix problems so they stay fixed." Apparently at least some of Microsoft's suggested ways of fixing issues don't permanently solve issues.

My daughter, well she has a degree in Government, worked in Government for two years. The textbook instruction on how government works caught her interest. But Government doesn't work that way, and she hated the reality.

Part of why I liked both Cal State schools was that not all of my teachers were professors. My hospitality law teacher was a practicing hospitality lawyer. My sports PR class was taught by one of the PR guys from the 49ers. Both of my majors had a good mix of either professionals turned ft teachers or professionals that taught part time, whether it was one class per semester for fall and spring or just one semester. Those that were ft time teachers were still tuned into the field they were teaching as well.

I only had one lab class that had a grad student teaching it, the rest of my classes were either ft profs or industry people that were teaching. It made things more interesting and more realistic.

Now going back for a 2nd degree, I hadn't had any PR classes in my first and saw no need for a masters in it or the extra work that went with it, which is why I got a second bachelors I started a year and a half after my first. So it was quite a bit different in that I'd worked full time and been out of school vs those that were still in school for the first time. The mentality and the maturity were definitely different. But I'd also taken a couple of summer classes at the community college when I was home for the summer to knock out GE classes and that was like going back to high school.

 

[mjkacmom]

To be fair, I meant we could get her a home for the difference between 200K and 12K. It wouldn't be in a dream area, but if I'm going to essentially throw away 188K I'm definitely buying my kid a house, not an education she could never pay for that gets her into a career you don't need a degree for.

Well, to be fair, I couldn’t buy a home here for 188k, maybe a sad worn one bedroom condo. My kids do know that they need to chose a major that will result in a well paying career.

 

[havaneselover]

I still haven't finished my form because I'm trying to figure out what untaxed income needs to be added back in (I think it's my HSA and 401k when I was a w-2 employee but not 401k when I was a k-1 "employee"). Also, my parents won't tell me the value of the custodial account they have for my daughter and I'm trying to get them to convert it to a custodial 529 so it won't be reported as her asset. I'm dreading the CSS.

 

[mistysue]

Well, to be fair, I couldn’t buy a home here for 188k, maybe a sad worn one bedroom condo. My kids do know that they need to chose a major that will result in a well paying career.

There's no way to guarantee that any degree would result in a well paying career. I went to a good private school where everyone went to 4 year colleges, and a significant portion of my peers continued beyond bachelors. The number who never got a "real job" with good degrees is scary. I know many who became "stay at home parents" because even a serious degree didn't do anything.
I find the cost of college angering once the uncertainty of it is factored in. Nobody should be selling MOST of our kids on the idea that college is a guarantee to a better job, it hasn't been for decades.

 

[havaneselover]

There's no way to guarantee that any degree would result in a well paying career. I went to a good private school where everyone went to 4 year colleges, and a significant portion of my peers continued beyond bachelors. The number who never got a "real job" with good degrees is scary. I know many who became "stay at home parents" because even a serious degree didn't do anything.
I find the cost of college angering once the uncertainty of it is factored in. Nobody should be selling MOST of our kids on the idea that college is a guarantee to a better job, it hasn't been for decades.

Okay, so nothing in life is guaranteed and most of us live with a tremendous amount of uncertainty. That said, parents have access to data on average salaries, projected employment growth, required education, etc. by occupation. I work with labor market data so I have these data at my fingertips, but they are still readily available from the BLS.

Who is generally getting hurt the most during this pandemic? Those without college degrees. I can agree that not all kids have the aptitude or desire to go to a 4-year school. And that's okay. But statements like yours are somewhat misleading IMO.

 

[afan]

Okay, so nothing in life is guaranteed and most of us live with a tremendous amount of uncertainty. That said, parents have access to data on average salaries, projected employment growth, required education, etc. by occupation. I work with labor market data so I have these data at my fingertips, but they are still readily available from the BLS.

Who is generally getting hurt the most during this pandemic? Those without college degrees. I can agree that not all kids have the aptitude or desire to go to a 4-year school. And that's okay. But statements like yours are somewhat misleading IMO.

Though as mentioned above, there are trades that don't require the same degree. Not all kids are geared towards or want a 4 year degree but would do well learning how to weld, do plumbing or drive a truck. So I don't think all without a college degree are hurting as some of these may be certifications or on the job apprentice learning and a lot of these jobs are always needed and often aren't discussed in high school because it's not college.

 

[havaneselover]

Though as mentioned above, there are trades that don't require the same degree. Not all kids are geared towards or want a 4 year degree but would do well learning how to weld, do plumbing or drive a truck. So I don't think all without a college degree are hurting as some of these may be certifications or on the job apprentice learning and a lot of these jobs are always needed and often aren't discussed in high school because it's not college.

Agreed. That's why I mentioned understanding average salaries, employment growth, and required education. Dental hygenist is a good example of a high paying job not needing a 4-year degree. That said, on average people with 4-year degrees are faring far better right now than those without because their jobs are much more likely to translate into remote work.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2020/b...inment-and-the-impact-on-american-workers.htm
CTE is critical in our high schools and there certainly is a stigma in a lot of places associated with jobs requiring only Associate's degrees or certifications. But some of the generalizations above were not super helpful IMO.

 

[mistysue]

CTE is critical in our high schools and there certainly is a stigma in a lot of places associated with jobs requiring only Associate's degrees or certifications. But some of the generalizations above were not super helpful IMO.

As to the generalizations- I was specifically replying to someone saying that their child knew to get a degree that would result in a good job.
That sort of insinuation is deceptive, as it's not an exact science.
When the amount of college debt enters the conversation, pointing out unemployment rates doesn't easily create a good measure of who is doing better, and is equally not helpful. Someone taking in $1,000/week to stay home with their HS diploma is better off than the college grad working full time for $1,200 with a 6 figure school bill.

 

[mjkacmom]

There's no way to guarantee that any degree would result in a well paying career. I went to a good private school where everyone went to 4 year colleges, and a significant portion of my peers continued beyond bachelors. The number who never got a "real job" with good degrees is scary. I know many who became "stay at home parents" because even a serious degree didn't do anything.
I find the cost of college angering once the uncertainty of it is factored in. Nobody should be selling MOST of our kids on the idea that college is a guarantee to a better job, it hasn't been for decades.

Colleges are businesses, of course they’re selling their product. And yes, there are no guarantees, but my kids graduated at the top of their classes in high school, did well in college, and signed job offers 6+ months before graduation, their business schools have a high percentage of students employed after graduation. My daughter graduated with a 3.9 and passed her CPA exams all on the first try. She can get a job anywhere. my daughter, son and husband haven’t missed a day of work during COVID, just set up home offices. Their first year starting salaries are equal to the cost of their education (Excluding room and board).